Bird Trapped Essay

1361 Words6 Pages
The poem “Bird, trapped” was written by a South African poet Leon de Kock. This particular poem can be read in three very different ways namely the very literal religious aspect, the entrapment of society and/or the difficulty of writing a poem. In this essay a critical analysis will follow paying particular attention to the subject, theme and imagery of the poem and how it relates to the three different ways of reading the poem. Looking at the poem out of a religious point of view, the subject of the poem is man fighting his way out of this narrow path of life set by God. The theme reflects man’s vulnerability and how fragile life can be. I will show that this poem speaks about trusting God and trying to fighting against death and God is pointless. The poem also serves as a warning to people, who choose not to put their trust in God. God is looking from the outside of one’s life and He wants to help man and show man the bigger picture to this path, but He cannot. Men who do not follow the pathway set by God then inevitably fail, as the poet states in line 14 when he refers to “death”. The imagery contributes directly to the spiritual aspect of the poem’s religious viewpoint. The tone of this poem, out of the religious point of view, is morbid because it directly reflects on the spirituality of the modern day man. The religious aspect is again clearly seen through the use of words, such as “God” (line 2) and “mortal” (line 5). The writer uses a simile to envision himself as God and then sets the bird equal to man. The writer further plays on the religious imagery, by comparing the path of righteousness to a “chimney” (line 1) and a “narrow channel” (line 3), which in turns invokes the image of the difficulty of walking the path of righteousness. “Where he beats against the walls” (line 4) indicates that it is in people’s nature to try and do everything in their

More about Bird Trapped Essay

Open Document