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What does each stanza in Mary Oliver's "White-Eyes" poem mean?
Quick answer:
Mary Oliver's "White-Eyes" uses the metaphor of a bird to depict winter's arrival. The first stanzas describe winter as a restless bird in the trees, representing the wind's force. The middle stanzas convey the bird's effort to create winter, culminating in its completion and rest. The final stanzas reveal the bird's power to summon clouds, which transform into snow, illustrating the gentle, loving aspect of winter as the bird "turns into snow."
Mary Oliver's poem "White-Eyes" does not follow a traditional stanza
structure, and some thoughts continue from one stanza into the next one. I will
attempt to give a stanza-by-stanza analysis, but sometimes will have to join
parts of two stanzas.
The first two stanzas read:
In winter
all the singing is in
the tops of the trees
where the wind-bird
with its white eyes
shoves and pushes
among the branches.
Like any of us (1-9)
Oliver imagines winter as a bird that perches in the trees and begins as
wind that by the end of the poem materializes into snow. Here, the bird
figuratively captures the features of winter, like "its white eyes" and the way
the "wind-bird" ... "shoves and pushes / among the branches."
The next complete thought begins at the end of stanza 2 and
continues,
he wants to go to sleep,
but he's restless—
he...
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has an idea,
and slowly it unfolds
from under his beating wings
as long as he stays awake.
But his big, round music, after all,
is too breathy to last. (10-17)
The third and fourth stanzas further the image of the bird as winter. The
equivalency of the readers and the bird is asserted in lines 9 and 10. The bird
"wants to go to sleep," but apparently he has work to do. The "idea" the bird
has is what creates winter. The energy he generates "as long as he stays away"
becomes the season. The work leading up to winter will come to an end, though,
as his effort "is too breathy to last."
The next stanza is relatively self-contained. Oliver writes,
So, it's over.
In the pine-crown
he makes his nest,
he's done all he can. (18-21)
The bird's work is finished. The transformation is about to be complete.
He can now rest and let his work take shape.
Oliver continues,
I don't know the name of this bird,
I only imagine his glittering beak
tucked in a white wing
while the clouds—
which he has summoned
from the north—
which he has taught
to be mild, and silent— (22-29)
Here, the poet reveals the bird as figurative, as she can "only imagine"
what it looks like. What remains true, though, is that it is characterized by
the signature color of winter: white. The bird is given the power to "summon"
the clouds and to basically tame the clouds to do as he bids.
The thought about the bird's control of the clouds continues into the next
stanza and leads into the final stanza of the poem:
thicken, and begin to fall
into the world below
like stars, or the feathers
of some unimaginable bird
that loves us,
that is asleep now, and silent—
that has turned itself
into snow. (30-37)
The imagery of the clouds falling to earth is described as soft and
beautiful, "like stars, or the feathers / of some unimaginable bird." The final
stanza begins with a significant line indicating that the bird "loves us." This
is interesting considering the power invested in the bird / winter earlier in
the poem. The poem suggests that this bird does what he does for us; even
though he, like us, was tired, he musters up the energy to do this important
work. He "is asleep now, and silent," as we can imagine the peaceful snowy
landscape outside. The bird's figurative meaning becomes literal as the poem
ends, and he has materialized "into snow."