Metaphorical_Meaning_of__Eagle_Poem_

English 102 June 7, 2013 Metaphorical Meanings: Eagle Poem Within the context of the Eagle Poem, the reader is treated to a dazzling array of metaphorical meanings. Eagle Poem makes use of a device called an extended metaphor. A metaphor is basically a figure of speech that describes an object, idea, person etc., as if it were something else. Moving through the poem, an individual can view varied usages of nature and the eagle to draw the reader into the authors’ spiritual point of view. Joy Harjo, a Native American poet, takes her inspiration from Creek beliefs, via the use of iconic imagery that melded with poetic metaphor gives us a soaringly beautiful piece of poetry. Joy Harjo’s biography and explanation of her beliefs can be found at Poetry Foundation web site www.poetryfoundation.org. Harjo’s peom clearly demonstrates how she is a metaphorical poet due to her use of figurative animalistic and nature based characters as opposed to the first person vehicle usages of a confessional poet whose works tend to be personally emotive rather than introspective. A reader can easily see this by comparing Skunk Hour by Robert Lowell, who is a confessional poet, which while descriptive is still a self involved work. It lacks the instructive metaphor that is employed by Harjo. Lowell’s poem can be found on page six hundred and two, our assigned textbook. Taking a look at her metaphorical usages one should study the opening ten stanzas to see how Harjo uses the idea of “circles of motion” (p. 492) to mean prayer. Harjo uses the starting 2 ten versess, (page four ninety one in the textbook), to evoke the reader to prayer via opening themselves “to sky, to earth, to sun to moon To the one voice that is you.”(Lines one-three) Harjo uses the imagery of everything that is surrounding the reader as a metaphor for a Supreme Being. The reader needs to take in what is around them and communicate with it and stand in awe of it. The second five lines speak of knowing and moments. The meaning here is that prayer is not always answered right away, it comes in starts and stops. This spiritual communication is an ongoing, continuous, cycle like the “circles of motion” (line nine) it has no beginning or end. Note the use of the second person “you”, when it is in use the author needs to instruct the reader in what they would like the reader, to do, feel, or think; the use of metaphor can provide clues to what it is the writer would like the reader to envision. Lines seven and eight tell the reader that the response from their prayers is not always physically tangible the word languages and the partial phrase “That are always sound” (Line eight) advises that the reader should look for the little ways our prayers may be answered and appreciate the small things that life has to offer. . Moving on to the usage of “Eagle” as a metaphor for a higher being, in line10 an eagle is used as allegorical image, it sweeps, soars and circles thru the sky. Joy Harjo’s cultural background is the reason for the use of the eagle, it is a cultural symbol. It was taken from the mythology of her Native American heritage. These symbols, according to Edgar V. Roberts are used by writers to allow the reader to share in the cultural history and traditions that are part of the pool of knowledge that the author pulls from in creating their works. With the usage of the word “wind” (line 12) Harjo develops the idea that the eagle with its majestic “sacred wings”, (line13)creates the, “wind that swept our hearts clean” (line12). At 3 this point, the writer has transformed an animalistic image of an eagle into “Eagle” the spiritual being. Line 14 creates the connection between “Eagle” and ourselves because “Eagle” thru its “soaring”, a metaphor for omnipotence looks down upon the earth and knows of us. It is up to the individual to work at creating a connection to this God like being. Entering the fourteenth thru nineteenth verses, the poet uses the idea of sight to show the respect we should have for nature. Harjo does this by using the word “see” as a metaphor for knows. She tells the reader that the life spirit is all encompassing and in knowing this, the reader should “Breathe in knowing, we are made of All this...” in other words respect Nature. Once the reader sees and then knows of this spiritual realm, blessing through the employment of prayer will be bestowed upon them. Finally, within the ending seven verses, observe how she ties together the idea of the circle and the eagle producing a symbolic meaning. Line twenty one uses the phrase “True circle of motion” as a metaphor for the cycle of birth and death, the eagle is a part of this cycle, it circles on the morning wind, eagle is used as the equivalent of the God like being and the wind that the eagle soars on is our spiritual wind. Harjo’s final three lines enjoin the reader to pray and appreciate the beauty that is life Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo employs the most basic characteristics of metaphorical language. Looking at chapter thirteen on page five hundred and eighty six of Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing by Edgar Roberts the author states that “metaphorical language therefore makes strong demands on our imaginations” in addition to the use of metaphor and imagery this poem used the practice of anaphora, which means to repeat a phrase or word multiple times in order to emphasize a point or idea. This poem uses visual imagery in 4 the form of the eagle soaring to represent the soaring sprit of a god like being; it used the sensory word of Breathe to convey a perception of taking in this Divine Sprit. From the above paragraphs, an opinion can be drawn that Eagle Poem is a metaphorical piece of poetry. Harjo employed the use of extended metaphor throughout the body of the work by using an eagle as an animalistic symbol of a god like supreme. She achieved this thru the use of the term sacred wings and the use of the allegorical image of wind. Thru prayer, a circle of motion is created which is a metaphorical device used to show that a connection was created with this Being. She defined that what this spiritual realm is made from everything in the known world in the phrase “to sky, to earth, to sun to moon To the one voice that is you.”(Lines one-three). Harjo confirms that everything in this world is interconnected and worthy of respect in the “Breathe in knowing..” phrase. This connection to the spiritual world is reiterated as seen above in the final seven verses in particular with the “True circle of motion “sentence. While the bulk of the piece used metaphor, the writing technique of anaphora was also employed in the final two lines of the poem. Harjo chose to repeat the word beauty twice. The author placed these words on two separate lines to emphasize the concept that life is beautiful, interconnected with the spiritual world which needs to be appreciated and should never be taken for granted.