The Snow Man and Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird - Essay Example

Literary Analysis of Wallace Stevens’ “The Snow Man” and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” The enigmatic character of the poems “The Snow Man” and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens depict the essence of truth in life and that there is more above the rationality of a human being. Both ‘snow’ and ‘blackbird’ are meant to represent the high consciousness or intellect a man could yield at in possessing the capacity to understand oneself and others in the world. Stevens attempts herein to capture reader’s judgment over themes which deserve profound reflections on human nature. As “The Snow Man” opens with lines “One must have a mind of winter / To regard the frost and the boughs / Of the pine-trees crusted with snow”, the speaker in the third person viewpoint seemingly expresses personal belief on what snow or winter is about. To him, it is essential to have a ‘mind of winter’ so that one perceives more than the feeling of cold. During cold season, our natural tendency is to respond by covering ourselves with thick hides or cloth to be protected from the extremes of low icy temperatures but the poet indicates through the speaker that we ought to recognize the strength born by the pine trees ‘crusted with snow’. Paying regard to the boughs of the trees that remain unbreakable despite the frost summons us to the thought that no matter how intense the degree of coldness is of the snowy winter, a ‘snow man’ that becomes of us would know and acknowledge the climate’s heart. So instead of preventing the snowiness, we would rather be among the pines that hold and keep the wintry sensation of burning cold without putting on fire or any opposite element against it. Through the second stanza which consists of the lines “And have been cold a long time / To behold the junipers shagged with ice, / The spruces rough in the distant glitter”, our critical reading is further brought to realize the significance of ‘cold’ in our lives. ‘Cold’ being that which stands for loneliness, suffering, emptiness, or any similar condition of distress is something that can refine a man to a resolute state of well-being having a kind of beauty that radiates in and out. Equivalently, a person who values hardships and perseverance for the sake of establishing a meaningful existence, in the process, walks a path that leads to wonder. The terms ‘shagged’ and ‘rough’ may be associated with an unfavorable load or burden yet either the ‘junipers’ or the ‘spruces’ occur to bear a proud imagery of delight that can sparkle even from a distance. This scenario is quite symbolic of a manner by which an individual takes good pride upon earning dignity and respect made firm via continuous deeds of righteousness and constant struggle to avoid the complacent ways of evil in the world. Good acts may be often unseen but the fruit of pure joy and the absence of guilt are adequate signs of one’s glowing beauty from within just like the coniferous plants of winter which are altogether a sight of marvel. Stevens’ “The Snow Man” proceeds with “and not to think / Of any misery in the sound of the wind, / In the sound of a few leaves, / Which is the sound of the land / Full of the same wind / That is blowing in the same bare place”. To this extent, the speaker likely conveys for us to distinguish between the snow and the sound of the wind under the sun’s heat which is capable of swaying merely ‘few leaves’ that embody the petty worries of living. It is not quite worth our precious time to be toiling for things of material composition or those that are perishable in nature for we can never count on them to build an inner foundation of courage and reason to work out concerns based on several aspects of life. What the wind causes turns out to be a plain influence of breeze which everyone in our planet can cope with at any rate or level. In reality, for instance, working to achieve a desired position in a professed career or to attain high standards of living with abundant monetary wealth appears a common objective of many. However, general experience tells us that man-made schemes such as jobs and economies are changing on a regular basis so that there comes a time when we may find ourselves lacking a great deal of security without them. With an occasional ‘wind’ of the land we all dwell in, the comfort of light breeze is fleeting that it may not sustain the need we have of training to be tough. Finally, “The Snow Man” ends with the last three lines “For the listener, who listens in the snow. / And, nothing himself, beholds / Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.” Hence, if one were to have the sense perception and faith of a ‘snow man’, this individual can certainly engage within a wider scope of truth whether material or immaterial. Even if such man endeavors to be credited of a mind skilled in the acquisition of the ‘seen’ and literal interpretation thereof, he learns and endures the ‘unseen’ just as much for he ‘listens in the snow’, the cold that teaches the wisdom besides the physical aesthetics of the natural world. On the other hand, Stevens’ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” functions as a literary piece in which the ‘blackbird’ is rendered to signify how the reaches of a human mind connect with core mystery of nature. All the verses follow a narrative structure that seems patterned after Zen koans normally intended to be meditated upon for their moral and spiritual values. As may be readily observed in the first brief stanza stating “Among twenty snowy mountains, / The only moving thing / Was the eye of the blackbird”, the blackbird’s eye, which is supposed to be a tiny speck within the vast mountainous region, looks too vivid as though it holds power in the midst of such calm infinity residing in the cold elevated lands. This demonstrates that size matters not especially if we are too sensible to small yet dynamic and peculiar details which the blackbird represents. In the second stanza which states “I was of three minds, / Like a tree / In which there are three blackbirds”, the speaker in the first person viewpoint claims to have had more than a single mind. ‘Three minds’ must be an embodiment of intelligence and to him, having been able to arrive at this stage is comparable to a tree whose potential as a living part of ecological nature may be chiefly derived from the three blackbirds perching on it. Collectively, the three minds can be treated as the id, the ego, and the superego that substantiate each of our individual spheres of consciousness and in that same fashion, the three blackbirds validate the identity of the tree by completing it with their conspicuous presence. Similarly, the contrasts exhibited in the third stanza whereby the line “The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds” apparently opposes the notion of the line “It was a small part of the pantomime” enable us to recall that a ‘whirling’ action produces a sound whereas ‘pantomime’ does not. Either way, nevertheless, the blackbird chooses not where to be designated as it could keep itself in harmony with both sound and silence. This quality is further evident in the fourth stanza which goes “A man and a woman / Are one. / A man and a woman and a blackbird / Are one.” It illustrates that while there emerges oneness between a man and a woman, a blackbird that joins them at any moment would enhance their union rather than make a difference by causing rift or anything that disturbs the peaceful state of unity. At this point, I notice that Stevens has had mysterious yet positive insights on presenting the attributes of the blackbird unlike my usual thoughts of ‘omen’ or ‘bad luck’ in relation to it. By the fifth stanza, the narrator expresses “I do not know which to prefer, / The beauty of inflections / Or the beauty of innuendoes, / The blackbird whistling / Or just after” as if he is caught indecisive between contrasting options of ‘inflections’ that suggest pitch or articulation and ‘innuendoes’ that are more allusive and may require thinking instead of sensing. He agrees, apart from the knowledge of preferences, to the beauty found in both particularly during the span he figures wonderful relevance out of the ‘whistling’ of the blackbird. Moreover, the speaker confesses via the eighth stanza “I know noble accents / And lucid, inescapable rhythms; / But I know, too, / That the blackbird is involved / In what I know.” In this context, the involvement of the blackbird occurs to take on a divine role that discerns the human mind and the poet-speaker, despite taking pride in his own splendid abilities, is in humble recognition of the godly traits which highly manifest through a flying creature of dark color. For me, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” is Stevens’ better literary piece since its tone, content, and overall structure have thoroughly managed to deliver the theme which can be looked at from various perspectives depending on which view of the blackbird most suitably applies to each reader’s unique outlook. I suppose this poem provides a more flexible approach of explicating truths compared to “The Snow Man” as it considers a number of ways by which the concretization of black bird’s mystic existence on earth may be justified. Read More