James Wright Research Paper

James Wright is widely recognized as one of America’s finest contemporary poets. He was admired by many critics for his willingness and ability to experiment with language and style, as well as his thematic concerns. In the Minnesota Review, Peter A. Stitt wrote that Wright's work both represents and parallels the development of the best modern American poets: "Reading the Collected Poems of James Wright from the point of view of style is like reading a history of the best contemporary American poetry. One discovers a development which could be said to parallel the development generally of our finest recent poets. . . . [This development shows] a movement generally away from rhetoric, regular meter and rhyme, towards plainer speech, looser

13, 1927, in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, to Dudley and Jessie Wright. James grew up very poor due to the fact he was a child of factory people. His father worked for fifty years in the glass factory, and his mom left school at the age of fourteen to work in the laundry business. He was the first in his family to graduate from college, nor his mother or father attended school past the eighth grade. The Wrights’ lives during the depression years was very difficult. Being brought up in the 1930’s in Ohio, the poverty and human suffering Wright witnessed as a child profoundly influenced his writing, and he used his poetry as a way to discuss his social and political

Ironically, the beautiful horses that appear to be wild and free are enclosed by the barbed wire fence, which the friends have to step over to get to them. The ponies display the emotions of happiness, shyness, loneliness, and love as they welcome their two human friends with whom they have not encountered in a long time due to the ponies’ captivity. This poem ties back to the recurring idea of loneliness that is seen in many of Wright’s works. Wright relies on descriptive imagery to get his message across to his readers. As stated, the scene takes place “just off the highway”(line 1), which intensifies the gulf between a man-made road and the beauty of nature. This idea of loneliness is described through the horses that have been without companionship for so long, which leads into a overwhelming connection these animals share upon meeting the speaker and his friend. As a reader, the connection can be inferred when the speaker states, “I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms, for she has walked over to me and nuzzled my left hand” (line 15-17). This emotional connection is one of many reasons critics love Wright and his work. According to literary critic, Brian Green, “A Blessing” is “ an uneven performance. Its emotional force, as it dramatizes a mind apprehending its own unconscious, has been construed as bordering on