The Bird with the Coppery, Keen Claws
The Bird with the Coppery, Keen Claws - meaning Summary
Solitary Contemplative Bird
Stevens' poem presents a singular parakeet as an emblem of stillness and concentrated will. The bird sits above its flock, richly described yet motionless, eating a dry shell while its ornate tails and 'coppery, keen claws' remain unused. The image contrasts decorative, tropical excess with an austere, intellectual calm. The poem suggests a tension between appearance and action, and a quiet sovereignty born of restraint rather than movement.
Read Complete AnalysesAbove the forest of the parakeets, A parakeet of parakeets prevails, A pip of life amid a mort of tails. (The rudiments of tropics are around, Aloe of ivory, pear of rusty rind.) His lids are white because his eyes are blind. He is not paradise of parakeets, Of his gold ether, golden alguazil, Except because he broods there and is still. Panache upon panache, his tails deploy Upward and outward, in green-vented forms, His tip a drop of water full of storms. But though the turbulent tinges undulate As his pure intellect applies its laws, He moves not on his coppery, keen claws. He munches a dry shell while he exerts His will, yet never ceases, perfect cock, To flare, in the sun-pallor of his rock.
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