In Richard Wilbur's "The Writer," the speaker listens at the bedroom door of his daughter, and hears "a commotion of typewriter keys." He then describes the process of writing using two metaphors, both of which allude to the importance of writing as creative expression.

The first metaphor Wilbur uses is to describe his daughter's writing as a ship. He refers to her bedroom as "the prow of the house," compares the sound of the typewriter keys to "a chain hauled over a gunwale," and describes her life and her experiences as the "great cargo." The prow of a ship is the front part, implying that the act of writing for his daughter allows her to journey forwards into the world. The implication is that her writing allows her to be the captain of her own life. The chain being hauled over the gunwale (the side of a boat) compounds this idea by suggesting that the anchor is being raised in preparation for the ship (representing the daughter's life and creativity) to set sail. And finally, the cargo represents the experiences that the daughter will bring to her writing, and that will give it purpose, as a ship's cargo gives a purpose to the ship.

The second metaphor in the poem is that of the "dazed starling," which the father remembers being trapped in the daughter's room, "two years ago." The father recalls how the starling tried over and over again to fly back out of the room, through the window, and after lots of unsuccessful attempts, finally made it, "Beating a course for the right window, / And clearing the sill of the world." The starling here represents the daughter's writing. She will try and try again, will often be unsuccessful, but will eventually succeed, and in so doing, she will be free, deciding her own course through life, much like the bird.

Both metaphors, therefore, represent the process of writing as a form of creative expression that might help the daughter to become independent and free. At the end of the poem, realizing how writing can be so important in helping his daughter in this way, the father wishes, "harder" than he has wished before, that she enjoys success with her writing, or, in other words, returning to the ship metaphor, that she has "a lucky passage."

"The Writer" is about a father's feelings of hope and helplessness regarding his daughter. He hopes that she will have a good future and make the right choices. That is why throughout the poem he wishes her luck and safe passage (through life). However, the father also feels helpless. He cannot make the right choices for her; he can only guide her and trust her. The images throughout the poem speak to a melancholy sense of separation between father and daughter. The door of the room in which the daughter writes remains locked. The father remembers opening the window for a bird in that same room, and he recalls with sadness that the bird repeatedly ran into the window pane before finally finding its way out the door. The bird's journey reminds the father of his daughter's own journey into womanhood, just now beginning.

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