Poetry · Chapter
To My Bird explained
The narrator addresses a parrot, lamenting that the bird merely repeats what it has been taught and feeds on the narrator's mind, leaving it a wreck.
What happens
The narrator addresses a parrot, lamenting that the bird merely repeats what it has been taught and feeds on the narrator's mind, leaving it a wreck. The narrator sarcastically invites the parrot to feast on his virtues, noting that his vices would disagree with the bird as they do with himself.
Themes in this chapter
Art and Criticism
The poem critiques the parrot's lack of originality, suggesting that art (the bird's rhymes) is merely derivative and feeds on the creator's intellect.
Deception and Self-Deception
The narrator acknowledges that the parrot's wisdom is not new but taught by him, hinting at self-deception in claiming originality while the bird merely mimics.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The speaker who addresses the parrot and reflects on the depletion of his own mind.
Key passages
“If I were screaming in a cage, Parrot mine, parrot mine, And you were rhyming on this page, Parrot mine, I’d try to shriek a fresher bit Of wisdom to excite your wit, Parrot mine.”
If our roles were reversed and I were trapped while you wrote, I would try to produce something new to stimulate your cleverness.
The narrator imagines a role reversal where he would strive for originality to engage the parrot.
“Your life in order to maintain, Parrot mine, parrot mine, You daily dine upon my brain, Parrot mine. My mind, a torn and mangled wreck, Is disappearing down your neck, Parrot mine.”
To sustain yourself, you consume my thoughts every day, leaving my mind shattered and vanishing into you.
The parrot's existence depends on devouring the narrator's mental energy, reducing his mind to ruins.
“Well, be it so: present your bill, Parrot mine, parrot mine, And on my virtues feast your fill, Parrot mine. My vices, though, will disagree With you, my pet. They do with me. Parrot mine.”
Very well, go ahead and submit your demand; indulge in my good qualities. But my faults will not suit you, just as they do not suit me.
The narrator resigns to the parrot's exploitation, warning that his vices are as disagreeable to the bird as they are to himself.