Last Songs~

Last Songs
by: Galway Kinnell
pg.296 -297



This poem caught my eye after looking after so many poems for the right one because the title “Last Songs” was an unusual title that has no description of what is to come in the poem. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the title’s vagueness had a sort of mystery factor to it that made me curios enough to stop and read it. It was interesting that the poem was divided in to sections that are numbered. (part 1 and part 2) I like how the first word is a question already..already questioning the reader… The word las is repeated to emphasize the last song of the birds of the day. The imagery is very delightful to my taste because it definitely paints out a picture in my mind when I read the words used to describe the birds flight and its relationship to the night. (“frayed wings curved on the world like a lover’s arms…”) I also like how the words “frayed wings” are in a separate lines in order to emphasize that the wing of the bird is very important for making night perhaps. The second part begins with the word “silence” and that is all…silence. And also the word “ashes” follows it perhaps trying to emphasize the theme of death in the poem. The words silence and ashes usually pertain to the issue of death. One also needs to keep in mind the title “Last Songs” which could also have the underlying theme of death surrounding night as well as ashes. I particularly liked the last sentence about only reinventing these humane feelings trough song. As if song was the passage into heaven in some strange sort of way.