“Who made the world?/ Who made the swan, and the black bear?/ Who made the grasshopper?”
The opening lines of this poem address a series of questions directly to the reader using a literary device known as anaphora. Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines. It is a rhetorical device that underscores the significance of whatever is being said using the device. The speaker begins the poem with three different inquiries about the creator of the natural world. She could have stopped with the first one since it is all-encompassing. Instead, she proceeds to become increasingly more specific with the second question narrowing down to two animals and the final repetition focusing on just one tiny little insect. These questions are directed toward the purpose of getting the reader to ponder the mysteries of creation and one’s place within the universe. This is a common theme in the poet’s body of work. The narrowing of focus is to create a subconscious awareness that even the smallest of creatures has meaning in the world.
“I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down/ into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,/ how to be idle and blessed”
By this point, the speaker really doesn’t need to share this information about herself. The previous half-dozen or so lines have been an illustration of this ability to pay attention. Those lines describe minute details of a grasshopper which has been eating sugar out of her hand. Between the opening lines and these lines, the reader will have come to known things about grasshoppers that most probably didn’t know before. So, the point of asserting her qualities of observance becomes yet another rhetorical advice. First the speaker demonstrates the elevated ability to pay attention and then she draws attention to those powers of observations. The only possible point in what is another example of repetition is to drive it home to readers in the hope that they pay attention as well. It is an urgent plea by the poet to do as she has been doing her whole professional life: paying close attention to the world around here, even the smallest and most seemingly insignificant parts. One never knows when one is going to learn something important.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do/with your one wild and precious life?”
The final example of the poem’s structure of repetition is that it ends the same way it began, with a question. There is a difference, however. While asking who created the world is by definition rhetorical since nobody knows the answer (despite how many who may insist otherwise), the question upon which the poem concludes definitely has an answer. It may not be any easier to answer, but there is the potential for a conclusive reply. Ending the poem with a question essentially confirms the interpretation that the point of the poem has propagandistic to a certain extent. The opening questions prime the reader for interaction with the poet who is seeking discourse with her readers. The story of the grasshopper which makes up the narrative heart of the poem is intended to exemplify and illustrate the quality of that message. And the message is an appeal to readers to take notice of the abundance of the world of nature because it has the power to enlighten. That is a power that even activity which is required of us on a daily basis does not necessarily possess.
