The Mountain (Symbol)
The mountain is the central symbol of this poem, and almost every metaphorical image within the work can be contextualized within the broader symbolism of the mountain. However, the symbolic significance of the mountain is shifting and ambiguous. In one sense, the speaker herself is a mountain, because the chronological and spatial scale of her life is nearly geological relative to that of the people around her. She stays still while others move away, and she is ancient while others are young. In another sense, the mountain remains external to the speaker. She describes the metaphorical landscape around her as a strange, unnavigable, uncomfortable place. In this reading, the mountain symbolizes not the speaker herself, but the sensory experience of aging. In both cases, the mountain setting is represented as bizarre and slightly surreal. In this depiction of old age, aging is frightening and novel, packed full of unexpected experiences—an adventure, albeit an often unpleasant one, rather than a mere decline.
Birds (Symbol)
Birds, in this poem and elsewhere, are symbols of freedom and vibrancy. In this poem, various bird images offer insight into the speaker's experience of old age, as well as into the world of free movement and sensory engagement that feel increasingly beyond her reach. First, the speaker describes disembodied wings surrounding her. These wings are stiff, the feathers hardening. The claws, meanwhile, are lost. This image of damaged, lifeless, and inflexible wings tells us that the speaker's freedom has been impeded, and that her own body can no longer offer her mobility or autonomy. Meanwhile, the lost claws seem to hint that the speaker has also lost a degree of fierceness or toughness. A stanza later, meanwhile, Bishop writes that "Bird-calls/dribble." This description of deafness doubles as a reminder of the speaker's restrictions. If birdsongs are often associated with beauty and freedom, the fact that they are available only in a "dribble" to the speaker shows that her hearing loss further restricts her freedom.
