The poem, Robin Redbreast by Stanley Kunitz is a very descriptive story (poem) about a person (the

narrator) who finds a dying bird. The poem chronicles the astute observations both mentally and
physically that are made by the narrator in regards to the bird. The narrator concludes his experience in
the final line by writing, I caught the cold flash of the blue Unappeasable sky. This line is symbolic of
the finality of death, and death is the subject of the poem itself.
To begin, we have to exploit the subject of the poem a little bit more by analyzing the connotations and
verbiage used throughout the work. Death and the ideas surrounding mortality seem to be a recurring
them in Kunitz poetry. This is understandable, as Kunitz lived a very long life full of observation and of
course, death. In the first few lines, connotations of death are used in a corpse-like description of the
dying bird. The narrator describes the bird as dingy and all the color washed away from him. He also
describes the bird as being friendless, stiff and cold. This is comparable to a corpse who is alone
because he is dead, cold because of body temperature, and stiff due to rigor mortis. The finality of death
is seen here in choice of the word friendless. Death is a lonely transition, and even when loved ones
surround you, death is final in its ability to take a life by itself, alone.
The second reference to the finality of death is a bit more comparable to modern day family problems.
When a family or individual moves away from home, selling the home is the biggest burden in many
cases. If you cant sell your home before you buy a new one, mortgages roll upon each other, there is
added stress, and its nothing but relief when the home finally sells. When the home does sell, it is the
end of a chapter in someones life, and there is definite finality to a move when your previous home
sells. Kunitz uses this in lines 7-10. The narrator compares the loneliness and finality of death of the
dying bird to his own lonely upbringing in a house marked FOR SALE, where nobody made a sound, in
the room where I lived with an empty page.
The next few lines until the conclusion of the paragraph are pretty straight forward and literal. We get to
see into the mind of the narrator as he goes from being entitled to being sympathetic when faced with
the finality of impending death. Throughout the poem the narrator uses words that have connotative
meanings associated with not only death but also entitlement. He refers to the bird as being dumb
and living a foolish life. The narrator finds the bird to be stupid and desperate, and lucky that he
was there to save it and put it back on its way. The reader at this point only knows what the narrator
knows. Then, the narrator has an epiphany as he holds the bird up to the light only to see that this death
is not natural or due to dumb decisions, but was involuntary and caused by a hunter. This is where the
narrator transforms from entitled to understanding and he begins to understand the finality of death by
describing the obviously fatal wound that has tunneled a hole right through the birds head. Here is
where the finality of death is summed up in one line. The narrator holds the bird up, and the hole
through its head creates a window in which the narrator can see the blue unappeasable sky. The sky
is final and malevolent. It cannot be changed, moved or warped. The sky just is. You cannot appeal to
it, it will rain when it wants, snow when it wants, hail when it wants. It is like death, a force that cometh
and taketh with no regard for human input. It is final.