Swan and Shadow

“Easter Wings” by George Herbert (1633)

Herbert, a priest and a poet, wrote this famous shape-poem more than 300 years before Hollander’s “Swan and Shadow.” “Easter Wings” is a rhymed poem in iambic tetrameter, the lines arranged like two sets of soaring wings of a dove, reflecting the poet’s rise into God’s grace. Although the two poems are separated by time, theme, and more, Hollander counted Herbert as one of his literary inspirations. Herbert wrote “Easter Wings” in the tradition of ancient Greek shape-poetry.

“Invective Against Swans” by Wallace Stevens (1923)

Beautiful and graceful, swans have traditionally been the subject of many myths, poems, and artworks, but American modernist poet Stevens presents a different take on the birds in his poem. Stevens describes swans in mundane terms, in contrast to the swan in Hollander’s poem. However, Stevens’s invective is not so much against swans but their flowery, cliched representation in 19th-century poetry.

“Kitty: Black Domestic Shorthair” by John Hollander (1991)

This poem is shaped like the silhouette of a cat and was included in the updated version of Types of Shape, published in 1991. Witty, clever, and meditative, “Kitty” shows Hollander’s technical expertise. More playful in tone than “Swan and Shadow,” the poem also highlights Hollander’s poetic range.