17. THE WRITER

As you read this poem, think about what you think about yourself as a writer.

The Writer
by Richard Wilbur

In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.

But now it is she who pauses,
As if to reject my thought and its easy figure.
A stillness greatens, in which

The whole house seems to be thinking,
And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor
Of strokes, and again is silent.

I remember the dazed starling
Which was trapped in that very room, two years ago;
How we stole in, lifted a sash

And retreated, not to affright it;
And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door,
We watched the sleek, wild, dark

And iridescent creature
Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove
To the hard floor, or the desk-top,

And wait then, humped and bloody,
For the wits to try it again; and how our spirits
Rose when, suddenly sure,

It lifted off from a chair-back,
Beating a smooth course for the right window
And clearing the sill of the world.

It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.


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Now, answer the following:
1. What are you best memories about writing?
2. What is the easiest thing about writing for you, and why?
3. What is the most difficult thing about your writing for you, and why?
4. What different kinds of writing do you do? Who reads your writing? Where is your writing published or shared with others?
5. What materials and/or equipment do you like to have on hand when you write? What are these items for? Why do you have them?
6. What steps do you follow when you write? Outline your writing process, using a simple, informal outline format.
7. Are you a procrastinator when it comes to writing? What do you try to avoid? What do you typically do instead?
8. What's the biggest influence on the way that you write? Why does it make a difference?
9. If someone else were observing you as a writer, what would they notice? What would they see or hear?
10. Overall, how would you describe yourself as a writer? What kind of writer are you, and why do you say so?


NOW, WRITE YOUR OWN POEM OF YOU AS A WRITER!!!