Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Paired Things by Kay Ryan

Who, who had only seen wings,
could extrapolate the
skinny sticks of things
birds use for land,
the backward way they bend,
the silly way they stand?
And who, only studying
birdtracks in the sand,
could think those little forks
had decamped on the wind?
So many paired things seem odd.
Who ever would have dreamed
the broad winged raven of despair
would quit the air and go
bandylegged upon the ground,
a common crow?

Analysis

Rhyme is the primary device in the poem, it keeps a steady flow and accentuates the message well.

The first stanza is about the kind of people that are fliers. This could represent anything, such as, positivity, an open mind, dreamers, ect.  By saying "who had only seen wings" the speaker isolates this group into the first stanza. The repetition of who is important because it tells the reader that the question is a true question. The choice of diction by saying "skinny sticks of things" and "backward way they bend" emphasizes who foreign the idea of the ground is to the subject in stanza one. 

The second stanza, in contrast, is about the type of people who are grounded. By saying "who only studying birdtracks" tells us that this group focuses on the ground. To this group, the idea of flight is bizarre, "little forks decamped on the wind". 

Despite the differences of wings and legs, they pair perfectly in birds. The line between the third and fourth stanza hints at the meaning of the poem: "so many paired things seem odd."

The fourth stanza is interesting because the crow is family of birds, which ravens belong to, hence, all ravens are crows. The separation between the "raven of despair" in the air, from the "common crow" on the ground signals that too much of either group is bad. The selected diction to show this is complex: skinny sticks, little forks, despair, common. Each has a negative reinforcement,  but if we combine groups, which we do so rarely, it will be odd, but positive. 

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