Who are the main characters? Blackbird, a man, a woman.

What do you know about the topic/story you are reading? I am not familiar with much of Wallace Stevens poetry.

What can you imagine that is not specifically outlined? I can imagine a poet trapped inside of his mind with his thoughts and confusion about his thoughts.

What do you think about what you read? I think the over arching theme is, “why do people seek out that which they cannot have, versus what is right in front of them?”

 How do you feel about what you read? What is your emotional response? I feel like in the winter the blackbird is all that you can see, because other birds have migrated out of sight. So the author is asking why do people want what they cannot see or have? For example in the poem it states “O thin men of Haddam, Why do you imagine golden birds? Do you not see how the blackbird Walks around the feet Of the women about you?” To me this points out how there are blackbirds all around but in the minds of men they are dreaming of the golden birds (women) which are not there. The author is asking why dream of something that does not exist when you have perfectly good birds (women) right in front of you. Also because people are dreaming of or wanting what they cannot have, this creates a cage for their thoughts and traps them inside of their mind. For instance, “Icicles filled the long window with barbaric glass. The shadow of the blackbird Crossed it, to and fro. The mood Traced in the shadow An indecipherable cause.” So because people desire what they cannot have they create this prison for themselves, like in the scene stated above where the icicles are to me symbolizing bars on a jail cell and the shadow of the bird is flashed back and forth to remind us that the prisoner is stuck in here with the reality of the blackbird and will cannot be free to chase the fantasy of the golden bird. This cage or prison theme is carried over to stanza 11, where it says “He rode over Connecticut In a glass coach. Once, a fear pierced him, In that he mistook The shadow of his equipage For Blackbirds.” To me the glass coach symbolizes the cage or prison that people’s minds are trapped in while they try to escape to another mindset. People are using the coach to flee from the reality of the blackbird and to chase after their fantasy, but while on their way to escape reality they are frightened by what they thought were blackbirds. They got scared because their luggage resembled the blackbird shadow and they were afraid that they would never be able to escape reality and to find their dream, they feared the blackbird (who is reality) was going to follow them no matter where they tried to escape to.  

What do you want to learn more about? I wonder why artist people like “blackbirds?” For instance, The Beatles had a song called “blackbird,” Poe had the Raven, and other works focus on the blackbird or Crows, Ravens, etc. Why has this bird become so synonymous with darkness in art forms?

Think about the experiences you have just read about. How would you react if these events happened to you? I would react by looking back at the title “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” The title even states there are more than one way to look at something and see a different answer, so why limit yourself to just one image. I like to look at all angles of viewing something and try to see all sides of the situation, and I think this title supports my reaction.

How does this reading relate to your own life? Well as stated above I try to look at all possible angels, answers, outcomes, etc. I do not like to make rash, rushed decisions. I prefer to analyze things from different points of view to try and see what the best outcome is for me. I never like to just make a closed minded view or opinion of something because I am leaving myself open to missing the point, embarrassing myself with ignorance, or some other negative outcome. It is sad for people to be stuck in a “one way of doing things mentality” because they are missing the opportunity to discover other possibilities to life. I just want to keep myself open to life’s experiences.