Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Stevens teaches the reader 13 ways to look at a blackbird, so, in essence, he outlines how to see or perceive the world. Perception involves specifics, and Stevens provides precise images. His speaker provides an exact count of the mountains and their condition—“twenty mountains” (Line 1). The speaker looks carefully and notices that “[t]he only moving thing / Was the eye of the blackbird” (3). Sight requires attentive observation, and it also necessitates context. The blackbird doesn’t exist in a vacuum but among other things—it’s “whirled in the autumn winds” (Line 7), pacing near “barbaric glass” (Line 19), or marking the edges of “one of many circles” (Line 37). The blackbird participates in the world, and to see it, the speaker has to be aware of the world.

The “thin men of Haddam” (Line 25) serve as a reminder of how not to see the world. The men don’t look at the blackbird, nor do the men pay much attention to the women around them. They’re unaware of their environment because they are too preoccupied with “imagin[ing] golden birds” (Line 26). Imagination is crucial, but the thin men’s imaginations are corrupt.