6. the spirit is too blunt an instrument

• poem summary

  perspective of a new mother, marvelling at the creation of an infant

  
  

  the more wonderful the child appears, the more clumsy our spirit, soul, and emotions are made to seem

  
  

  one of the key structural features is the concrete and abstract nouns

  opening: human emotion (abstract nouns) diminished

  as poem develops, there is a cluster of concrete nouns conveying an awe-struck appreciation

  ending of the poem's abstract nouns reflects on the true material of life
• the spirit is too blunt an instrument to have made this baby

  definitive statement: truth

  
  

  lexical choice: converts metaphysical soul to a tangible, clumsy instrument

  spirit is too imprecise
• exacting particulars / blind bones / knee and... knucklebones'

  sonic texture: intricate

  understated alliterative clicks: reflect the intricate nature of the baby's body

  bodily form is machine-like and precise
• the resilient / fine meshings...


  juxtaposition: durability, tenacity, strength / vulnerability, fragility

  juxtaposition captures just how delicate yet robust the baby is

  moves like a well—oiled machine as it develops
• manipulating tendons / fine meshings / flawless connections

  semantic field of connectivity:

  speaker is awestruck by the perfect synthesis between all structures in the body
• observe... / imagine...

  imperatives:

  poet beseeches our blunt mind to admire the beautiful particulars of the child
• ear, with its firm involutions / concentric


  poet imaginatively journeys through ear to inner workings of body: testament to poet's concentration on details
• shell-like complexity / minute ossicles / the infinitesimal


  sonic texture — sibilance: creates a susurration, as if the poet is hushed around a sleeping baby

  sibilance makes everything flow together lyrically, like a musical instrument
• the invisible neural filaments through which the completed body already answers to the brain / no desire or affection could have done with practice what habit has done perfectly

  poet emphasises the body's power exceeds that of the brain

  body has answers to the brain's questions

  bodily instincts have an instinctive power that supersedes the capricious, fickle mind
• no desire could have done with practice what habit has done / through the body's ignorant precision

  juxtaposition: crystallises the body's sublimity

  ignorant: dozy, dim / precise: pedantic, meticulous

  it can effortlessly craft a perfect baby out of 'habit'

  solidifies poet's message: although the body has substantial power, this is drawn from the mind's supreme intellect
• left to the vagaries of the mind to invent love and despair and anxiety and their pain

  polysyndeton: throughout the poem, poet suppresses emotion

  polysyndeton conveys rush of emotive response bursting forth and the overwhelming quantity of emotions all humans feel

  first time reader sees such emotion

  mind grows intangible emotions which are necessary for the full human experience
• what does the form of the poem emulate about the process of motherhood

  each stanza has nine lines: reflects the 9 months of pregnancy

  there are three stanzas: mimics the three trimesters of pregnancy

  even the poetic form is tender towards the child in its gestation period
• resilient, crescent / instrument, intricate / perfectly, indifferently

  half-rhymes: the tendons in the poem

  they surreptitiously fuse the poem together: highlighting the invisible, intricate connections holding the child together
• example summary quotes for intro

  'infinitesimal capillaries' / 'intricate exacting particulars' / 'completed body already answers to the brain
• poet context

  anne stevenson had 3 children