Summary
In the first stanza, the poet compares magpies to men.
The birds in their black-and-white finery are walking and talking along the road, their hands in their pockets.
In the second, she says they are gentlemanly, appearing wise and relaxed.
This only lasts until dinner is served, at which point the magpies' beaks and “greedy eyes” come out.
In the third stanza, the poet reminds us that no actual gentleman can sing like this.
The magpies' “greed is brief” but their joy lasts a long time.
She concludes by praising the magpies, which were born with a throat meant to thank God “with every note.”
Analysis
“Magpies” was first published in Wright’s 1962 collection Birds. Each poem in the collection dealt with a specific bird or aspects of the lives of birds, such as “Winter Kestrel,” “Eggs and Nestlings, “Black-shouldered Kite,” and “The Wagtail.” Most of the poems were written for Wright’s daughter, Meredith McKinney, who said of her mother, “[Her] love of birds led her to many encounters with them. She was always rescuing wounded birds, and we would have at least one of them recuperating about the house.”
Critic Stuart Cooke praised Wright’s bird poems, commenting on her knowledge and love of her local environs: “As a whole, Birds illustrates Wright’s intimacy with Tamborine’s fauna; many of the poems are characterized by a tender, often familial care for their avian subjects.” Sravana Jvothri wrote, “Birds celebrates Australian birds that readily evoke metaphysical reflections in her. By observing the lives of various trees and birds and also the landscape of Australia, the poet transcends the geographical territory and reaches a space where the earthly manifestations do not matter at all.” John Ewers had a similar impression of the bird poems, noting, “there is a great deal of shrewd observation here and more than that, a quality of mystic interpretation which, if the single audience for which they were meant were extended to others of that age, might well awaken an interest in those aspects of the Australian environment which have so moved and influenced the poet herself.”
“Magpies” might not initially reveal its profundity, for it is a short, charming, and even droll poem with a simple rhyme scheme and poetic structure. Wright evokes the black-and-white birds by comparing them to “gentlemen” in “well-fitted” garb, admiring how they “tilt their heads, and stroll and talk.” They are “nonchalant and wise,” and the reader can imagine portly men in tuxedos conversing amiably about important topics. She then complicates this picture by saying that when it is time for their meal, it is all “clashing beaks” and “greedy eyes.” But then, yet again, she adds nuance to this portrait by ending with a paean to the bird’s song—it is full of “grace and praise” and supplants the former image of their greed. Their song is unmatched, worthy of singing to the God that created them.
Wright clearly personifies the magpies, which allows her readers to have an idea of what the birds look and act like (this is very helpful if they’ve never seen a magpie, and meant to resonate with those who have). It is clear that she knows them well and has a great affection for them, and can appreciate their beauty as well as their viciousness. They are small in size and for many people either invisible or unimportant, but they matter to Wright and, through her words, might also begin to matter to the reader.
One of her biographers, Veronica Brady, believed that “Wright's poetry speaks a sense of sacredness in the land, the sacredness of simple things like animals and plants,” a sentiment that is made manifest in the crystalline charm of “Magpies.” But that sacredness is not necessarily found in the birds as “other.” Rather, Wright shows the interconnectedness of humankind and the natural world. She does this through that description of the birds in human terms, as if to say, “we’re not so different, magpies and men.”
