Junk
by Richard Wilbur
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At a glance:
- Author: Richard Wilbur
- First Published: 1961
- Type of Poem: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Mythology or myths, Twentieth century, Poetry or poets, Gods or goddesses, Carpentry or carpenters, Arts or crafts, Anglo-Saxons, Blacksmithing or blacksmiths, Wood
The Poem
“Junk” is a thirty-line poem written in Anglo-Saxon strong-stress meter. Each line is alliterated and broken into two halves, the second of which is indented, making each full line two-tiered. In a note to the poem, Richard Wilbur provides a rough translation of the epigraph, which is excerpted from an Anglo-Saxon fragment: “Truly, Wayland’s handiwork—the sword Mimming which he made—will never fail any man who knows how to use it bravely.” The epigraph gives an example of the alliterative, accentual meter of the original.
The poem begins with the...
(The entire page is 1650 words.)
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