A Blessing Poem by James Wright

Mardhatillah 1 Nur Rizka Mardhatillah Maria Niayu Risma ENC1102U online section 7th of March 2019 Depiction of Loneliness in James Wright “A Blessing” James Wright tries to show a relation between human and nature from the meeting of speakers and ponies. The speaker and his friend are depicted as being on his way to success which interpreted by Rochester, Minnesota. But in the middle of the trip, they were exhausted and take a break in the twillight atmosphere. Implicitly, the break here can be interpreted as frustrating because the word “twillight” means a sort of hazy or gloomy. Not far where the speaker is resting, there is a forbidden zone. There are an unusual tree and two ponies. It cannot be denied if the speaker is very easy to be interested in ponies. Because, the spekaer is in a frustrated zone where is very easy to falter to try new things. Morever, ponies show an emotion that is almost the same as the speaker, namely loneliness. The emotion is described by depicted an object. The loneliness is depicted by the words darken, willow, and loneliness itself. Darken, shows a negative atmosphere. The word “darken” in the line 4—“Darken with kindness”—implies something evil or wrong. However, the eyes of the two ponies grew with affection when they realized that the speakers have come to their world. Ironically, the ponies are stared by \"barbed wire\" which the speaker is step over. The wire looks like a sign if this is the forbidden zone. From a distance, the ponies are in a sad atmosphere until the speaker stepped over the wire, the ponies showed a kindness. Although kindness is not written clearly as it is intended. But implicitly, the speakers see them move their muscles like a happy pony.

Mardhatillah 1 Grazing throughout the day and no friends interacting makes them feel lonely. It seems like they have difficulty holding back the excitement when they see people coming over. “They have come gladly out of the willows” (Line 5) is emphasizing the meaning of loneliness. The speaker see a tree that is not just any tree, namely willow. Willow is a tree that has branch and leaves cover almost of the main steam. The leaf is not like a common leaf. It is like a raindrops that are falling to the ground from the drooping branches. Willow shows a negative atmosphere also, because the leaves like the ponies’s prison. The tree is isolate their interaction with outsider. So that, the word “gladly” interpret their joy when they can go out from the tree. Loneliness, gives a negative atmosphere also because it is a negative expression of solutide. Even though it is not symbolized by other objects, line 12—“there is no loneliness like theirs”—is very clear if the ponies are lonely. Loneliness is meant here not only because they do not have friends but also emphasizes the meaning of being like other ponies and human by the barbed wire fencing. Aside from that, line 8—“where they have been grazing all day, alone”—conveys the same thing. The word \"alone\" in the line 8 seems intentional to confirm the meaning of loneliness. Beside it all, there is still one thing that blocks. Line 11 shows the love of ponies by personifying it as a wet swan. But line 12 is very contradictory with the line before. They are together but feel lonely. The relationship between the two intertwined ponies is apparently not enough to meet their social needs. Thus, the word \"loneliness\" is interpret an empty or aimless because their social interaction is not enough. James Wright successfully despicted a loneliness of the ponies. He use a personification and metaphor to support the allusion’s diction. He wants to show a loneliness can occur if someone in the isolation zone or lack of attention. So that, he describes a pony like a human because the effect is really harmfull. Implicitly, James Wright wants to convey if social interaction is really needed to reduce a loneliness.

Mardhatillah 1 Work Cited Wright, James. “A Blessing” Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46481/a-blessing. Accessed on 26th of February 2019.