The Writer Analysis

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“The Writer” Analysis “The Writer” by Richard Wilbur is a poem that tells the story of a father, the narrator, reflecting on the actions of his daughter. She is a young girl, enticed by writing. Wilbur uses ample amounts of imagery throughout his poem; his first encounter begins in the first stanza with “where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden.” This creates the image of an early morning, and he continues with diction that connotes a boat such as “prow” and “gunwale”. Taking everything into context, the reader creates the image of a boat, going through a phase or passage. His daughter is writing on a type write, and the narrator stops at the stairwells. This image implies that as interested as he is in what she is working on, he is unable to bring up to his daughter that he cares. One can further presume through the simile “like a chain hauled over a gunwale”, that the daughter is glued to her typewriter for some unknown reason, whether it be a merely a hobby, or a result of an internal conflict. Throughout the poem, the daughter takes a few pauses in her writing, which brings the house to complete silence. Wilbur uses the repetition of words that connote a sense of stillness and quietness; these emphasize that there is a cold tone, which supports the claim that there is a tense relationship between the father and his daughter. The constant breaks the daughter is taking while typing sparks a memory within the father. Wilbur utilizes this flashback as an extended metaphor in which is comparing the trapped bird to his daughter. The bird was not only “trapped” in the same room as his daughter, but also struggled to escape. The father and daughter were forced to leave the room with fear of frightening the bird. This represents how fragile the bird, and likewise, the daughter is; the father is internally struggling on how he can help his daughter.
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