The Spirit is too Blunt an Instrument

• Through the poem, “the spirit is too blunt an instrument” Anne Stevenson takes an unorthodox, biological approach to the miracle of birth.
• Through her clinical tone and use of a variety of techniques, Stevenson successfully excludes the romantic, beautiful aspect of birth.
• Stevenson uses techniques to suggest that the spirit isn’t needed to create a perfectly functioning baby.
• The use of an analogy in the quote, “the chain of the difficult spine” is ironic as babies are usually quite flexible due to their incomplete skeletal structure.
• The use of alliteration in the phrase, “blind bones” mimics the loud, chaotic sound of a drum reflecting how loud and chaotic babies are.
• Stevenson describes smaller body parts, “distinct eyelashes” or “sharp crescent fingernails” to emphasize the depth of complexity in the human body.
• Each part of the body contributes to the whole, creating this perfect baby.
• Through the quote, “completed body” we understand that Stevenson could have used the word perfect however, she wants to take away any sense of emotion in order to show how the body is just a finished process.
• The poem consists of three stanzas each nine lines long.
• The poem is composed of free verse so there is neither a rhyme scheme or metrical rhythm.
• Rhyme and rhythm are communicated using literary methods such as enjambent, and asyndeton.
• The effective use of asyndeton reinforces the idea that the process of creation doesn’t need emotion.
• The use of enjambment requires the reader to move onto the next line to find out what happens next.
• There are many parts of the child’s body that aren’t observable and that one needs to “imagine” instead.
• In the last stanza, the tone becomes more assertive hence challenging the reader this is shown through the use of the word, “No”.
• The choice of the word “habit” suggests a routine which links to something mechanical.
• The baby was made perfectly because of habit, not emotion.
• The use of a polysyndeton contrasts the previous stanzas and therefore the speaker communicates their negative emotions about love more clearly.
• The speaker links love to negative feelings and emotions, “despair and anxiety” which forms an antithesis to the perfection of the body.