words ‘‘one will’’ used twice in a repetition of
phrase that gives rhythm to the line.
Stanza 2
In this stanza, a repeated phrase is repeated to
provide rhythm and connect the thoughts. Lines
1, 2 and 4, with line 3 being a dropped line, all
start with ‘‘There isn’t.’’ Line 1 states there is not
much time to deal with the words; lines 2 and 3
state there is not much left to talk about as the
year comes to an end; line 4 states there is not
much to add to what has already been said.
These lines sound like the excuses of someone
who is tired or worn out. The repetition empha-
sizes the speaker’s resolve to avoid these words.
In line 5 the words are described as ‘‘road-
worn’’ and ‘‘December-colored,’’ but the reader
has to wonder if that describes the words or the
speaker. ‘‘December-colored’’ is a clever way to
describe something old, again connecting the
time of year to the idea of the winter of a person’s
life. Line 5 continues by calling the words unat-
tractive angels who gather round, according to
line 6, ‘‘whenever a thing appears.’’ It is as if to
say that although words are blessed things, they
are unattractive or unwanted at this stage, but
still they cluster around things in hopes of being
used to name or describe that thing.
In line 7 the words are described as crisp and
new because they are unspoken. Line 7 continues
by saying that the words are unspeakable and
the implication is that they are unspeakable
because, as the first part of the stanza said,
there is no use for them. The dropped line 8
adds that they unspeakable because they are
mute; they cannot say anything any more, even
if they are in ‘‘glittering garb,’’ an alliterated
description that sticks out at the end of a
dropped line to gain attention.
Stanza 3
In this stanza, Wright spreads a sentence across
three lines with unusual line placement and spac-
ing. The position of the words of the sentence are
intended to match the thing he is describing:
clouds moving across the sky. The speaker says
that the clouds have been coming all afternoon
out of the Blue Ridge, and they look like they are
sliding across the page. The Blue Ridge refers to
the Blue Ridge Mountain range that Wright can
see from his home in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Wright starts off line 3 the same way he
started line 1. The purpose of the repetition is
to stress the passage of time. Lines 4 and 5
describe how the leaves have moved across the
sidewalk and driveway, ending in the alliterative
and onomatopoeic phrase, which repeats thecl-
sound in a way that actually sounds like the
points of dried leaves scraping across concrete.
Line 6 indicates that afternoon is passing
into evening; even more time has passed when
so little is left. Line 7 uses alliteration again in
continuing the message of things unspoken by
using thes-sound. Line 8 tells the reader that
these small slices are running under a dark rain, a
darkness that will obliterate them. Line 8 indi-
cates that the small slices of silence are wrapped
in a larger silence, perhaps the great silence of
death. The buzzards are anticipating death, the
speaker anticipates a death that will leave the
words unused, even though, as the first stanza
points out, the words still carry secrets, still have
brought light to new ideas, but there is no point
in remembering the power of words because
there just is not time for all that anymore.THEMESTime
A recurring theme in Wright’s poetry is time as it
relates to the past and to the human lifespan.
Wright sees time as the alpha-and-omega dimen-
sion in that everything begins and ends in time,
even a poem. Time is something that is given, but
there’s never enough of it, and time can run out.
Time can become an enemy, and time can
destroy memories and feelings. In ‘‘Words Are
the Diminution of All Things,’’ time is definitely
on the poet’s mind because there is not enough
time left to do any more work with the words
that try to get the his attention. Wright includes
several references to time in this poem, regarding
the secrets, in terms of how much is left, the time
of day and the season, the words that seem worn
with the lateness of the year. The title of the
poem indicates that time is the critical issue
because even the words will diminish until the
life of the poet is silenced.Silence
The speaker fears time because it will eventually
bring the silence of death. As life fades, things
become quieter, and the poet can no longer deal
with words. For Wright, words are real entities
and as limited in existence as anything else in thisWords Are the Diminution of All Things