Extended Metaphor In The Writer By Richard Wilbur

Richard Wilbur's use of imagery and extended metaphor in "The Writer" help to reveal the that an individual may run into obstacles, but perseverance will help them reach past them.

The Writer by Richard Wilbur uses imagery to exhibit how occasionally people may get trapped in their life, but there's always something positive coming sooner or later. The example "where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden. My daughter is writing a story" shows how the daughter was writing in her darkened room where the source of light came from the window. Although literally, this may seem like her bedroom is merely brightened by the sunlight, but upon further analysis, it suggests that the lightened window is representative of the pleasant life

ahead. Light often takes a positive connotation, whereas various people associate the darkness with sadness and negativity. When one mentions the "light at the end of the tunnel," they're talking about an upbeat period of life after one's hardships. The light emerging from the window symbolizes this and furthers the point of being tenacious to get to the pleasant times of life. Wilbur's use of the light in the window highlights how people will experience a superb life after their hardships.

Furthermore, the use of extended metaphor illustrates how working hard will allow an individual to succeed past hardships.

The extended metaphor in the poem is a starling (a bird). The metaphor is provided by the quote "I remember the dazed starling which was trapped in that very room, two years ago." At first glance, it may appear like the speaker is solely telling a story about a bird stuck in their daughter's room, but upon further analysis, the bird is representative of the daughter. Although the bird could not figure out how to free itself from the bedroom, after continuing to try, it was able to fly out of the window and away from the house. By associating the daughter with the bird, the author was showing how trapped the daughter feels in her life, and how she needs to work harder to get past it. In the poem, the parent wishes the daughter a "lucky passage" because of the "heavy cargo" life she has. The father is encouraging the daughter to work harder to get past the hardships she has in her life, just like how the bird had to try harder to escape from the room. If the bird were not to persevere, it would not be able to get out of the bedroom for maybe the rest of its life. Not persevering relates to if someone, like the daughter, were to run into an obstacle, and not try to get around it. They would never overcome their obstacles and be stuck with it for a significant portion of their life. People can resolve their problems by working hard and persevering, which is

precisely what the starling did.
The extended metaphor of the starling helps show that the daughter will be able to get past any of her difficulties if she works her hardest and never backs down.