The Great Scarf of Birds

"The Great Scarf of Birds" Analysis

by John Updike

by Taylor Thrasher and Raven Thompson

Literal Meaning

• I was playing golf when I saw something significant.
• The trees were colorful. There were lots of birds flying through the air in "v" formations. They were probably there because of the nearby salt marsh.
• Suddenly a huge group of birds appeared, flying together as if they were one being.
• As they came closer, it was easier to see the individual birds.
• My friends said that he had never seen so many birds.
• The stretch of grass in front of us was covered by a giant shadow created by the birds.
• One bird flew up, and the rest seamlessly followed. The way the mass of birds moved made it look like a scarf being thrown aside.

Playing golf on Cape Ann in October

I saw something to remember.

Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets

of their branches. The maples

were colored like apples,

part orange and red, part green.

The elms, already transparent trees,

seemed swaying vases full of sky. The sky

was dramatic with great straggling V's

of geese streaming south, mare's-tails above them.

Their trumpeting made us look up and around.

The course sloped into salt marshes,

and this seemed to cause the abundance of birds.

As if out of the Bible

or science fiction, a cloud appeared, a cloud of dots

like iron filings which a magnet

underneath the paper undulates.

It dartingly darkened in spots paled, pulsed compressed, distended yet

held an identity firm: a flock

of starlings, as much one thing as a rock.

One will moved above the trees

the liquid and hesitant drift.

Come nearer, it became less marvellous,

more legible, and merely huge.

"I never saw so many birds!" my friend exclaimed.

We returned our eyes to the game.

Later, as Lot's wife must have done,

in a pause of walking, not thinking

of calling down a consequence,

I lazily looked around.

The rise of the fairway above us was tinted,

so evenly tinted I might not have noticed:

but that at the rim of the delicate shadow

the starlings were thicker and outlined the flock

as an inkstain in drying pronounces its edges.

The gradual rise of green was vastly covered;

I had though nothing in nature could be so broad but grass.

And as

I watched, one bird,

prompted by accident or will to lead,

ceased resting; and, lifting in a casual billow,

the flock ascended as a lady's scarf,

transparent, of gray, might be twitched

by one comer, drawn upward and then;

decided against, negligently tossed toward a chair:

the southward cloud withdrew into the air.

Long had it been since my heart

had been lifted as it was by the lifting of that great scarf.

Figurative Language

Imagery

"elms, already transparent trees", "grest straggling V's", "part orange and red, prat green"

allows the reader to visualize what the narrator is seeing

Simile

"elms...seemed swaying vases full of sky"

also helps the reader visualize the scene

"as if out of the Bible or science fiction"

makes the appearance of the flock of birds seem dramatic and other-wordly

The Meaning

In the first section of the poem, the narrator sees nature as beautiful and is mesmerized by it, especially the magnificen, graceful flock of birds.

More Figurative Language

Diction

"less marvelous, more legible, and merely huge"

Once the flock comes nearer to the speaker, he becomes less enchanted by it and seems disappointed. It doesn't seem great or exciting any more, just big.

In the second section of the poem, the flock flies toward the golf course that the narrator is playing on. As the flock moves closer, it becomes less impressive to the narrator. Later on, as the birds are resting on the fairway, the narrator carelessly looks around at them. At this point, the narrator can't comprehend the nature that surrounds him, which dissapppoints and confuses him. This represents the mystery of nature.

The Allusion

In the third section, one bird flies off, and the rest follow. They once again seem to merge into one being, moving as if it were a scarf being tossed aside. This casual and everyday comparison contrasts the awe that the narrator once again feels for the birds, emphasizing the incomprehensibility of nature.

In line 29, the narrator states that he looked at the birds "as Lot's wife must have done". He says that he wasn't "thinking of calling down a consequence".

Poetic Form

• It is a narrative poem and is written in first person.

Attitude

This is an allusion to the story of Lot's wife in the Bible:

Two angels tell Lot to flee from the city of Sodom. Against the angels' orders, Lot's wife looks back at the city as it is being destoryed and turns into a pillar of salt.

• The structure isn't very consistent:
• 3 stanzas have 2 lines, and the rest have between 6 and 11 lines.
• This emphasizes the couplets and divides the poem into three sections.

In the beginning of the poem, the narrator's attitude is enchanted and awe-struck.

The allusion implies that the narrator thinks that he should not have looked around at the birds. He sees his action as careless.

In the middle of the poem, the narrator's attitude changes to disappointed and regretful.

At the end of the poem, his attitude changes back to fascinated.