STILL CITIZEN SPARROW BY RICHARD WILBUR

STILL CITIZEN SPARROW BY RICHARD WILBUR

Introduction and Theme

Still Citizen Sparrow could be a direct shot to the fashionable civilized folks that uphold the views that vulture is an unsightly and evil animal. The poet counters the argument and believes that although vulture is believed to be a dirty and dirty animal, yet she is endowed with the rarest qualities ever gifted to the other bird.
It is vulture, which hovers the entire sky and watches natural environment and keeps it clean. Vulture was also present at the time of Prophet Noah when he preached his people and was rejected by them. Ordered by Allah, he built a ship, his people jeered at him, but he put all samples of living organism in his boat. the nice Deluge appeared and destroyed every non-believer. the identical vulture was with him when Noah’s boat landed at the mountain and initiated a brand new age of enlightenment. People never come to terms with vulture, but the poet gives an extended speech containing good words on the qualities of this animal. The poet avers that some animals though look ugly outside, yet are beautiful for his or her traits. the 000 beauty is of fine action, not of outer physical charm.
Because vulture builds a brand new world by cleaning the environment, it's related to the prophet Noah who also built a replacement world. during this way, vulture becomes symbolic of the start of a replacement world of religion and provides us message that we must even be builder of a replacement world within which we should always contribute the maximum amount as we are able to.

A Critique of Still Citizen Sparrow

Introduction

The poet supports the creature, which is believed to be the ugliest creature. The poet attacks the common perception of individuals about this bird and presents his arguments in favor of this animal. He gives the bird masculine qualities and addresses him as ‘He’ instead of ‘It’, which shows the importance of vulture within the poet’s mind and within the human kingdom. Though vulture looks ugly, bald-headed, and always living on dead rotten flesh of assorted stinking animals, yet it's a beauty which no animal, bird or creature can match. That virtuous or beautiful quality is cleanliness, which consistent with Islam is half completion of religion.
The Sparrow remains citizen only outwardly beautiful, but performing no practical function in society. On the opposite hand, the good responsibility of doing away with the town waste is left on the vulture. The also criticizes the fashionable man who whose angle of vision has to corrected and who may welcome clean and exquisite guests at his home, but shun the trash collectors, as a results of whose efforts, the environment is created clean and delightful.
The bravery of vulture is additionally evident when the full earth was submerged in water and this vulture flew and flew over the surface of water, this venture could have killed the sparrow, but it had been vulture who sacrificed for all of them (other animals, bird and humans beings) and made the world once more a livingabode by cleaning the rotten stinking flesh. this is often the important inward virtue of vulgar that he should be remembered instead of for his physical appearance.

Development of Thought

The physical description of the vulture
If you see the vulture cruising within the sky, its movement is so attractive, its wings so wide, it's almost regal. It doesn’t need to move its wings. None among the birds is so powerful and fine vulture. The poet says,
And at the tall
Tip of the sky lie cruising. Then you’ll see
That no more beautiful bird is in heaven’s height,
No wider more placid wings, no watchfuller flight;
He shoulders nature there, the frightfully free,
It seems so free and bearing the burden of the planet upon his shoulders because its wings and shoulders are so strong. the standard world of birds cannot imagine the way it flies up within the air. The poet’s description of the vulture develops a soft corner among the persons for the vulture and that we begin to like this bird for his not only physical qualities, but also moral virtues.

Double Standards of individuals

Still Citizen Sparrow is an animal poet is extremely symbolic and satirical of contemporary man’s angle of perception, which he's habitual to adopt. The poet says,
Pardon him, you
Who dart within the orchard aisles, for it's he
Devours death, mocks mutability,
Has heart to create an end, keeps nature new.
The poet attacks the sparrow angrily and tells the sparrow to mind his language about the vulture and be respectful to him. The sparrow lives in orchards, wide and open furrows. How are you able to judge the important worth of vulture? Ordinary people and birds are terrified of the rotten dead meat of animals; vulture is brave and takes up steps to perform the last rituals of the dead beings. But we are timid; we stay back and easily mock the people that perform such great duties. We are selfish and cowardly and that they are brave and responsible. it's a tribute to vulture because he cleans what we've made dirty and evil by our own actions and truly the dirt have expelled from our existence then we are dirty, not people who also are forward to scrub. this is often their highness and dignity and that they deserve our respect. These people include: gutter cleaners, dusters, trash collectors and sweepers who don’t find respectable status in our society while they're more respectable than us. We only dandy our beauty and boast of our physical appearance and don’t even imagine how filthy dirty nature will become without their existence.
The poem exposes the double standards of individuals. We respect those that spread rubbish, but hate those that clean it. Actually, dirty are the people that spread dirt and respectable are those that clean it. the entire society is in disorder.

Religious Symbolism

The uses religious symbolism to bring around the same theme and point. The poet says,
Thinking of Noah, child heart, try and forget
How for therefore many bedlam hours his saw
Soured the song of birds with its wheezy gnaw,
And the slam of his hammer all the day beset
Noah was regarded mad by people, but the hero’s intelligence and understanding is way more superior to it of a standard man. the opposite birds kept on chirping, but the hero wasn't deflected from his mission. People called him crazy, but he didn’t stop. So man should be committed to his mission. Self-restrain is vital. Noah’s journey wasn't pleasant when he looked down he saw destruction and death everywhere. it had been only a heroic mind that might feel this pain. The poet through this religious symbol wants to bring before us a crucial point. the globe is split into two varieties of people: people who observe and people who perform, those that talk and people of act, those of sleep and people who wake and people of think and people who act. it's unto us what line of race we would like to settle on.

Talk and Action

Sparrow symbolizes talk and vulture symbolizes action. Throughout the poem, the poet uses various words to stay the sparrow shut, which is in the least times babbling and chirping aimlessly. The poet satirically attacks the sparrow,
Pardon him, you
Who dart within the orchard aisles, for it's he
Devours death, mocks mutability
And he further says,
Forgive the hero, you who would have died
Gladly with all you knew; he rode that tide

To Ararat

Action speaks louder than words may be taken because the message of the poem. The sparrow’s repeated chirpings produce no healthy effect on the environment; rather it should distract the eye of these who are busy with their studies or engaged in a very serious task. Merely talks bring no results; action in human life is vital which brings development and welfare. Our nature is consistently in change, this modification causes pollution, filth and stench, which may only be resolved with proper action. Vulture shoulders responsibilities effectively and puts humanity to shame for its passivity and lethargic state.

Style, Technique and Imagery

Wilbur’s approach during this poem is fresh and fine. He uses animal imagery like Ted Hughes, but his treatment is different. The symbol of Noah bracketed with the Vulture is excellent and reinforces the concept. The poem has been divided into four line stanzas every one remarking a brand new aspect of vulture, his qualities and performance. The rhyme scheme is striking and classical. The four-line stanza rhymes as a b b a. The diction is forceful and proves the poet’s point of view effectively. The diction and use of such words as: lumber, cruise, rotten office, frightfully free, the slam of his hammer and rocked provides a cinematic vision of the story of the vulture’s world.

Conclusion

Still Citizen Sparrow could be a thought-provoking poem and proves intellectual genius of Wilbur who is legendary for writing, which we may call intellectual poems. The poet believes that we must give the devil his due. Though vulture is physical ugly and is found on trash eating dirty items, but there are two sides to each thing and that we must take up the great side. We must examine the brilliant side of the image instead of the black one.