The Bird's Song is a LIGHT (late!)

I Will Try by Mary Oliver is a poem about holding on... Being patient when troubles come, and looking for beauty in the darkness. The symbol of beauty and determination in this poem is the red bird. The bird sings, and all the while the narrator feels pain. She listens and hopes for a new joy. Despite her lost love, she knows she will find this light... She knows that God uses the hard times to draw her into peace and rest. The bird's soft singing represents her hope. She begins to realize that this hope is stirring up something inside of her–a joy that she now possesses which makes her similar to the bird in that she is a source of light, beauty, and hope.