Great Scarf of Birds
Great Scarf of Birds
John Updike uses thought provoking metaphors with brilliant imagery to lead the reader through his feelings to his complaint of being unloved.
Opening with brilliant, entrancing imagery that describes the distinctions of fall, Updike uses a comparison of red apples caught like red fish, revealing a sense of entrapment felt by the reader. This contrast also shows how he sees that the apple’s fate is dependent of the branch, parallel to the fishes fate and perhaps his own. The rich imagery he employs during the first stanza gives the reader a sense that Updike is surrounded by a peaceful utopia. By using the Bible, a well-known, strong foundation, and comparing it to a large cloud of insignificant dots, he shows the reader once again how much loneliness he feels even if he is immersed in a beautiful utopia. The dots represent his own insignificance and the Bible shows everything greater than him. Just as well, he uses the undulating paper underneath him to show how the world around him is constantly adapting and changing; not waiting for his thoughts or emotions to catch up.
In the third and fourth stanza there is an apparent shift from a pleasant utopia to a darker decaying world. He prepares the reader for his distinctive ending by indicating the large flock of birds coming closer, just as his ending statement. He states that it became less marvelous and larger because to him that is what love once was, and now remains as. Lot’s wife, a biblical character is used to show how he is being punished, frozen in time.
Opening the last stanza with a freethinking bird that leads the flock, creates a metaphor relating to how he has prepared the reader for his ending statement of his lifted yet not restored heart.
John Updike uses thought provoking metaphors with brilliant imagery to lead the reader through his feelings to his complaint of being unloved.
Opening with brilliant, entrancing imagery that describes the distinctions of fall, Updike uses a comparison of red apples caught like red fish, revealing a sense of entrapment felt by the reader. This contrast also shows how he sees that the apple’s fate is dependent of the branch, parallel to the fishes fate and perhaps his own. The rich imagery he employs during the first stanza gives the reader a sense that Updike is surrounded by a peaceful utopia. By using the Bible, a well-known, strong foundation, and comparing it to a large cloud of insignificant dots, he shows the reader once again how much loneliness he feels even if he is immersed in a beautiful utopia. The dots represent his own insignificance and the Bible shows everything greater than him. Just as well, he uses the undulating paper underneath him to show how the world around him is constantly adapting and changing; not waiting for his thoughts or emotions to catch up.
In the third and fourth stanza there is an apparent shift from a pleasant utopia to a darker decaying world. He prepares the reader for his distinctive ending by indicating the large flock of birds coming closer, just as his ending statement. He states that it became less marvelous and larger because to him that is what love once was, and now remains as. Lot’s wife, a biblical character is used to show how he is being punished, frozen in time.
Opening the last stanza with a freethinking bird that leads the flock, creates a metaphor relating to how he has prepared the reader for his ending statement of his lifted yet not restored heart.