"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" was written by one of America's most celebrated 20th-century poets, Wallace Stevens. The poem was published in Stevens's classic debut collection, Harmonium (1923), and was described by the poet as thirteen different "sensations." These "sensations" are almost like short, individual poems, each of which references a blackbird in some way. As the poem's title suggests, these fragments feature different perspectives, with the bird taking on many disparate meanings as the poem unfolds. The poem is more about evoking certain feelings in the reader than in making any particular argument about birds. Overall, though, the poem does seem to suggest that reality is always a matter of perspective—that each person looks at and understands the world in their own way.
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The Full Text of “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”
I
1Among twenty snowy mountains,
2The only moving thing
3Was the eye of the blackbird.
II
4I was of three minds,
5Like a tree
6In which there are three blackbirds.
III
7The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
8It was a small part of the pantomime.
IV
9A man and a woman
10Are one.
11A man and a woman and a blackbird
12Are one.
V
13I do not know which to prefer,
14The beauty of inflections
15Or the beauty of innuendoes,
16The blackbird whistling
17Or just after.
VI
18Icicles filled the long window
19With barbaric glass.
20The shadow of the blackbird
21Crossed it, to and fro.
22The mood
23Traced in the shadow
24An indecipherable cause.
VII
25O thin men of Haddam,
26Why do you imagine golden birds?
27Do you not see how the blackbird
28Walks around the feet
29Of the women about you?
VIII
30I know noble accents
31And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
32But I know, too,
33That the blackbird is involved
34In what I know.
IX
35When the blackbird flew out of sight,
36It marked the edge
37Of one of many circles.
X
38At the sight of blackbirds
39Flying in a green light,
40Even the bawds of euphony
41Would cry out sharply.
XI
42He rode over Connecticut
43In a glass coach.
44Once, a fear pierced him,
45In that he mistook
46The shadow of his equipage
47For blackbirds.
XII
48The river is moving.
49The blackbird must be flying.
XIII
50It was evening all afternoon.
51It was snowing
52And it was going to snow.
53The blackbird sat
54In the cedar-limbs.
The Full Text of “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”
I
1Among twenty snowy mountains,
2The only moving thing
3Was the eye of the blackbird.
II
4I was of three minds,
5Like a tree
6In which there are three blackbirds.
III
7The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
8It was a small part of the pantomime.
IV
9A man and a woman
10Are one.
11A man and a woman and a blackbird
12Are one.
V
13I do not know which to prefer,
14The beauty of inflections
15Or the beauty of innuendoes,
16The blackbird whistling
17Or just after.
VI
18Icicles filled the long window
19With barbaric glass.
20The shadow of the blackbird
21Crossed it, to and fro.
22The mood
23Traced in the shadow
24An indecipherable cause.
VII
25O thin men of Haddam,
26Why do you imagine golden birds?
27Do you not see how the blackbird
28Walks around the feet
29Of the women about you?
VIII
30I know noble accents
31And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
32But I know, too,
33That the blackbird is involved
34In what I know.
IX
35When the blackbird flew out of sight,
36It marked the edge
37Of one of many circles.
X
38At the sight of blackbirds
39Flying in a green light,
40Even the bawds of euphony
41Would cry out sharply.
XI
42He rode over Connecticut
43In a glass coach.
44Once, a fear pierced him,
45In that he mistook
46The shadow of his equipage
47For blackbirds.
XII
48The river is moving.
49The blackbird must be flying.
XIII
50It was evening all afternoon.
51It was snowing
52And it was going to snow.
53The blackbird sat
54In the cedar-limbs.
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“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” Summary
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“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” Themes
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Perspective, Subjectivity, and Reality
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The Natural World
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”
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Lines 1-3
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird. -
Lines 4-6
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds. -
Lines 7-8
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime. -
Lines 9-12
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one. -
Lines 13-17
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after. -
Lines 18-24
Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause. -
Lines 25-29
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you? -
Lines 30-34
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know. -
Lines 35-37
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles. -
Lines 38-41
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply. -
Lines 42-47
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds. -
Lines 48-49
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying. -
Lines 50-54
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.
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“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Apostrophe
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Assonance
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Consonance
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End-Stopped Line
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Enjambment
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Juxtaposition
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Metaphor
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Personification
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Repetition
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Rhetorical Question
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“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Pantomime
- Inflections
- Innuendoes
- Barbaric
- To and Fro
- Indecipherable
- Lucid
- Bawds
- Euphony
- Haddam
- Equipage
- Cedar-limbs
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” Speaker
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“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”
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More “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” Resources
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External Resources
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The Thrilling Mind of Wallace Stevens — An interesting article about Stevens's life and work.
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A Reading of the Poem — Tom O'Bedlam reads "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."
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Birds and Poetry — A short but excellent selection of bird-related poems.
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The Blackbird's Song — A full meditative hour of blackbird singing.
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The Poet's Life and Work — A bountiful resource from the Poetry Foundation, including podcasts, essays, and more poems.
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Bloom on Stevens — Audio of a fascinating lecture on Stevens by Harold Bloom, one of the most influential literary critics of the 20th century.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Wallace Stevens
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