What is the theme of To a Waterfowl?
What is the theme of To a Waterfowl?
In ‘To a Waterfowl,’ William Cullen Bryant engages with themes of solitude, religion, and one’s purpose in life. The speaker spends the poem celebrating the strength and determination that the waterfowl shows in the sky. It flies on, despite its solitude and the nature of the cold night.
What is the rhyme scheme of to a waterfowl?
If you’ve read our “Form and Meter” section, you know that each stanza in the poem has a rhyme scheme of ABAB (where each letter represents that line’s end rhyme). This ensures that the first and third lines of each stanza are connected in some way (via sound, if not other things).
What is the power in to a waterfowl?
The waterfowl represents the human soul lost in this world, and the “Power” is God guiding us to where we belong. This poem portrays his meaning excellently and with little thought the reader can see that the flight of a waterfowl can echo their own journey to a better place.
What lesson does the bird in to a waterfowl teach the narrator?
The waterfowl in the poem does not need to be in a flock like one of the geese that fly over my house every late fall and spring. In the poem, the bird is by itself but it will still get to where it needs to be. I totally agree that the poem is saying that you should trust in God.
What picture is presented in the poem to a waterfowl?
The poet tells the bird that it is gone, that it is “swallowed up” in the heavens. However, the image of the bird leaves a message in the poet’s heart. The poet feels that the same Power that guides the bird from one area to another will guide him in the right path in his solitary journey through life.
What questions does the speaker ask the waterfowl in the first three stanzas?
In the first stanza of “To a Waterfowl,” the speaker asks the bird where it flies on its own at the close of day. The sunset that accompanies the bird is richly described as glowing and rosy. The word “whither” is an archaic adverb meaning “to where” which can mean literally to what place, as well as what state.