Parrot – Essay

The poem parrot highlights the disturbing nature of a sick parrot who is trapped in a cage.
The poet highlights this disturbance with the use of powerful imagery, contrast, and
suffering.

The opening sentence describes the parrot as “The old sick green parrot”. However, the
usual imagery for a parrot would be something more vivid and bright, the imagery used to
describe this parrot is dull and suggests the parrot is drained of life and color. The words “old
sick green” use consonance to create the effect of ***. The line a@er that menAons the
parrot is stuck “High in a dingy cage”. This could be one of the reasons he is drained. The fact
that the cage is high suggests it cannot be reached and the bird is truly trapped. The poets
descripAon of the cage as “dingy” evokes the image of a dark and bleak cage – this hints to
contrast in the following stanzas of the poem. The line soon a@er that, “Beadily guEed its
furious eye” makes use of plosive sounds to paint a violent picture. The image is the parrot’s
eye is violently popping with anger. This powerful imagery paints a very disturbing picture of
the parrot’s state of health and mind.

The next stanza talks about where the parrot is originally from, his natural habitat. The
parrot is from a tropical climate and is now in a place which is polluted and has nearly
constant rain. The descripAon of the skies as “yellow skies” suggests immense polluAon and
is a sign of industrializaAon, we can link this back to the first stanza where “old dark
Chimneys”. Is menAoned. That is also symbolic of industrializaAon.
The hints to industrializaAon signifies the death of natural habitats and its repercussions.
The opeinging line of stanza two, “jungle green” is a contrast to the green used to describe
the parrot in the opening line of stanza one. This green is far more vivid, deep, and saturated
with color. This is a descripAon of the parrot’s natural habitat, making it seem a paradise.
The line “Are shining beneath the lamp” is symbolic of manmade habitats which are arAficial
by nature. The light source in that line is arAficial. The lines that follow are, “With a beauty
that’s not for one Born under a tropic sun”. This suggests that the parrot who is from a
natural habitat and is used to the natural light of the sun, won’t find this manmade light
beauAful. This relates to the bigger idea of the poem and expresses it in a disturbing
manner.

The last stanza serves as a summary and describes the parrot’s agony.
In the lines “WaiAng for death to come. Pray heaven it won’t be long” the poet is saying the
parrot wishes for death because it feels death is a beEer opAon that living in pain and in
agony. The diagnosis of the parrot, which is the whole last stanza makes the reader feel
sympathy towards the parrot. The hyperbole “knows no minute of rest ” creates further
sympathy for the parrot.
The poets use of cesura throughout the last stanza makes the reader pause when reading.
This allows the reader to take in the presented informaAon and think about the parrots
agony, reflect and sympathize with it.
The disturbing way in which the poet has elaborated on the parrots condiAon creates more
sympathy.
Overall, we have seen how the poets use of powerful imagery, contrast, and suffering has
created a disturbing effect. The poems focus on the parrot also creates a disturbing effect as
parrots are usually free, at least that is their natural way of life. However this parrot is
trapped in this manmade cage and it is suffering for it.
We can say that this poem is and extended metaphor for what humans are doing to the
planet and its inhabitants, through industrializaAon and exploitaAon of the earth’s resources.