Richard+Wilbur

Richard Wilbur was born on March 1, 1921 in New York. He graduated high school in 1938 and college in 1943 and got his B.A. from Amherst, and a M.A. at Harvard. In college he was an editor of the college newspaper, and he also wanted to be a U.S. Army cryptographer. At a young age Mr. Wilbur was also in a war in Italy, France and Germany. After that he started his career that he has today. He has wrote many books and poems and has gotten a lot of recantation for them.



"Molière à La Richard Wilbur." //Greenespace Events RSS //. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.

"Richard Wilbur: Biography and General Commentary." //Richard Wilbur: Biography and General Commentary //. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.

//__Boy at the Window by Richard Wilbur__// Seeing the snowman standing all alone In dusk and cold is more than he can bear. The small boy weeps to hear the wind prepare A night of gnashings and enormous moan. His tearful sight can hardly reach to where The pale-faced figure with bitumen eyes Returns him such a God-forsaken stare As outcast Adam gave to paradise.

The man of snow is, nonetheless, content, Having no wish to go inside and die. Still, he is moved to see the youngster cry. Though frozen water is his element, He melts enough to drop from one soft eye A trickle of the purest rain, a tear For the child at the bright pane surrounded by Such warmth, such light, such love, and so much fear.

"Boy At The Window." //: Boy at the Window //. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.

After reading “Boy in the Window” over and over I have finally figured its true meaning! Writing this poem, Mr. Wilbur’s uses irony as his main figurative language tool to describe the inner thoughts between a boy and a snowman. “The Boy” in this poem is shown to the reader as being a very young and open minded child. Looking out through his window he sees a snowman sitting through the harsh winds of winter. Mr. Wilbur lets the reader see the boy’s innocents when he says phrases like “The small boy weeps to hear the wind prepare” found in stanza one line three, showing that all the boy wanted was for the snowman to be happy warm. I can just imagine how worried the boy was to watch the snowman get smacked with the horrific winds. In the second stanza it showed the snowman’s point of view. Looking into the house, the first thing the snowman saw was a weeping boy and a burning fire. This made the snowman feel pity for the boy, because the snowman’s kryptonite is heat, thus making the snowman want the boy to come outside. Mr. Wilbur also helps the reader see that the snowman feels bad for the boy being next to the hot blazing fire when he says the phrase “He melts enough to drop from one soft eye” found in line thirteen, stanza two. When I completed this poem, it helped me see not just my point of view but others. Also it helped me see that I can’t just assume that if I see someone that is in a position that seems uncomfortable to me, that they are less fortunate, however I loved that this poem helped me open my mind and not just want the best for myself but for others too.

//__The Writer by Richard Wilbur__// In her room at the prow of the house Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden, My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing >From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy: I wish her a lucky passage.

But now it is she who pauses, As if to reject my thought and its easy figure. A stillness greatens, in which

The whole house seems to be thinking, And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor Of strokes, and again is silent.

I remember the dazed starling Which was trapped in that very room, two years ago; How we stole in, lifted a sash

And retreated, not to affright it; And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door, We watched the sleek, wild, dark

And iridescent creature Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove To the hard floor, or the desk-top,

And wait then, humped and bloody, For the wits to try it again; and how our spirits Rose when, suddenly sure,

It lifted off from a chair-back, Beating a smooth course for the right window And clearing the sill of the world.

It is always a matter, my darling, Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish What I wished you before, but harder.



"Sugarbang." //: Monday's Verse, "The Writer" by Richard Wilbur //. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.

In the poem “The Writer” by Richard Wilbur, the speaker is explaining the tough but loving relationship between himself and his daughter. Throughout the beginning of this poem you can see that the daughter has been through a lot when he says phrases like, “Young as she is, the stuff of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy.” This important phrase was found in lines seven and eight. This line basically is saying that he is just a concerned father that knows her adolescence is not ready for real world problems. He does want the best for her when he says “I wish her a lucky passage” found in the proceeding line. In stanza five Mr. Wilbur uses personification when he describes the house as a thinking mind gone mute when he is explaining his daughter silent yet still journey through her train of thought. After talking about the daughter’s train of thought, Mr. Wilbur goes on to comparing his daughter to a bird using metaphors. In these last few stanzas, he explains how there was a bird stuck in a room, and the only reason the bird got out of the dull room was because the door opened and it set itself free. Well he compared that to the daughter saying the only way she will get out of the position she is in is if she spreads her wings and leaves that metaphoric “room” that she is stuck in. I can relate to this poem because it really opened my eyes to how my own father might feel about me spreading my wings and facing the next chapter in my own life. Just like the father in the poem, my father has been watching me from a far and has been doing nothing but wishing me the best of luck on my journey to college and later down the road, womanhood!

"The Writer Analysis." //Richard Wilbur : Summary Explanation Meaning Overview Essay Writing Critique Peer Review Literary Criticism Synopsis Online Education //. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.

The horse beneath me seemed
 * //__The Ride by Richard Wilbur__//**

To know what course to steer

Through the horror of snow I dreamed,

And so I had no fear,

Nor was I chilled to death

By the wind’s white shudders, thanks

To the veils of his patient breath

And the mist of sweat from his flanks.

It seemed that all night through,

Within my hand no rein

And nothing in my view

But the pillar of his mane,

I rode with magic ease

At a quick, unstumbling trot

Through shattering vacancies

On into what was not,

Till the weave of the storm grew thin,

With a threading of cedar-smoke,

And the ice-blind pane of an inn

Shimmered, and I awoke.

How shall I now get back

To the inn-yard where he stands,

Burdened with every lack,

And waken the stable-hands

To give him, before I think

That there was no horse at all,

Some hay, some water to drink,

A blanket and a stall?

"Umbrella: Issue 1, Winter 2006 - Anna Evans on Richard Wilbur's The Ride." //Umbrella: Issue 1, Winter 2006 - Anna Evans on Richard Wilbur's The Ride//. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2016

"Black Horse in Snow." //Flickr//. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2016

In the poem “The Ride”, the author does a good job describing his dream how he is riding a horse through a blizzard. Mentally, he feels indebted to the horse that brought him through the storm, yet it is a debt he has no way to pay. In Wilbur’s poem, the persona seems to be dreaming, and he completely trusts the horse that he is riding. “The horse beneath me seemed to know what course to steer, through the horror of snow I dreamed and still had no fear” I believe in that line, Wilbur was saying that he felt protected with the horse and nothing was able to scare nor harm him. “I rode with magic ease, at a quick stumbling trot, through shattering vacancies, on into what was not.” In this line Wilbur is stating that he rode off into oblivion, to a world where there is nothing. “Till the weave of the storm grew thin, with a threading of cedar-smoke, and the ice-blind pane of an inn Shimmered, and I awoke.” Wilbur is basically stating that he is awoken by a noise and realized it is all gone. “How shall I now get back to the inn-yard where he stands, burdened with every lack, and waken the stable-hands.” He is explaining how he is in distraught that he cannot return to the stable that the horse was in. “To give him, before I think that there was no horse at all, some hay, some water to drink, a blanket and a stall?” In this final statement, Wilbur is sad that he cannot return to the horse to at least pay his debt that he owes for the ride. This poem showed me that dreams are truly magical, and that you should always follow then, because more than likely they are telling you something worth listening to.

Securely sunning in a forest glade,
 * //__A Fable by Richard Wilbur__//**

A mild, well-meaning snake

Approved the adaptations he had made

For safety’s sake. He liked the skin he had:

Its mottled camouflage, its look of mail,

And was content that he had thought to add

A rattling tail. The tail was not for drumming up a fight;

No, nothing of the sort.

And he would only use his poisoned bite

As last resort. A peasant now drew near,

Collecting wood; the snake, observing this,

Expressed concern by uttering a clear

But civil hiss. The simple churl, his nerves at once unstrung,

Mistook the other’s tone

And dashed his brains out with a deftly-flung

Pre-emptive stone.

A Fable" by Richard Wilbur." Emjay09. N.p., 11 Oct. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.

"How a Rattlesnake Kills Its Prey." Animals. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.

From the start Richard Wilbur does an excellent job of transforming this pome into a “fable”, hints the title. The definition of a fable is a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral. This poem is “a fable,” which means that it is a short story that includes animals as characters and conveys a moral. The story is about a personified snake that loves the skin that is on his body, and the environment that he lives in. Mr. Wilbur goes on to talk about how the snakes survives and what he has to do keep himself out of harms reach. The author then goes on to talk about what the snake can do to protect himself but, also lets the readers know that it is not the snake’s intention to hurt anyone or anything unless needed to, which is found in the third stanza. At the end of the poem we reach a climax. The snake has to use all of his strategies to secure his safety when a “peasant” tries to harm him. The first thing the snake does is hiss at the peasant, but not understand what the snake was doing, the peasant kills the snake. You can see textual evidence starting on line 13. This story immediately showed me that a simple misunderstanding in life can play a huge role at the end of the day. The poem opened my eyes to the fact that a lot of people in this world have the mentality of that snake of being misjudged by how they look, or how they live their lives, even if they find their lifestyle comfortable. And the rest of the people in the world in the mentality of the peasant. They always act off of first impression and never try to see the bigger picture things.