Kaylee Sims

Thirteen Ways of Looking at ______________________

Assignment modeled after Carol Jago’s With Rigor for All
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Wallace Stevens

I Do you not see how the blackbird Once again, the author
presents the idea that what
Among twenty snowy mountains, Walks around the feet nature already has is far
superior to what man can
The only moving thing Still scene.. With focus on Of the women about you? dream up
Was the eye of the blackbird. the blackbird to start off
the poem
VIII
II I know noble accents
I was of three minds, Simile.. The blackbirds exist And lucid, inescapable rhythms; Man-made
independently, but all live in the tree.
Like a tree But I know, too,
In which there are three blackbirds. That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.
III Imagery
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds. IX
It was a small part of the pantomime. When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
IV Of one of many circles. Horizon, perhaps?.. Circles
refers to the speaker's vision.
A man and a woman
Are one. Marriage? X
Women in charge of
A man and a woman and a blackbird At the sight of blackbirds brothels
A pleasing sound

Are one. Coexisting with nature, perhaps.. Flying in a green light,

V Would cry out sharply.
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.
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.
VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Sounds vs implications...
Sometimes we romanticize
memories more than the
actual event
Implication that nature is
superior to manmade devices
Even the bawds of euphony
Once again... A natural
sight > manmade sounds
XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach. Wealthy man The man views
Once, a fear pierced him, blackbirds as haunting,
or perhaps the fact that
In that he mistook he recognized his own
The shadow of his equipage horse and chariot as
something else.
For blackbirds.
XII
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.
XIII
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
 Thirteen Ways of Looking at ______________________
Assignment modeled after Carol Jago’s With Rigor for All
The blackbird sat In the cedar-limbs.
! Complete a close reading of the poem, complete with annotations and notes.
! Now, you will write a poem modeled after Stevens’s form – looking at a CHARACTER
from thirteen different perspectives.
! Your instructor will assign your character, which you will write in the blank at the top of
this page. On the bottom of this page, you will PLAN the assignment, by laying out the
thirteen different ways you wish to describe the character.
! You will type the final copy of your modeled poem and submit it as instructed.

1. Introduce Ungit as the 7.

Ungit is jealous of Psyche... First, her
bloodthirsty goddess of people, then, her son.
Glome

2. Imagery describing the valley where 8. The mortals are ignorant, as they claim
the gods are believed to live mere poetry and flawed logic over the
power of the gods.

3. Introduce the relationship 9. Ungit gives work to Psyche

between Ungit and Cupid/The and pain to Orual
Beast/God of the Mountain.

4. The woman seeks comfort 10. The people receive comfort from Ungit —
from the shapeless mound.. yet Oural only hates.

5. Cupid marries Psyche.. 11. Ungit reveals she lives

Ungit is jealous within Oural.

6. 12. Orual's claims are silenced in

Goddess watches Psyche betray her the face of Ungit
husband

13. Paradox about Psyche's sacrifice, with

Ungit's girls present...

Cold, mountain air with a sacrificial flame.

THEME: GODS > MORTALS... Just as nature > man's progress

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Ungit
Kaylee Sims

I VII
The goddess of Glome looks down, The cruel, beautiful sister
All is vain, all is corrupt, Stole the devotion of the goddess's son,
All but her temple, Of her people,
Full of blood. Yet she was not content.

II VIII
To the charming house Woe to the mortals who wallow in ignorance.
found adjacent They speak of mere poetry
To the stream And flawed logic,
found between mountains, As the true ruler watches.
Glome's grandest palace cannot compare.
IX
III Sacrifice will not be enough.
Mortals have not seen uncorrupt love. Ungit bestows toil upon the sister,
They have not seen the fierce passion between Pain upon the queen.
The faceless mother
And the divine son, X
Ungit Ungit, malevolent and benevolent,
And the Beast. In exchange for blood,
Gives peace.
IV
An elegant statue is arrogantly erected, XI
Comfort comes from the shapeless image. Mirrors show obediently
The beautiful goddess Ungit
V Resides within the ugly queen.
The son's devotion is given to another,
The beautiful sister, whom the people worship. XII
The queen spews ignorance.
VI In the face of the faceless goddess,
The goddess watches. All claims are answered.
An ignorant mortal comes,
Full of malice, XIII
And causes the sister to betray the god, A chill in the air, with warmth from a flame.
Her love, Masked girls sing;
The divine son. The king weeps.