Daniel Fuchs
Honors English IV
January 26, 2014
Needs citation
Poetry Analysis: The Daring One
“The Daring One”, a poem written by Edwin Markham, centers around the story
of the narrator looking up to a bird for having qualities he does not. The narrator of the
poem idolizes this bird, and through comparisons to human actions, careful word choice,
and contrasts between the bird and the environment, sets forth an admiring tone towards
this bird.
The poem begins with the phrase “I would my soul were like the bird”. The most
significant part of this segment is the word choice, in saying that “I would my soul were
like…” Rather than simply saying he wishes he was more like a bird, the use of such a
powerful word like soul implies that he deeply wishes that his very being was like a
bird’s.-Seems out of place Following this, the poem continues with “That dares the
vastness undeterred.” This segment continues describing the inspirational bird as being
fearless. Rather than directly stating the bird is fearless though, the poem uses the word
“vastness”, which adds to the imagery of this fearless bird braving the unknown. The use
of the words “dares” also reflects back to the title of the poem being “The Daring One”,
setting forth the premise that the title of the poem is referring to this bird. It is also worth
noting that “undeterred” rhymes with “bird” from the previous line. This rhyme scheme
of “AA BB CC…” continues on throughout the entire poem.-What effect does this rhyme
scheme have?
The next section of the poem is “Look, where the bluebird on the bough, breaks
into rapture even now!” The first part of the sentence appeals to the senses by directly
telling the reader to look at this bluebird sitting on a bough. This goes along with the
imagery of the bluebird on a bough within the sentence to create a vivid scene.
Continuing on, the use of the word “rapture” further develops this scene of a loud and
cheerful bird singing without regards to anyone else. The exclamation point that ends this
sentence also implies that the narrator is somewhat surprised by how carefree the bird is.Paraphrase
The next sentence of the poem is “He sings, tip-top, the tossing elm.” The
repetitive use of the letter T creates alliteration.-What effect does this alliteration have?
The use of the word “tossing” to describe the movement of the tree implies that there is a
fairly strong wind, as elm wood tends to be resilient.-ELM TREE HAD NO MEANING,
it was just a tree, and trees are strong. The fact that it was elm is irrelevant. Given that
there is a strong wind, and that the verb “sings” is a word that generally carries a happy
and carefree tone, this creates contrast between the bird and the environment. The
surrounding environment is windy and disorderly, yet this bird sings happily and
carelessly atop the tree. This carries the idea of the bird being happy and carefree despite
what is happening to the things around it. The following sentence in the poem is “As tho
he would a world o’erwhelm”. By removing the syllable added by the V in overwhelm, it
helps to maintain the rhythm of the poem.-What does this rhythm do for the poem?
The next segment of the poem is “Indifferent to the void he rides, upon the wind’s
eternal tides.” This section begins by once again restating how the bird doesn’t care about
the environment around it. The poem uses the word “void” to describe the wind he is
flying through, which is a metaphor.-What is the significance of changing wind to void?
In the next sentence, the wind is said to have “eternal tides”, which is a metaphor
between the tides of an ocean and the wind.
The second stanza of the poem begins with the sentence “He tosses gladly on the
gale.” The brief repetition of the letter G creates a small alliteration, which helps the
sentence flow more fluidly.-Again, what does the fluidity do? In addition to this, the use
of the word “tosses” rather than being thrown around or moved suggests he is being
moved around lightly and that it isn’t bothering him. The usage of the word gale further
implies the presence of strong winds, as already partially established by the “tossing elm”
earlier in the poem. This again supports the contrast between the bird and the
environment. The following sentence is “For well he knows he can not fail—” The usage
of the word “fail” rather than a word like “fall” makes the action seem more human-like,
as it suggests that the bird has a clear goal to stay atop the branch, and he is confident that
he will succeed at reaching this goal. This concept of knowing one can reach a goal that
they’ve set and being confident as a result is a very “human” trait, and this ties the poem
back to the human narrator who is aspiring to be like this bird. In a way, this is an
extended form of personification.-Don’t say in a way. Say this IS personification.
The final segment of the poem is “Knows if the bough breaks, still his wings, will
bear him upward while he sings!” In this final segment, it proposes that even should the
bird face some hardship such as the bough breaking, he would still be “singing”. This
word choice reaffirms that even in the face of hardship; the bird still maintains his
happiness and continues on with his carefree nature.
Looking back at the title of the poem, “The Daring One”, which is directly
referencing the bird, contributes the idea that this daring bird is taking risks by doing
things that might seem dangerous. Yet, as suggested throughout the poem, the bird is
perfectly content and confident no matter what he does. In a way, this is largely
personification in itself, in the sense that the bird is doing what it wants to do regardless
of what others might think because it believes in itself.-Stop using in a way. You need to
be assertive. This is essentially the same as the human concept of ignoring peer-pressure
due to self-confidence.-Again, stop using phrases that make it sound as though you aren’t
saying the exact meaning. It gives readers room to doubt your analysis.
All throughout this poem, the author uses words that describe the environment
around the bird as disorderly, windy and chaotic, while the bird is described as being
happy and continuing to sing despite this. This contrast helps to show the confidence of
the bird that the narrator so admires. This sets the admiring tone shown throughout the
poem, which directly helps convey the underlying concept of how the narrator wishes he
was more self-confident and carefree.-No mention of this tone before. Might want to
have this in the introductory paragraph, and mention it as a reason for the significance of
some of the lines you used.