Analysis Of The Juggler By Richard Wilbur

Everyone has a passion but few can say they find their joy in the art of juggling. Richard Wilbur explores the emotions throughout a juggling act in his poem “The Juggler.” Through various tones, vibrant imagery, and a venturesome narrative, the speaker of “The Juggler” reveals the elegance of a juggler and their own fondness of another’s passion. The speaker opens with the beginning of the act. The act is already a serious matter and the action of throwing and catching the balls repeatedly is, in the speaker’s view, “not a light-hearted thing,” (line 2). Despite the speaker’s serious tone toward the juggler, the speaker still maintains an overall dreamy approach. To them, this wasn’t just merely balls moving up and down, but the life of “five red balls” being cared for in the hands of a “sky-blue juggler,” (line 6). This narration of the juggler’s performance allowing the audience to give life to objects that are not alive revealed that the speaker sees this as more than a performance, because in order to give life to an inanimate object, an individual must put all of their efforts into the act. The juggler had to be dedicated to his passion. The speaker understands this dedication and portrays the act as such

The tone shifts to be heavily awestruck; the speaker is no longer able to fully grasp how the juggler is performing in the magical way that he is. The emotions speed up yet maintain their precision. To fully reveal the impact of the show, the speaker relates the juggling balls to “a small heaven about [the juggler’s] ears,” (line 12). By comparing the act to one with heaven, a pure, desirable idea, the speaker reveals once again the immense admiration they have for the work of a juggler. It is not known to be a simple task to achieve an ideal such as heaven, and it is not a simple task to be able to captivate an audience with successful