Transcendence through Nature
“A Blessing,” by James Wright, ends with Wright wishing to step out of his body and
“break into blossom.” It is definitely a sign to the reader that the poet wants to be closer
with nature and/or perhaps at one peace with something else. Some feminine aspects
which are brought up in the poem can be seen through this quotation: “I would like to hold
the slenderer one in my arms,” you can see from this that the poet is referring to a female
pony by using the term “slenderer”. There are many different symbols throughout the
poem that enforce the theory of transcendence through nature which the poet wants to
pursue.
The first line of the poem “Just off the highway…” shows some pleasant symbolism. This
shows the gap between nature and man. It needs to be “Just off” because it shows how
close men are to nature they just need to cross some boundary to get to it. This leads me
into the next piece of symbolism, the barbed wire fence. The narrator and his friend have
to cross over the fence which shows the unnatural boundary which partially blocks off the
natural setting with the man-made setting. It shows the determination of this man and his
friend and what they will go through to get past these unnatural boundaries placed by
mankind.
Why did Wright decide to use Indian horses specifically? He did this to put an idea in the
reader’s mind of how the Indian people were so close to their animals. This has to do with
