The Spirit is too Blunt

and Instrument
Anne Stevenson
Born in Cambridge, England, Anne Stevenson moved between the
United States and the United Kingdom numerous times during the
first half of her life. While she considered herself an American,
Stevenson qualified her status: “I belong to an America which no
longer really exists.” Since 1962 she has lived mainly in the UK,
including Cambridge, Scotland, Oxford, and, most then North
Wales and Durham.

Intersections and borders were common emblems in Stevenson’s

work, though the land on which they are drawn is often mutable
or shrouded in mist. She was as comfortable in strict form as she
was in free verse, and her poetry is “humane, intelligent and sane,
composed of both natural and rational elements, and amply
furnished with patches of wit and fury.”
Let’s read
Now annotate your poem, going in on itself

including any vocab that you

didn’t know.
Remember to include:
● AFORESTs
● Structure notes
● Powerful imagery
● Any comments/
impressions that you
have after reading
Summary
• The soul, the speaker says, is not a sharp enough tool to have created the baby before
them.
• Human emotions are too clumsy to have crafted the extremely complex and demanding
details of the baby's body—things like all the little bones and the ligaments controlling
them; knees and the bones of the knuckles; the strong yet delicate webs of nerve cells
and spinal bones; the complicated spine, with its pieces linked together like a chain.
• Throughout the poem, the speaker emphasizes how incredibly complicated a human
child is as well as how perfect the process must progress in order for each tendon and
sinew to do what it needs to.
• She knows that this ability to create doesn’t come from the spirit, instead, it comes from
ignorant “habit.” No emotional passion could be responsible, she suggests.
 Metaphor - is like a hammer or dull knife clumsily thwacking away at a
block of marble or wood; the creation of something as delicate and detailed
as an infant requires much more skill than the spirit can gather.

The clear pause as a full stop adds a sense of firmness and

finality to the speaker's argument.
The spirit is too blunt an instrument
Human "passions"—people's emotions, desires, etc.—are far
to have made this baby. too clumsy and inept to create a baby's "intricate / exacting
particulars." A baby is made up of a multitude of tiny parts,
Nothing so unskilful as human passions in other words, each of which demands perfection.

could have managed the intricate

exacting particulars: the tiny
/p/, /t/, and /k/ sounds in these lines, the sharpness of
blind bones with their manipulating tendons, which evokes the dexterity/skill being described.

the knee and the knucklebones, the resilient Images further emphasize the connected nature of the
body. These mesh together to create a delicate yet sturdy
fine meshings of ganglia and vertebrae, web.

the chain of the difficult spine.
The /b/ alliteration adds emphasis to this image, which
suggests that the body, unlike the mind or spirit, doesn't
know what it's doing
A chain is a series of linked rings, and this imagery provides not only a clear sense of
how these "vertebrae" interlock but also suggests the strength that results from this
design.
Rather than cooing at the baby and praising its adorableness, the speaker uses precise, scientific jargon that might make readers forget
they're talking about a child!

The imagery suggests the speaker is taking in each and every tiny detail of the body in front of them in
amazement. Again, the human body comes across as remarkably intricate.

This vivid simile compares the ear's "involutions"—the

Observe the distinct eyelashes and sharp crescent
curves of cartilage—to the swirls of a seashell. These
curves are "concentric," meaning that they come from the
fingernails, the shell-like complexity
same center (the ear canal).
of the ear, with its firm involutions
The alliteration of "miniature" and "minute" adds emphasis
to the description, conveying the extreme complexity of a
concentric in miniature to minute
baby's ear; those tiny, beautiful curves shrink down to even
smaller pieces that the naked eye can't see.
ossicles. Imagine the
infinitesimal capillaries, the flawless connections The sharp /k/ alliteration and consonance add both intensity
and help to push the reader through its rather challenging
of the lungs, the invisible neural filaments vocabulary - this is not everyday language.

through which the completed body The speaker goes from talking about exterior
parts of the body—"eyelashes," "fingernails,"
already answers to the brain. and the curves of the "ear" narrowing toward
the ear's opening—to parts that can only be
"Imagine[d]."
 In the third stanza, the speaker again compares the "spirit" unfavorably to the body.

The speaker is practically daring the reader (or maybe even

themselves) to point to a single emotion or feeling that's as
straightforward and efficient as the physical body. This implies that,
unlike the body, the spirit is messy
Then name any passion or sentiment
Emphasizes the speaker's point: there's not a single human
possessed of the simplest accuracy. emotion or desire that could accomplish what nature has.
No, no desire or affection could have done
with practice what habit Nature also performs its task "perfectly, indifferently," words that
emphasize the precision of biology but also make these
has done perfectly, indifferently, processes sound rather cold and mechanical.

through the body's ignorant precision. Biology doesn't need self-awareness or knowledge to do what it
does. It is completely efficient without these distracting, difficult
It is left to the vagaries of the mind to invent "passions."

love and despair and anxiety This repetition of “and” makes it feel as though all these
"vagaries" are piling up on top of each other, perhaps even
and their pain. threatening to overwhelm the speaker.

These forceful, plosive /p/ sounds also perhaps evoke the speaker's rather disdainful tone; it's as if they feel
people would be better off without "passion or sentiment."
01
Literary Techniques
1. Can you find any juxtaposition in the poem?
Write a PEE paragraph explaining the effect.

Stevenson uses juxtaposition to express ________. This

can be seen in the quote “______________”. The word
“_____” has connotations of ______ so when it is
juxtaposed with the word “_______” Stevenson
effectively conveys the feeling of _____________. This
has the effect of ______ on the reader, and shows us
________.
 01
Literary Techniques
2. Can you find a metaphor in the poem? Write a
PEE paragraph explaining the effect.

Stevenson uses the metaphor of a “________” to

express ________. The word “_____” is usually related to
_______ so the comparison of ____ and ____ creates the
effect of ____________. This invokes a feeling of ______ in
the reader.
01
Literary Techniques
3. Now it’s your turn. Write a PEE paragraph
explaining the effect of the use of jargon in The
Spirit is too Blunt an Instrument.
Short Answer Questions
01 Structure 02 Direct address
Describe the structure of the poem. Find a quote where the speaker uses an
imperative.

03 Half rhyme 04 Mood

Quote an example of half rhyme in the Explain the speaker’s mood. Use quotes
poem. Why has the poet done this? to support your answer
02
Themes

Identify and note down 10 themes

present in this poem. Find a quote to
match each theme
03 2-Paragraph questions
1 Views 2 Attitude
Discuss the Describe with
contradictory views reference to the poem
the speaker echoes in the speaker’s attitude
regard to towards their fellow
human nature. Use human beings.
quotes from the poem
to support your
answer.
 05
Essay Questions

1. Comment on the poem, paying particular attention to the ways in

which the poet expresses a sense of wonder at the newborn baby.
2. How does Anne Stevenson use literary devices to explore the
theme of life and creation in "The Spirit Is Too Blunt an
Instrument"?