The Bluebird

About the Poem

“The Bluebird” talks a bluebird the speaker holds in his heart that he refuses to let out while he is in public while he is writing to sell books. However, he lets him out when at night when no one is around. The bluebird can be interpreted as the good part of himself that is hopeful despite the pain he feels that he conveys in his poem. As a poet, Bukowski is known for only writing about his pain, but he rarely seems to show any hope in his poems. This leaves his readers to wonder if he feels any sort of hope at all. However, when he is alone at night, he shows that he is indeed hopeful, and there is some good in himself. What is interesting about this poem is that the reader is left to interpret the bluebird for oneself. In other words, the reader interprets the bluebird as hope; he does not come out and say, “there is hope in my heart” or “there is good in my heart”. He addresses it as a bluebird, so the reader still does not know that Bukowski is saying hope. This goes back to what Bukowski says about the bluebird interfering with his book sales in Europe, that his audience cannot know that Bukowski feels any sense of optimism because he only shows pain in his poems.

Impact

Of all of Bukowski’s poems, this one is one of my favorites because of the mystery of the bluebird. The bluebird seems to be what the reader wants the bluebird wants it to be, which is what is so magnificent about poetry. Words in a poem is what the reader wants them to be. Reading this poem for the first time, I did not know how to interpret the bluebird. However, after reading it a second time, I thought of the bluebird as the hope the speaker still has left that he does not want others to know he has. A classmate of mine interprets it as the good part of himself. Now, thinking about both of those interpretations, I think they can work in combination with one another. The bluebird is that sense of hope or feeling of good in the world he feels in his heart that he lets no one else see because he is so pessimistic. While reading this poem, I saw myself while I was suffering from depression and anxiety. I felt little hope in man-kind and myself that all everyone I knew saw me as a miserable person. However, in solitude, I held on to hope that better days were to come, and my life would get better. In other words, I had that bluebird in my heart despite everything that was happening to me.

Values

Although this poem does not promote self-reinvention at first glance like “No Leaders, Please”, “The Bluebird” shows self-reinvention according to one’s audience. In other words, the speaker reinvents himself for his audience, but he reinvents himself again because he has no audience. Like most people, the speaker is more true to himself when he is by himself than when he is writing for an audience. While “No Leaders, Please” promotes the idea of self-reinvention, “The Bluebird” does not necessarily promote it, but rather encourages people not to let go of that part of themselves that is hopeful. In other words, “The Bluebird” encourages people to ensure they reinvent themselves so that they still have that good and hopeful part of themselves so they can remain optimistic. In other words, people should invent themselves to be optimistic, and not reinvent themselves to only expect pain because pain is not the only thing the world brings

Significance to My Students

“The Bluebird” teaches students not to let go of hope no matter how bad life gets, it is always important to hold onto optimism. Although students will experience pain in their lives, it is always important that they hold onto that hope or goodness and know that better days are to come. Someone like Bukowski always experienced constant pain in his life, like the abuse he took from his father. Students will not always feel they experience constant pain in their lives to the point where they are depressed, but they will experience some traumatic pain. Therefore, it is important for teachers to teach optimism in their students so they know that not all their days are bad. However, some students will experience constant pain to the point where they can become depressed. With these students, it is important for teachers to provide a supportive environment to help them with whatever obstacle they may be going through. As teachers, we must feel that our students are able to talk to us about whatever obstacle they are going through. I know this will be especially important when I become a guidance counselor. Children need to feel they can talk to me about their pain so that I can help them get through whatever they are going through and let them know that pain is not as constant as they think and there are better days to come.

It is important to bring this idea of holding onto hope to the bigger idea, self-reinvention. As I said before, “The Bluebird” teaches self-reinvention because in the poem, Bukowski reinvents himself for his reader. However, when he is alone, he “lets his bluebird out”, or that good part of himself that has not lost hope. We will have students who will act like the world has forsaken them, but they may still hold onto hope. As teachers, it is important for us to bring that hope in students so they can show they are still hopeful despite any pain they are facing. In other words, it is important that we get students to contradict the message Bukowski conveys in his poem, so we can see the student’s bluebird in public and in private. That students’ peers do not want to be around him or her if they let the pain make them consistently unhappy. Therefore, teachers should encourage students to be in touch with their bluebirds despite their pain, but they should let it show just as much in the classroom as outside of the classroom. If students are going through a tough obstacle, they should do their best to reinvent themselves so they let that optimism show.