The Writer Richard Wilbur Analysis

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Recommended: Understanding richard wilbur poems

Richard Wilbur’s poem, “The Writer”, is a great poem about a father daughter relationship, and the struggles she faces while writing a story. “The Writer” is filled with symbolism and motifs that gives the poem a different understanding. Throughout the poem the narrator makes remarks about the house as though it were a ship. Wilbur used words and phrases like “Like a chain hauled over a gunwale… her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy” (8-10). These phrases and word choice makes it seem as though the narrator is implying that his daughter has started a voyage on a ship, not just a story. Similar speech continues as the poem goes on. Wilbur uses a metaphor of a Starling describing it trapped inside of the room his daughter is in. .

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