In Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, Wallace Stevens, using 13 stanzas and 246 words, manages to create a poem of deep philosophical and artistic value. Here is a work that well demonstrates the power of poetic language; transcending definite interpretation, like myth, it provides a match and a mirror for the engaged reader. A match, as the verse ignites thought and interpretation, and a mirror, as this process of interpretation (in conjunction with the nature of the verse) allows us to reflect back upon our subjective assignation of value and meaning, offering the opportunity to gain insight through the process. At the risk of sounding too linear, thought builds upon thought and the more we use language to define and create, the more capable of such we become. In the process we discover (and create) who we are and how we perceive the worldwe expound the boundaries of our Stevensian circles (see verse IX and related commentary below) as well as delve into our subjective natures and, perhaps, come to understand that the two are not far removed. Thus a value of philosophical art.
It is my intention with this paper to offer critique on this work. I have no pretensions of being able to do this justice; rather, upon the foundation of pure enjoyment of analysis, writing and critique this is built. I will list each verse below, with commentary.
I. Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.
With this initial verse Stevens has a starting point for inquiry into the subject and its movement through the worldthat is, the relation of consciousness to belief, and the imprisonment of growth that can arise from static belief. This verse is a call-to-armsit is as if Stevens is saying, "Wake up! Descend from the icy peaks, open your eyes and move!" Amongst the rigidity of fixed belief, of strictly demarcated concepts of self and world fostered upon us by the whims of cultural conditioning and the demon Inertia we always have the opportunity to "see" with the eye of the blackbird, and with clear seeing see that we can move into new areas of the world; we just need to melt the ice.
II. I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.
A universal human experience; who hasn't known mental/emotional conflict? Frequently this may result from the icebergs of belief crashing into each other; the past may blind us to the best option in the present. Note the tree metaphor for the bodyupright, connected to the ground and so onas well as metaphor for person expansion; try to find a way to chase the birds from the treefor a while, at least
III. The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.
This verse refers to the dance of persona; as Shakespeare put it, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages." (From As You Like It [II, vii, 139-143]). So many roles, so many different maskswhere is our true face? Do we even have one? How can we find it, how can we strip away the layers of culture and personal historicity and have anything left? Upon what do we ground identity? Is there a reality that may be touched by moving away from pantomime, or is the only reality in store for us the welcoming arms of death?
IV. A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.
Two views come to mind with this, one mystical, the other natural. As pertains to the first, this verse is expressive of that monistic view expounded by mystics across multiple culturesthat we are but shifting patterns on a singular tapestry, jewels in Indra's net, reflecting diverse expressions of that which is, under the illusion of individuality, a unified whole. Leaving aside the question of ontological validity, this is a view that has the potential to heal the wounds inflicted from our unbalanced movement into industrialization. A little recognition of interdependence can go a long way
On a different level, this verse acknowledges our animal nature. Our belief that we are separate from the rest of nature is at the root of the great amount of environmental destruction currently in-effect in our world. Unfortunately, we possess ever-increasing destructive capacity; according to a recent press release by a group of Nobel laureates over 60% of our planet's life-sustaining systems are in jeopardy. From where does this view arise? Perhaps the most impactive cause is the Judeo-Christian attitude towards the natural world; from the stewardship granted by God in Genesis to the neo-Platonic disdain for tangible reality that evolved in Christian doctrine, there is a definite trend towards viewing the world as being something to exploit. Until we throw off the yoke of tacit hatred that such beliefs spawn, we loom under the specter of death, unable to fully embrace and connect with life.
V. I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.
This refers to three vital aspects of the human experience: individuality, creative expression, and the connection to natural existence. "The beauty of inflections"we each express unique modes of speaking, each person is a unique combination of qualities. Seeing the beauty of these individual expressions comes from learning to see what is; when we assume (usually without examination) objective standards to which we evaluate others we hinder our ability to actually see them; the application of the Ideal to the Actual negates both. The process of the idealization of beauty lies at the foundation of, for example, problems of low self-image and resultant effects such as anorexia; woman are bombarded by images of The Ideal Woman, and as time passes they intake so many of these images that they can't but help judge themselves in relation to them. This benefits the capitalistic death machine on its quest to hypertrophy, as dissatisfaction spawns shopping; unfortunately, it is an assault on our humanity, as beauty becomes defined in more narrow, sterile, and near-impossible terms. If beauty is not defined as what we are then the concept is a prison, an assault upon our very existence.
"The beauty of innuendos"innuendo comes from perceptive and creative use of language; this phrase is representative of the creative act itself. As process and being-in-the-moment, creative expression is among the greatest joys. Art can ride many avenues, but they branch from a unified sphereand though art reflects this, there are no adequate words to describe it; in this regard, the medium is the message, and more.
"The blackbird whistling"this represents the call of nature, more specifically the call for the return to naturenot in a retreat-back-to-the-land manner, but rather to return our awareness to the present momentour bodily experience of being here, now. Far too often we may pass long spans of time without ever stopping and feeling our bodies, without looking, seeing, feeling. Our ability to center ourselves in our sensory experience of the present moment equates with our ability to experience reality to the greatest degree possible, that is, free from the matrix of our conceptual interpretations, able to know what is as opposed to what we think.
Additionally this verse pays homage to a certain infrastructure of Being, the interplay of matrix and manifestation. As a wheel's usefulness lies in the emptiness at its center, as a bowl is useful because of the space that allows it to contain, so too does silence allow us to make sound intelligible. In this regard, which to prefer, inflection or innuendothe blackbird's whistle or its cessationsound or silence? Here lies the elegance of dualityevents are known by their opposites.
VI. Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.
Here we have a reference to emotion. Whereas the previous verse deals with beauty, this deals with darker, more painful feelings. We are biological machines, masses of desireand often the conflict between desire and opportunity causes schism and pain. We long, we want, we fear loss and lack of gain, we seek approval, and one thing is surewe will not always get what we want. Sometimes we don't even know what we want traced in the shadow, all we know is dissatisfaction. In times like this life is a weapon, cutting, grindingif we're lucky, we arise from such experiences with greater clarityhere we have initiation through loss (the hand of Kali) and movement into opportunity. If not lucky, we can descend into despair, madness, and destructive behavior.
VII. O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?
Our ideals provide an example of the best and worst that the human mind is capable of. On one hand we can create concepts of great beauty; on the other these same concepts may be used to justify the most horrific of acts. The problem is not inherent in the nature of the ideal itself, but rather in the application: when we reify the abstract we run a grave risk. We may declare ourselves God's chosen, for example, and then enslave people under the justification that they are subhuman or without a soul, or we may condemn another human because they don't measure up to standards that we attempt to universalize, be they applied to class, race, gender et cetera. Perhaps the worst is when we declare the imaginary to be real, and declare the sensible/real to be illusion. From this systems of control are developed where "truth" is in the hands of a few who dole it out for a terrible price, and our history is filled with many ugly examples of what happens when this is the case.
Unfortunately, in a capitalistic society it is in the best interests of those who own the resources to train those who consume the resources to look to them for meaning. An example of this is in advertising: advertisers attempt to create "meaning systems" in which the consumer comes to base their self-esteem with the product soldthey want the consumer to identify with the lifestyle" portrayed (e.g. Nike, Ralph Lauren, et cetera ad nauseam); this is perhaps the most insidious "golden bird" in existence today; when we judge ourselves and others based on possessions we focus on form rather than content, denying life for image.
VIII. I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.
In this case the blackbird may be seen as the participatory interaction between subject and object, the epistemological process involved in what we "know." Here we have the limits of perception, bounded by the parameters of our nervous systems; we can only know that which we are capable of knowing. There may be vast realms of experience and dimension outside of the human, but we are limited by our sense organs and the mind with its interpretive ability. This interpretive faculty is what Kant considered as the a priori "categories of understanding" which are inherent in the function of mind; for example our ability to perceive time and space. It is through these conceptual filters that we structure our perception of reality; these may be seen as the involvement of the "blackbird" as they allow us to know "noble accents and lucid, inescapable rhythms"; without them, experience would be chaotic and evolution impossible.
IX. When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.
Wallace is writing on the nature of subjectivity and its boundarieseach of us may be said to exist at the center of a circle, the boundaries of which are our perceptions. In this verse the blackbird flies from one circle, and at some point will most likely fly into another, while itself being the center of its own circle. When our circles contact we are able to share our experiences as far as words and touch will allowwhile at the same time knowing that, at the center, we are alone.
X. At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.
This stanza deals with the sudden apprehension of natural beauty, those moments where we snap back to the present and directly perceive the beauty that surrounds us.even the most oblivious and jaded of usthe "bawds"experience this. These are the moments that much of traditional Japanese haiku deal with: immediate intuiting of our world.
XI. He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.
From direct perception we move to misperception. Often as we extend our pasts into the present we lost sight of the present; what we expect casts a shadow over what is. This is why the carriage is glassour beliefs can shatter in an instant. An interesting aspect of this is that he saw the shadow beneath him through the glass floorin this case the shadows beneath represent the unconscious, that darkness of mind from which forms arise into the light of consciousness. If our immediate evaluations of experience were based solely on conscious processes then we would find ourselves more able to extend our lives into new areas of operation, new ways of being. Hopefully, as we age we become more able to see our shadows and let them go
XII. The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.
Everything changes. Flux is constant. Stillness may be relatively true but ultimately it is illusory.
XIII. It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.
We get to bear witness to this constant change. The blackbird sits in the cedar-limbs, we are positioned at the center of our circle, and from our vantages we observe. This stanza particularly references the experience of aging; as we sit in the winter of our lifespan we may have opportunity to observe, reflect and share our conclusions. The river moves, the snow falls, and we shift from vitality to decay. Countless circles, countless attributions of meaning, all moving toward the same end, regardless of sameness or difference. How we deal with this speaks more for us than our words ever will.
Here ends my critique of Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.