Richard Wilbur Research Paper

Mary Novak
Mrs. Gaitan-Martin
AP English IV
22 October 2015
Richard Wilbur
Being published since the age of eight, he is a truly successful writer. He is a renowned poet, translator, and was the second United States poet laureate. Richard Wilbur was born on March 1, 1921 in New York City and raised on a rural farm in North Caldwell, New Jersey. Wilbur grew up writing. He started out writing poems as a young boy and through college he “ worked on the school newspaper as a student” (Richard Wilbur Biography - Poem Hunter). In 1942, He graduated from the University of Massachusetts before joining the United States Army to fight in World War II in 1943. During his service, he originally “was in training as a U.S. Army cryptographer” but was later

demoted to a front-line infantry position (Richard Wilbur: Biography and General Commentary). During Wilbur’s front-line position, he was exposed to field combat in France, Italy, and Germany. After his discharge from the Army in 1945, Richard Wilbur attended Harvard University where he graduated and obtained his M.A. in 1947. 1947 was also the year that he published his first book, The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems. He then went on to publish many books, teach at Harvard University and other universities, be awarded many poetry prizes, and founded a publishing company for young poets.
Richard Wilbur finds his inspiration mainly from his life.

Wilbur states that “Most of [his] poems are made out of accumulated thoughts and feelings and perceptions” (Poet Richard Wilbur's Letter About "The Death of a Toad). He writes on how he views things, also on the experiences he has had such as things concerning his childhood which was filled with long days on a farm. Also, some of his poems are motivated by his travels and the great depression. Influence also stems from being faced with combat. A prime example of how field action influenced his work is in his poem The Death of a Toad which was written in 1950. Wilbur was mowing a lawn one day and “mortally injured a toad,” then he went straight into writing about how the toad was injured and how it was gruesome yet elegant; he was “just out of military service” at the time (Poet Richard Wilbur's Letter About "The Death of a

Toad).
A combination of meter, rhyme, and paradoxes is prevalent throughout Wilbur's writing. In his The Death of a Toad, these devices are clearly revealed. The poem is about how a power mower badly clips the leg of a toad and the toad then agonizingly hobbles to the other side of the yard. A loose iambic meter is deployed and gives off very uneven, and rough/heavy sounds which is appropriated by the image of the toad’s struggle. The rhyme scheme of this poem contradicts the harshness of the image and meter by giving the poem a waggish, merry tone. Each stanza starts with an AA couplet followed by a BCBC pattern. This pattern gives off a fanciful tone in order to show an appreciation and praise for the toad. There are two paradoxes in this poem, the first is that the poem is of the toad dying however only in his death is his life revealed. The first two lines of the poem tell of how a “Power mower caught” a toad and “Chewed and clipped of a leg,” then the story tells us how the frog is dying as it is reaching the other side of its “Final glade” and its “Rare original heartsblood goes” (Wilbur, Richard). However, while the toad is dying, the audience learns of its “Banked and staring eyes,” of how the toad’s blood has reached “Ebullient seas” and how his death is a loss to “Amphibia emperies” which reveals he was as royalty (Wilbur, Richard). Through the toad’s spilling blood are we able to see his life. The second paradox argues that the death of the toad is epic and illustrious even though the poem is about an insignificant figure. The poem leads you to believe that crossing the lawn is mighty of the toad and puts it into the light of a royal of hero of “Amphibia emperies” then concludes by explaining the toad is not special, that the toad fades along with the sun as the “Day dwindles, drowning and at length is gone” (Wilbur, Richard).
The poem also utilizes imagery and shifts in order to portray meaning.

According to Richard Wilbur himself, the toad is “representing the primal energies of the Earth, afflicted by the sprawl of our human dominion” (Poet Richard Wilbur's Letter About "The Death of a Toad”). The imagery of “A final glade” and “misted and ebullient seas” is royal and mystical in order to uplift and glorify the toad which represents the earth and its journey but these images contrast with the jarring images of human malady such as “Chewed and clipped” and “Castrate lawn” of the toad’s conclusion (Wilbur, Richard). The first two lines of the poem introduces a shift. The first two lines are of how the mower has mutilated the toad’s leg which represents the damage humans have caused to the earth. Wilbur’s poems have a ”painterly beginning to many of them, as though [he] set a scene in still-life and then start it into motion” (Davidson, Peter). Then raucous tone shifts into one of admiration for the representation of the earth. Humans have damaged the majesty of the

earth.
Richard Wilbur was a poet, soldier, award winner, poet laureate, translator, husband, and father. He portrayed the ideas and stories of his past in his writing and his work was greatly fond of paradoxes. His name has been known ever since it was published in John Martin's Magazine.