James Wright's A Blessing
“A Blessing” by James Wright
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break Into blossom.
James Wright composes “A Blessing,” by introducing a narrator who recalls a memory about an experience he had with a friend on a trip around Rochester, Minnesota. On this trip, the narrator and his friend encounter two Indian ponies, one of which appears to make a pronounced impact on the narrator. Rather than describe what the scenery may look like or how his friend is feeling about the trip, the narrator instantly speaks of the ponies and continues to speak of them for the remainder of the poem. However, “A Blessing” leaves many questions to be asked. Why does James Wright decide to only sex one of the two ponies his narrator encounters? Why does he fluctuate between the physical and the mental, which divides the themes in his poem? What does Wright try to accomplish by packing “A Blessing” with alliteration, assonance, and consonance? Is there any identity to be found within his carefully placed lines and what does the reader take away from the varying tenses throughout Wright’s poem?
Wright fills
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break Into blossom.
James Wright composes “A Blessing,” by introducing a narrator who recalls a memory about an experience he had with a friend on a trip around Rochester, Minnesota. On this trip, the narrator and his friend encounter two Indian ponies, one of which appears to make a pronounced impact on the narrator. Rather than describe what the scenery may look like or how his friend is feeling about the trip, the narrator instantly speaks of the ponies and continues to speak of them for the remainder of the poem. However, “A Blessing” leaves many questions to be asked. Why does James Wright decide to only sex one of the two ponies his narrator encounters? Why does he fluctuate between the physical and the mental, which divides the themes in his poem? What does Wright try to accomplish by packing “A Blessing” with alliteration, assonance, and consonance? Is there any identity to be found within his carefully placed lines and what does the reader take away from the varying tenses throughout Wright’s poem?
Wright fills