Parents are naturally protective of their children. They know that their children will encounter difficulties in their lives, but at some point the parent must leave their child alone and simply wish them well. In "The Writer" by Richard Wilbur, the speaker describes his daughter's experience with writing, which is used as a metaphor for life. Her daughter faces problems and challenges; she grows up. This is compared to a starling that had been trapped in this exact room just two years earlier. The starling, after much effort and struggle, managed to free itself. The speaker uses the simile to illustrate the heartbreaking reality that parents must ultimately allow their children to overcome life's challenges on their own. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The structure and syntax of the poem emphasize the peaks and falls of life. There are 11 stanzas, each consisting of 3 lines each. It is important to note that the second line of each stanza is always the longest. This visually highlights the ups and downs of life. This clearly highlights how the girl will hit the walls, but will eventually "start again with a group clamor of blows." Furthermore, each stanza, except the last, each consists of a declarative. However, there are constant pauses with commas, colons and semicolons to indicate that life is not smooth. The speaker, and father, understands this and realizes that he can do nothing but hope that his daughter will be able to overcome all of this. Thus, the structure and syntax of the poem itself visually illustrates the girl's bumpy path that she must face and conquer. Stanzas 1-5 use nautical imagery to describe the writing as a metaphor for sailing through life. Specific terms such as “bow,” “gunwale,” “cargo,” and “passage” illustrate the girl’s journey of “writing a story” as a journey through life. The girl is still young, but she already has “a big load, and some heavy.” It is therefore significant that the speaker chooses precisely to “wish him a good passage”. The obvious empathetic tone shows that the speaker is aware that the girl will inevitably face violent waves throughout her journey. The girl "rejects [the] thought and its easy face", showing that she refuses to adhere to the wish and is ready to fight through the struggles of the life she has chosen. This establishes the context for the message of the poem which is essentially summarized in the last stanza. In stanzas 6-10, the episode of the speaker watching a starling struggle to fly away parallels how the speaker hopes that the girl will fight through life and not give up. The speaker tells of the bird “trapped in this same room, two years ago.” It was precisely the same room. This could parallel how the speaker potentially traps the girl because the speaker, as a parent, is unable to let go. However, the speaker continues to recall “how for an hour, helpless, through the half-open door, [He] observed the elegant, wild, dark/And iridescent creature”. Although the starling “[fell] like a glove on the hard ground” and in the end was “hunchbacked and bloodied,” he ultimately managed to free himself “[clear] the edge of the world.” This idea resonates with the speaker's current situation. The speaker watches from the outside, helpless and unable to help the girl. It is obvious that there are parallels between the girl and.