A Blessing by James Wright

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A Blessingby James Wright
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Introducing the Poem Literary Focus Imagery
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A Blessingby James Wright
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A BlessingIntroducing the Poem
Horses and children. . . have a lot of the good
sense there is in the world. Josephine
Demott Robinson
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A BlessingIntroducing the Poem
In this poem the speaker and a companion pull off
a Minnesota highway at dusk, where two ponies
graze in a pasture. The scene inspires an
unforgettable sense of connectedness with nature.
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A BlessingLiterary Focus Imagery
Imagery is language that appeals to our senses.
By using imagery, poets

• excite our emotions and our imaginations

• help us see things in new ways

• re-create experiences for readers

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A BlessingLiterary Focus Imagery
Imagery that appeals to the sense of sight is the
most common in poetry. However, imagery can
appeal to any of the five sensessight, hearing,
smell, touch, and taste.

• sight the speckled frog nested in the tender
  bloom

• hearing the drumroll of thunder

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A BlessingLiterary Focus Imagery

• smell the stench of rotting garbage

• touch words that stung like thistle thorns

• taste the friendship soured

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A BlessingLiterary Focus Imagery
Imagery can also appeal to multiple senses at the
same time.
honey-sweet bloom of innocence
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A BlessingQuickwrite
Make the Connection
Close your eyes, and try to visualize something
in nature. Describe what you are seeing. You
could be describing something as big as the sky
or as small as an ant, as soft as a rabbit or as
squishy as a swamp, as . . . Well, youve got the
idea. Explain how what you are describing makes
you feel.
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Meet the Writer
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A BlessingMeet the Writer
James Wright (19271980) often wrote about the
places in his life, including Minnesota, where he
taught college for eight years, and Ohio, where
he grew up during the Great Depression. He
received the Pulitzer Prize for his poetry in
1972.
More About the Writer
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