Five Flights Up

A key theme in the poem is time and how to deal with it. The poem begins with nighttime since it’s “[s]till dark” (Line 1), but, by the end of Stanza 1, day arrives, since day answers the inquiries of the bird and dog “directly, simply” (Line 8). Thus, the passage of time offers solutions. These solutions aren’t roundabout or complicated; they’re basic and upfront. The animals didn’t strain to solve their supposed inquiries. They didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything. The answers to their questions—“if that is what they are” (Line 7)—occurred effortlessly. Day comes and tells them what they need to know, so all they had to do was wait for “day itself” (Line 9) to arrive, which requires no input from the animals.

The theme of time and effortlessness continues with the description of the morning as “[e]normous,” “ponderous,” and “meticulous” (Line 10). The morning is roomy, thoughtful, and exact; it’s comfortable, precise, and doesn’t pressure the bird to wake up immediately and start rushing around. As morning arrives, the “bird still sits there” (Line 14), and the most the morning compels him to do is perhaps “yawn” (Line 14).

Conversely, the passage of time riles up the dog as morning pushes him to run “in his yard,” (Line 15), bounce “cheerfully up and down” (Line 19), and then make “circles in the fallen leaves” (Line 20).