Beginning by James Wright p. 290

The first two lines personify nature in a strange way that made me continue reading the poem. With those two lines, James Wright presents a quiet, breezy setting in nature, where all things in nature are alive. Wright draws readers’ attention to the way he arranges the first four lines in his poem – the first being long, then the following lines getting shorter until there is only one word “Now.” The atmosphere and setting being presented are intense yet peaceful. Readers therefore feel anxious for something that is simple as the “moon’s young” learning to flap their wings. In this sense, Wright turns something simple in nature into something that captures curiosity and fascination – something that is worth wasting time for. In the next line, Wright describes a woman as slender to blend in with the delicacy of nature as portrayed through words such as moon, feathers, wheat, and young. The woman’s shadow of her face is said to be “lovely.” Such choice of words shows Wright’s praise for nature. The woman then “steps into the air” and gradually disappears. In this sense, the woman is with nature and part of nature. Even more so, she is engulfed by nature. The next line presents the appearance of the speaker “alone by an elder tree.” Although the speaker is described as being alone, he is not by himself for nature is there with him. Standing next to an elder tree, the speaker restrains from all human physical activities to “listen” to nature. The last line talks about darkness, which has a negative tone. However, darkness here seems to be a personal zone of hope and happiness where there nature is evident and where there might be a beginning.