line by line analysis

• lines 1-5

  • metaphorically compares human spirit to "blunt," or dull/clumsy—"instrument." Such a tool couldn't possibly "have made this baby."
  • marvel @ "intricate" perfection of child's body, presented as akin to a carefully crafted work of art.
  • The "spirit" - hammer / dull knife clumsily thwacking away @ block of marble or wood; delicate, detailed infant requires much more dexterity & finesse than the spirit can muster.
• "The spirit is too blunt an instrument to have made this baby."

  • Alliteration and intricate consonance contribute to emphatic tone (plosive in "blunt" and "baby" and to the sharp, crisp /n/ and /t/ sounds)
  • subtle assonance between "made" and "baby." - opening line striking & memorable
  • enjambment: pushes the reader swiftly across the line break, leaving no time to question the spirit's supposed "bluntness." Line 2 then comes to a clear pause with the full stop after "baby," adding a sense of firmness and finality to the speaker's argument.
• "Nothing so unskilful as human passionscould have managed the intricateexacting particulars: [...]"

  • crisp /p/, /t/, and /k/ sounds, the sharpness of which evokes the dexterity being described
  • Lines 3-5 are also all enjambed, giving the poem a burst of momentum and excitement that perhaps suggests the speaker getting wrapped up in the wonder that is the baby's body.
  • This speed is then curtailed by the pronounced caesura in line 5, colon after "particulars." dramatic pause signals reader speaker about to launch into a list of the "particulars"
• lines 5-9

  The speaker goes on to describe those "intricate / exacting

  particulars" in great detail, and they also emphasize just how

  connected these "particulars" are. That is, the speaker calls

  attention not only to the body's distinct parts, but to the way

  that each of those distinct parts depends on, and strengthens,

  one another
• • The speaker first mentions the baby's "tiny / blind bones." The /b/ plosive adds emphasis to this image, which suggests that the body, unlike the min or spirit, doesn't know what it's doing; like a earthworm or mole moving blindly through the dirt it's working purely from instinct.
  • These bones, the speaker continues, are controlled by "tendons" (or ligaments), the effects of which can be seen in the "knee" and in the "knucklebones." The alliteration in "knee" and "knucklebones" again adds rhythm to the poem and emphasizes the way these individual parts of the body are connected.
• • The next images further emphasize the connected nature of the body as the speaker describes "the resilient / fine meshings of ganglia and vertebrae." Ganglia" are clusters of nerve cells whil "vertebrae" are the bones and cartilage that mae up the spine. These mesh together to create a delicate yet sturdy web.
• • "chain" spine - imagery provides clear sense of how these "vertebrae" interlock, ALSO suggests strength that comes frm "chain"
  • "spine" is "difficult" great deal of precision — slightest error in its development cld mess up whole body, everything is connected to backbone & its nerves.
  • persistent /n/ and /ng/ consonance in "blind bones," "manipulating tendons," "resilient / fine meshings of ganglia," etc. connects words to e/o on the level of sound, mimicking the "meshings" the speaker is describing. just as the backbone seems to hold whole body tgt, so does consonance seem to glue lines tgt.
• "the shell-like complexity / of the ear."

  • vivid simile compares ear's "involutions (curves of

  cartilage) to swirls of a seashell

  • alliteration "miniature" and "minute" emphasise description, conveying extreme complexity of baby's ear; curves shrink down to even smaller pieces, naked eye can't see.
  • sharp /k/ alliteration & consonance, short /i/ assonance, sibilance: "distinct," "crescent," "shell-like complexity," "concentric," "ossicles."
  • adds intensity & lyricism pushing reader thru challenging vocabulary that reinforces complexity
• • Lines 10-14 all enjambed, creating propulsive momentum that perhaps suggests how carried away speaker is getting. Asyndetic listing contributes sense of speed & exhaustiveness.
  • caesura contributes to pacing as well. There's a dramatic pause in line 14 (the period after "ossicles") that conveys a threshold about to be crossed: the speaker goes from talking about exterior parts of the body—"eyelashes," "fingernails," and the curves of the "ear" narrowing toward the ear's opening—to parts that can only be "Imagine[d]."