Caroline Zapata
ENG 102.0821
April 19, 2010
Broken Wing by Dorothea Barth
In midland hills where cedars thrive,
A rare and wistful sight:
Her iridescence could not hide
A fairy shorn of flight
She sat beneath the morning sky,
Devoid of healing dew,
Though fawns had lately frolicked there,
Her spirit shimmered blue.
Bluer than the bonnets fair
That in springtime bloom,
Bluer than the berries round,
Unfairly-like her gloom.
For what could harm a fairy,
Whose essence is the light,
Whose joy reigns unencumbered
Through all the seasons bright?
Might I, mere mortal, intervene
To soothe her wing so torn?
My flute inspired by fairy song,
The notes aloft are born.
Bluer than the summer sky
Unmarred by threatening storm,
Bluer than the bluebird's call,
Notes match her fragile form
Then slyly did I change my song
To that which might enhance
A memory of brighter days,
A fairy circle dance.
Soon did she lift a luminous wing
As fairy tune danced on,
A gentle breeze enveloped her,
She shimmered, then was gone.
Bluer than the bonnets fair
That in the springtime bloom,
Bluer than the berries round,
Away the fairy's gloom.
Dorothea Barth was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and moved to the United States when she was nine years old. She started feeling interested about learning and writing new words when she studied English. As a result of her attraction to writing, she began to write poetry since she was approximately ten years old. Although Barth is not a really famous writer, she has been recognized as an important freelance writer. Dorothea Barth has also worked as a technical writer, an editor, and a proposal writer. She now combines her creative writing and musical talents, often writing about music--whether it is an essay, an interview, or a poem. She finds that being a musician is most helpful in writing poetry, especially since her preference is for metered verse.
The poem contains nine stanzas with four lines in each of it. The poem is narrow and centered on the page. The rhyme scheme is ABAB on the first stanza. Moreover, some stanzas have alliterations-the use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse. The first and third line in others stanzas start with the same letter and the second and fourth line finish with rhyme of scheme. For example, the first and third line on the stanza 3 begin with the letter “B”, and the other two lines end with the words “bloom” and “gloom” which make a scheme of rhyme. The first line of stanza 5 is “Might I, mere mortal, intervene”, there are three words which the first consonant begin with the letter “M”. Also, stanza 3 and 9 are very similar, except of the first word of the last line on both stanzas. The line “Bluer than…” is repeated twice in the stanza 3, 6, and 9. Three lines of the stanza 5 has a scheme rhyme because two words end with the letters “orn”, and the other word ends with “ong”, so all these three words have a similar sounding and a similar ending.
“Broken Wings” refers to a fairy that could not fly because one of her wings is broken. The fairy felt sad and isolated from the rest of the fairies’ group as a result of the fairy’s problem. While everybody enjoyed the beautiful day, the fairy was sitting beneath the morning sky (line 5). In addition, the poem has a little description of the spring time because it has some words such as blue, bloom, summer sky, bluebird, and berries (stanza 3, 6, and 9). The essence of any fairy is the light (line 14), and the only way she could feel better with her spirit shimmered blue (line 8) is flying as she did. However, someone (it could be a man) tries to help the fairy and heal her torn wing. After that, the fairies made a ritual, dancing in circle and the fairy that was hurt lift her wing and flew away looking beautiful and radiant than ever.
The relevant symbols of the poem “Broken Wing” are (1) sky, blue, light, wing, and bluebird; (2) song, circle, and dance; (3) fawns.
First of all, the poem is about a fairy that feels happy flying in a place where she would feel free, immortal, and full of innocence. The following symbols have similar connotations because they refer to eternity, spirituality, purity, and freedom.
According to the Dictionary of Symbolism, “shy represents infinity, eternity, immortality, and transcendence; it is the residence of the gods, it is omnipotence. The sky also is symbolic of order in the universe” (Cooper, 1978). “Sky” is the perfect place to get the fairy’s freedom. The color blue is most often associated with issues of the spirit and intellect. It is the color of sky and heaven. Its link to the sky also connotes eternity and immensity, time and space, and the color blue is also related with loyalty, fidelity, constancy and chastity. Blue may be truth and transparency, innocence and purity. “Blue” is a color which means staying in calm and the purity of a person (line 8). Also, the blue color represents a feminine spirit, in this case is the fairy because the poem repeats several times the pronoun "she" and "her". Light is the spiritual and the divine, and it is illumination and intelligence. It is the sun, and it is the avenger of evil forces and darkness. Light is knowledge. Purity, morality are connected terms as well. Cosmic energy, creative force and optimism are all related to light. “Light” reflects the mood of any person and determines if you're sad or happy depending on the situation in which you are. It could be related with the fairy’s spirit and her stronghold to overcome the difficulties of her life.
Wings may accompany images of Christian angels, fairies, spirits, and demons. They not only represent the ability to fly, but also suggest the improvement of the subject. Winged creatures are often messengers of the gods, and they are a symbol of freedom and spirituality (Dictionary of Symbolism). In dreams, wings represent the release of creative energy. “Wing” represents freedom that the fairy was not able to enjoy as a consequence of her broken wing, and it is also her instrument to get freedom as well. She did not have the freedom as before (line 18). In most traditions, “birds” have a predominantly positive connotation. The Dictionary of Symbolism points out that St. Hiidegard of Bingen said in her Liber de Subtilitatum, “Birds symbolize the power that helps people to speak reflectively and leads them to think out many things in advance before they take action, just as birds are lifted up into the air by their feathers and can remain wherever they wish, the soul in the body is elevated by thought and spreads its wings everywhere.” They represent the human desire to escape gravity, to reach the level of the angel. The bird is often the disembodied human soul, free of its physical constrictions.
Other important symbols are song, circle and dance, which share some of their meanings such as expression of love, eternity, celebration. Furthermore, circular dance often mimic the circular motion of heavenly bodies and/or the revolution of the earth around the sun. Song can be an expression of happiness or love, adoration or homage. Birds’ songs are often linked to spring, and/or the dawn. A song also is associated with mourning and death, and it can be construed as a form of hypnosis or magic spell. A song may represent in the fairy’s poem a cure for her injured wing. The circle is a universal symbol with extensive meaning. It represents the notions of totality, wholeness, original perfection, the self, the infinite, eternity, timelessness, all cyclic movement, God. As the sun, it is masculine power; as the soul and as encircling waters, it is the feminine maternal principle. It symbolizes the cycle of time, the planet’s journey around the sun, the great rhythm of the universe, heaven and perfection as well as eternity. Dance can signify joy, celebration, and/or possession by a higher power, be it good or evil. The act of dancing is also linked with rhythm and transforming time into motion. Group dances can be a form of prayer or reverence. Dance is often linked tightly with creation, hence its bond magic. Because of all fairies remembered the good times, they made a circle dance to celebrate and honor their remembrances and hopefully think the fairy that had her broken wing would recover her health and fly again.
"Fawns" or "fawn" are place spirits of untamed woodland in Roman mythology (Wikipedia). They are strange creatures, which half of their body is human and half is animal, like a goat. The fawns are mentioned in stanza 2 and have a sad context in the last verse because it says although the fawns enjoy the nature, the fairy is frustrated for her broken wing.
The tone of this poem seems as a song. If it is compared with a real song, the poem has many similarities. For instance, the “Broken Wing” poem contains nine stanzas in total, and if it is observed in detail, three of the nice stanzas are almost as lyrics and go after two stanzas. Besides, this poem repeats some words such as “sky”, “fairy”, “bluer”, “bloom”, and “gloom”. These words may infer freedom, spring time, and purity.
“Broken Wing” is a poem that shows how someone could feel when a person loses his or her freedom as consequence of a particular situation. Finding the particular meanings of the symbols, tone and the rhyme of each stanza make more understandable the poem. The title is very clear because most of the time the poem makes reference to the fairy’s broken wing. Furthermore, it describes how the fairy deals with her problem, feeling sad and her light was turned off. According to Wikipedia, fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. In other words, if a fairy is not able to fly, she wouldn’t have her powers, and that is what is happening in this poem. However, the fairy recovers her freedom when her wing is fixed.
Works Cited
Barth, Dorothea. “Broken Wing”. Dorothea Barth Prose and Poetry. 2009. Dorothea Barth. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Barth, Dorothea. “Broken Wing.” Fairies World. Vallejo, California, 2009. Fairies & Fantasy Poems. Web. 17 Apr, 2010.
Dictionary of Symbolism. University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction. 2001. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Lewis, C. S. The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1994. Print.
Symbols. HME Publishing. 1997-2006. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Wikipedia. Fairy. 11 Apr. 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
