The Mind-Reader (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)

At a glance:

  • Author: Richard Wilbur
  • First Published: 1972
  • Type of Work: Dramatic monologue
  • Genres: Poetry
  • Subjects: Magic or magicians

The Poem

Richard Wilbur’s “The Mind-Reader,” a dramatic monologue of 151 lines, unveils the inner world of a fortune-teller. Although Wilbur leaves gender unspecified, out of convention the reader may regard the aged figure as a woman. The reader cannot rely on convention, however, when it comes to judging her psychic talents. While not able to see the future, she can see past appearances. She can read minds and has a special talent for finding lost items by probing people’s memories. Nothing put into a mind is ever truly lost: “What can be wiped from memory?” she...

[The entire page is 1428 words long]

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