Figurative Language In Richard Wilbur's The Juggler

In Richard WIlbur’s “The Juggler”, the poem describes a seemingly mesmerizing performance by a juggler. The narrator, who appears to be among the audience uses poetic elements such as imagery, figurative language, and tone to reveal his fascination and inspiration evoked by the juggler’s performance. Imagery was proven to be one of the most prominent poetic elements within the poem, emphasizing its importance in the revelation of the speaker’s change. At the beginning of the poem, in stanzas one and two, the imagery was much different from the rest of the poem. The imagery appeared to be much weaker, and did not excite the reader as much as it had later in the poem. Wilbur used examples of imagery to set a very mellow tone, and functions as almost an introduction to the performance,e which is the pinnacle of the speaker’s excitement. The poem began with the line of imagery “A …show more content…
The mellow tone at the beginning reflects the speaker’s attitude prior to the performance. Then, during the performance the speaker began to use words such as “Damn”, and the term”We cry” as he describes such fascinating images to portray the intensified tone. After the performance, the intensity in the tone is reduced, however the tone is seemingly more positive, reflecting on the inspiration and motivation the speaker received from the performance.
Richard Wilbur’s “The Juggler is a poem that critically uses poetic elements such as imagery, figurative language, and tone to describe a mesmerizing performance. These elements reveal the changes of the speaker throughout the show. At the start of the show the casual tone portrays the calm nature of the speaker. AS the performance goes on, the incredible actions of the juggler excite the speaker; which is displayed through the poetic elements. Wilbur presents the speaker as motivated, inspired, and full of positive energy at the conclusion of the