Crane Cyril Wong
The crane, unashamed of her ashen hue, rose to the firmament she had bragged about to the peacock of the garish plumage and the dunghill. 5 Yet there was no one here to echo her song at such an altitude. Clouds took on the shapes of other birds, as if to mock and deepen her solitude. One night, 10 stars seemed to her like tears instead of the eyes of celestial cranes peering in. A moon was nothing but a dead man’s grin. And yet the crane knew she could 15 do no better than to dip and soar and fall between an airless heaven and the stony earth below, a middle space that was also its own monotony. Taking it slow, 20 she leaned into a groove of air, achieving amity with a feeling of void she could no longer avoid, an emptiness that was more an acknowledgement 25 of terror than the arrival of peace. To call this happiness would be a certain error. And yet the crane allowed the feeling to fill her. It seemed more honest. 30 Dying would surely be a different matter.
This poem is reprinted with the permission of the author.
Glossary
Line 2 Ashen Very pale with shock, fear, or illness
Line 2 Hue A colour or shade
Line 2 Firmament The heavens or sky
Line 4 Garish Obtrusively bright and showy
Line 4 Plumage A bird's feathers collectively
Line 4 Dunghill A small pile of solid animal waste
Line 6 Altitude The height of an object or point in relation to sea level or ground level
Line 9 Solitude The state of being alone
Line 11 Celestial Positioned in or relating to the sky
Line 13 Grin A broad smile
Line 15 Soar To fly or rise high in the sky
Line 19 Monotony Lack of variety and interest
Line 20 Groove A long, narrow cut or depression in a hard material
Line 21 Amity Friendly relations
Line 22 Void A completely empty space
About the poem
The poem takes off from Aesop’s original fable, ‘The Peacock and the Crane’. A summary of the fable as follows: ‘A Peacock is strutting before a Crane saying how beautiful he is. The Crane points out that it could fly with his feathers instead of just strut around.’ The moral of the fable can be summarised like this: ‘Fine feathers don’t make fine birds.’
The poem operates like a sequel to the fable, in which the Crane has compared the earthbound Peacock to a dunghill cock. The Crane enters a state of reflection in the midst of flight about the nature of limitation and impermanence.
Discussion questions
1. Why does the Crane take centre-stage in the poem, and does the Crane share anything in common with the Peacock?
2. How is ‘Crane’ a poem? Think in terms of rhymes, line breaks and imagery and what words or ideas are emphasised as a result of such literary devices.
3. What does the Crane’s perspective reveal about our idealised conceptions or misconceptions about flight or physical freedom?
4. Think about the original Aesop’s fable and its moral message. What perspective is offered in the poem that hasn’t been presented in the fable?
5. Why is death mentioned by the end of ‘Crane’?
6. Think about fables and parables in general. To what extent do they condition the way we think, and how might we challenge their presuppositions? Are fables still useful and educational in our more challenging and contemporary times?
In-class activities
1. During class, read aloud this poem that takes off from a previous parable: ‘A Fable’ by Louise Glück or ‘Lot’s Wife’ by Anna Akhmatova.
The original biblical fable or parable is referenced and summarised at the front of the poem. Discuss how does the poem carry on or depart from the fable? What new information or context is presented, and how do the differences subvert the moral of the original story?
2. The instructor will choose any number of definitions about fables or parables, for example: ‘a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.’ With fables and parables as an overall rubric, ask students to think about such instructional stories that have shaped the way they think about life and about themselves.
Get one or more students to talk about one or more remembered fables out loud, and analyse more elaborately how they could have been influenced by such stories.
3. Instruct students to write a short poem in response to a fable that they remember most fondly or – better yet – one that has troubled them in the past. The poem has to present a new take on the fable or carry on from where the fable left off in terms of implicit plot, thematic concern and/or moral lesson.
4. Each student should read the poem out loud. Everyone may discuss the poem in terms of diction, form, metaphor, imagery and syntax. Does the poem appeal to certain senses and not others? What fresh insights on old themes are presented in the poem?
5. If time allows, the student should also talk about more individual reasons for writing the poem: Why the decision to tackle certain themes and not others? What is the inspiration for utilising certain images and metaphors? What are the writerly influences that have inspired the poet?
Writing prompts
1. Think of a fable that doesn’t necessarily originate from a Western canon. Where and when did you first encounter this fable? How has this fable shaped your thinking? Is the moral of the fable oppressive or instructive? Then write a poem in response to the fable. You may try writing from the viewpoint of the character or characters in the original fable, instead of just writing about them.
2. Make sure you think carefully about diction, enjambments (how they emphasise certain words and not others) and imagery. Think especially about how you can offer a fresh and surprising take on the original fable through your poem.
3. Be careful not to repeat ideas too often in the poem, or rely heavily on convoluted imagery. Avoid an over-reliance on abstract language and using too many adjectives/adverbs when a bare sentence or simple speech would suffice.