At Least Two Essays, Part Deux

Allow me to include a brief author's note before my essay (however, nothing is really brief when I say/write it). Whilst writing my first essay, I felt quite confident in my poetry-essay writing and my arguments. I wrote it sitting outside on this lovely day. I posted it. I took a break. I chose this essay a few hours later. I ended up hating the prompt and not being fond of the poem after reading it a million times. I couldn't bear to start over with a new prompt after all I had done trying to figure this one out (an essentially straightforward prompt, really). This essay is not great-- I say that not as defense, nor as an excuse, but...more like a warning. I've been feeling pretty good about my poetry reading and writing this past week or so, but for some reason, this one is giving me problems (even though the prompt itself isn't hard). So. Blah, blah, blah, I apologize ahead of time to anyone that may be offended by my less-than stellar performance. There are parts that I left unfinished, so if anyone has ideas, I welcome them. On a lighter note, I just learned that iguanas have a third eye. Cool.

"Evening Hawk" by Robert Penn Warren

From plane of light to plane, wings dipping through

Geometries and orchids that the sunset builds,

Out of the peak's black angularity of shadow, riding

The last tumultuous avalanche of

Light above pines and the guttural gorge,

The hawk comes.

               His wing

Scythes down another day, his motion

Is that of the honed steel-edge, we hear

The crashless fall of stalks of Time.

The head of each stalk is heavy with the gold of our error.

Look!  Look!  he is climbing the last light

Who knows neither Time nor error, and under

Whose eye, unforgiving, the world, unforgiven, swings

Into shadow.

          Long now,

The last thrush is still, the last bat

Now cruises in his sharp hieroglyphics.  His wisdom

Is ancient, too, and immense.  The star

Is steady, like Plato, over the mountain.

If there were no wind we might, we think, hear

The earth grind on its axis, or history

Drip in darkness like a leaking pipe in the cellar.

2006 Poem “Evening Hawk” (Robert Penn Warren)

Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poet uses language to describe the scene and to convey mood and meaning.

          Robert Penn Warren’s poem, “Evening Hawk,” relies heavily on imagery and description to convey the mood and meaning of the work. The language and techniques—i.e., imagery, metaphor, simile, diction—employed in this piece thoroughly describe the scene.  Warren’s choice of highly symbolic and descriptive words, inclusion of metaphors and similes, and abundant visuals also enhance the conveyance of the poem’s significance.  

Imagery, as mentioned above, is easily the most conspicuous and important vessel for mood and meaning in “Evening Hawk.” The visual imagery that Warren includes sets the scene: a hawk is gliding through the evening in a very natural setting, as the sun sets on the world. The imagery is also layered; many of the visuals are symbolic of something relating to the passage of time, human nature/error, and history.

 The hawk itself appears to be a metaphor; perhaps representing time or the evening itself. This extended metaphor runs alongside quite a few other metaphors in the poem. The passage of time is a major part of this poem’s significance, and metaphors such as the hawk’s wing being a scythe that cuts down the day communicate this quite effectively. Similes, like metaphors, are used as very visual comparisons in this poem. For example, in the last stanza, the speaker states, “we might,…hear…history Drip in darkness like a leaking pipe in the cellar.” The poem compares the abstract elements of the poem (namely the passage of time) to more familiar ideas (the hawk, a scythe, a leaky pipe) via its metaphors and similes.  By doing this, one can not only easier fathom such intangible things, but also gather deeper meaning as s/he relates something such as time to a tangible, symbolic object.

Warren’s diction in the poem is intelligent, and he chooses words that are highly symbolic. The word choice reinforces the fact that the body of the poem is imagery-laden. The first stanza establishes the setting: “dipping through Geometries and orchids that the sunset builds, Out of the peak's black angularity of shadow, riding The last tumultuous avalanche of Light above pines and the guttural gorge…” The third stanza also establishes the philosophical, meditative mood of the poem (“…he is climbing the last light Who knows neither Time nor error, and under Whose eye, unforgiving, the world, unforgiven, swings Into shadow.”).