I am pretty good at writing papers, but poetry is my weakness. I have to read "For C" by Richard Wilbur and I am having the hardest time analyzing it. Please help me!

Answer 1

I forgot to mention what questions I need to answer.
1. With what kind of couples is the speaker comparing himself and his partner. What is his hypothesis about why they are different?

2. There are other smaller comparisons that appear in the poem. What are they and what to they contribute to Wilbur's meaning?

3. When Wilbur read this poem to an audience in 1990, toward the end of the poem the audience got very quiet and then at the last line made a collective sound as if all had been holding in their breath and could now start to breath again. Can you explain why listeners might have had that reaction to the end of the poem?

Answer 2

In order to understand and analyze poetry, you need to read and reread and reread with deliberation first. Follow the directions for how to read poetry in one or both of these:

http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/markport/best/study/poetry.htm
At least steps 1 - 5.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/poetry-explication.html

Then post rough drafts of your responses to those three questions, and I'll help you with them.