Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens

Okay, this is going to be the best poetry blog imaginable. Mostly, of course, because I fully believe this excellent poetry blog will raise my grade 1.6% or so, giving me that final grade I need for the honors diploma. We'll see, haha.

This poem I looked at in my poetry packet and after reading the first stanza turned to the next poem but I decided that if I put some time into it I could understand it. It took a little research, but I think I finally get it. The blackbird is a common symbol of hidden secrets, or wisdom and intelligence. The number 13 in the title is significant because religiously it is considered an odd number. It usually is seen as bad luck and holds many mysteries. So then the title really could mean "unusual ways of looking at the mysteries of intelligence" perhaps.

Stanza I begins very literally, describing a mountain side in which the only thing moving is the "eye of the blackbird." The eye is supposed to represent the all-knowing ways of the universe that, apparently, only the blackbird knows of.

Stanza II talks of "three minds" that the narrator is a made of. There were a couple interpretations I read online that suggested Stevens is talking about Freud's theory of the three parts of human conscious- the id, ego, and superego. Stevens then makes that a metaphor "like a tree/ in which there are three blackbirds." I believe this metaphor means that the blackbird understands each part of the human brain.

Stanza III gives the blackbird a sense of helplessness. He was "whirled" around by the wind, only a small part of the cycle of life. The blackbird perhaps doesn't want to be the symbol he is, or doesn't want to know what he does, but yet he is part of a bigger picture.

Stanza IV evolves from the idea of the bigger picture comparing how "a man and a woman/ Are one" to the universe. Just as "A man and a woman and a blackbird/ Are one." This interpretation of the blackbird displays the belief that everything is a part of the "oneness" of the universe.

Stanza V is my favorite stanza. It says "I do not know which to prefer,/The beauty of inflections/ Or the beauty of innuendoes,/ the blackbird whistling/ Or just after." This stanza talks about inflections of speech, such as the whistles of the blackbirds of the speaking of humans and also the beauty of silence. I think Stevens here is looking at his fifth way to look at Blackbirds is to listen to the silence that follows the song.

After stanza V there is a tone shift. It shifts from observational and calm, to somewhat darker, mysterious, and fretful.

Stanza VI echos stanza V. This stanza was the most difficult for me to wrap my mind around it. I think the first 4 lines are, as stated in stanza V, inflections. They are vivid descriptions of a cold, and almost broken world. The last three lines are the "innuendos." "The mood/ Traced in the shadow/ An indecipherable cause." I think this stanza means humans tend to see the "inflections." We see the broken houses and world, but we don't understand it. Stevens is saying that blackbirds understand all the mysteries of the world. They understand the underlying mood, when humans tend to only understand the tone. It also is the first case of the classic study of cause and effect, the humans noticing the effect, and the birds understanding the cause.

Stanza VII begins with the apostrophe to the people of Haddam. Haddam is a town south of where Stevens grew up. Though it's pretty far away, it's somewhat similar to us talking to the people of Denver, or maybe even Fort. Collins, it's just a neighboring town. He calls the men "thin," which isn't literal, but rather refers to their lack of perspective. He asks why they "imagine golden birds?" Basically, in this stanza he asks why they are never happy with what is around them and why they cannot appreciate the beauty of the blackbird, just as they under appreciate the intelligence of women.

Stanza VIII is interesting. Stevens begins by saying "I know noble accents." The first thought could be that there is a sense of ego in Steven's self-image, but realistically he is a Harvard graduate and a professional writer, so I would hope he would know the most eloquent language. What he goes on to say is one of the main themes of the poem. He says that even though he knows all these things about language, he doesn't know anything that the blackbird doesn't. What he means by this is that men struggle with the language of men, but the blackbird speaks the language of the universe. This also demeans education in a way. Despite how learned you are, if one cannot understand nature and the basics of the world their intelligence is void.

Stanza IX introduces the phase of death into the previously mentioned cycle of life. Stevens uses the symbol of the circle, meaning the entire cycle of life and existence. He says that the blackbird "marked the edge." Now to be honest, this stanza I understand the surface level interpretation but beyond that I am a little lost. I do not understand how the blackbird defines life by defining death. It's all very confusing, but I'm thinking that Stevens is saying that the blackbird doesn't actually die. Yes, individual blackbirds die but as a whole they remain as human lives fade in and out and their all-knowing eye mentioned in the first stanza remains.

Stanza X introduces another tone shift. Here is introduced a sense of fear and guilt. The "green light" mentioned reminds me of the hue left after war or famine. It is a common reference, I believe, to death and destruction. Stevens goes on to say that "Even the bawds of euphony/ Would cry out sharply." Euphony being language or sounds that are pleasing. So he is saying that even the sweetest sounds humans can make would turn in to shrill cries when the blackbirds are sighted, here the blackbird representing our conscious of our guilt.

Stanza XI continues the theme of guilt as a man is described riding through Connecticut in a glass carriage, but mistakes shadows of his carriage as the blackbirds coming for him. Like in the tenth stanza, here the black bird is used for a symbol of death, like the ravens that clean the fleshes of corpses. It's pretty morbid. Stevens here talks about living in sin, or in a state of guilt, and trying to ignore that and live a life that seems great in your glass carriage, but your whole life you will be haunted by the shadows of fears. It's really a fantastic stanza.

Stanza XII is the most simple of the thirteen. It is another cause and effect relationship. He says "The river is moving/ The blackbird must be flying." The river is a symbol for life and as long as it is flowing, intelligence, or the blackbird, must be flying.

Stanza XIII concludes the poem with death. It's a very happy sort of poem. He mentions evening and snow beginning to fall, which is a metaphor for the final stages of life. After the death occurs, Stevens writes "The blackbird sat/ In the cedar limbs." I think this final stanza ties everything together. In a majority of the stanzas the blackbird is a symbol for intelligence, but in the last few it is a symbol for death and in the final stanza Stephen wraps it together making it a symbol for both. The blackbird was present for the death but in the form of intelligence it still remains. Meaning after we die, our intellect and our contributions still remain. Now this interpretation is not really anything I found online but it made the most sense to me otherwise the symbols change throughout the poem, which can happen, but I feel like the bird is really symbolizing both in the final stanza.