The Spirit Is Too Blunt An Instrument Flashcards
Theme
Perfection of body VS messiness of spirit
1-2 (2)
The spirit is too blunt an instrument
to have made this baby.
-Metaphor: compares human spirit to unsharpened tool (a “blunt” or dull/clumbsy “instrument”
–>Such a tool couldn’t possibly “have made this baby”
‘B’ alliteration + “t” consonance :
make opening line striking + memorable –> emphasizes speaker’s perspective
3-5(2)
Nothing so unskilful as human passions
could have managed the intricate
exacting particulars:
Human emotions are too clumbsy + imprecise to create a baby’s “intricate exacting particulars”
Enjambment: give poem burst of exitement
–> suggest speaker getting wrapped in wonder of baby’s body
5-9 (3)
[ ]the tiny
blind bones with their manipulating tendons,
the knee and the knucklebones, the resilient
fine meshings of ganglia and vertebrae,
the chain of the difficult spine.
Semantic field of scientific language –> emphasizes its incredible complexity
Abundant ‘n/ng’ consonance:
–>connects all these words on sound level, just like backbone holds everything together
–> mimicks the ‘meshings’
Connotation of adj ‘fine’/’tiny’: further emphasizes speaker’s tone of awe & wonder of detail of physical body working in harmony
10-14 (4)
Observe the distinct eyelashes and sharp crescent
fingernails, the shell-like complexity
of the ear, with its firm involutions
concentric in miniature to minute
ossicles.
imperative ‘observe’–> accentuates speaker’s tone of incredubility
adjective choice ‘distinct’: shows poetic voice is focusing on each eyelash (emphasises his wonder)
difficult to articulate words: mimicks complexity of baby / contrasts idea of child w/ precise science (‘concentric/ossicles’)
‘shell-like complexity’ imagery: intensifies speaker’s awe bc looking at minute details
simile: compared to shell bc of its small/beautiful details & bc everyone sees beauty in them
14-18
[ ]Imagine the
infinitesimal capillaries, the flawless connections
of the lungs, the invisible neural filaments
through which the completed body
already answers to the brain.
‘Imagine / infintesimal / invisible’ adjective + imperative:
Connote beyond our understanding –> intensifies speaker’s tone of awe
Adjective choice ‘flawless’ = emphasises physical perfection of baby
20-25 (3)
Then name any passion or sentiment
possessed of the simplest accuracy.
No, no desire or affection could have done
with practice what habit
has done perfectly, indifferently,
through the body’s ignorant precision.
1/2nd line: dares reader to say a single emotion/feeling as efficient as physical body
intense p+s consonance: emphasizes speaker’s statement, sounds as though their spitting out words in disgust
No human emotion could accomplish what nature has
End
It is left to the vagaries of the mind to invent
love and despair and anxiety
and their pain.
when talking about emotions simple words used: contrast scientific/complex words that decribe baby
‘And’ repetition: all these emotions are piling up on top of each other, overwhelming speaker
Sub message
link between the body and spirit:
biology is an unthinking, unfeeling process, and it’s only the combination of nature’s “simple accuracy” with the more vague workings of the “spirit” that makes human beings human
