The attractiveness in the unattractive scarecrow in the poem “Corvine metaphor” by Richard Fain

Name: Teodora Gercheva Course: English 210b Professor: Filitsa Mullen Date: 02/18/2011

The poem ‘’Corvene Metaphor’’ by Richard Fain reveals to us a real metaphoric world in which all the characters and roles are reversed and nothing is what it seems at first sight. The poem is a metaphor of life – such as it is or, more exactly, such as we imagine it to be. Atypical images of crows, scarecrows, and tomatoes present the general human motives of salvation, justice, sacrifice.Corvene’s metaphor speaks of what is the role of ordinary objects that had been turned into spiritual. Initially, the poem introduces us to a dark world from which negativism emanates.The first image introducing the character of the scarecrow is unpleasant and sacrificial. ‘’A scarecrow is mounted... arms extended like crucified Jesus... a murder of cacophonous crows .“ Directed by the author in the world of the biblical, the action happening before us strongly reminds us of this world and some of its characters – the scarecrow is Jesus, and the tomatoes are people receiving salvation from Him. And the comparison of a scarecrow with the crucified Christ is not a coincidence. With this analogue Fein places the scarecrow in the role of a scapegoat. What does the biblical expression 'scapegoat' really mean? This is someone unjustly accused who takes upon him/herself all the punishment that others should share. Indeed, this is the scarecrow- a necessarily ugly character destined to be destroyed in order for the tomatoes to survive. This paradoxical effect played in behind rusty fences reminds us that often in life it so happens that, for the progress and survival of some, others must be sacrificed without guilt. Where then is the tragedy - you will probably ask yourself? Do not you see the heroic in the image of that scarecrow? Richard Fein uses only one word which prevents the poem to escape from tragedy and drama -“a reprieve“.’’Tomatoes have a reprieve“-in vain is the sacrifice of the scarecrow - the tomatoes are not saved, they just took respite and wait for their turn.
Everything is predetermined from the outset and each has its role - the scarecrow is a victim and lure and the crows are the ones who should be deceived – the question is for how long? And in this universal delusion lies the insight that sometimes it is more appropriate rather than drive away the enemy, just to cheat, to attract their attention in another direction, lying to them, give them the opportunity to fail and to find escape from them. This is the role of the scarecrow- contrary to its given name- its goal is not to scare the crows but to attract them - precisely here is the key metaphor in the poem. This metaphor based on hidden comparison replaced the usual idea and main function of the scarecrow with a role opposite and totally unrelated to its original one – the character that doesn’t repulse, but attracts, does not scare but invites and seduces – ‘’With crows seduced by straw, the tomatoes remain.“ Attracting crows, it achieved its primary objective- ‘’the tomatoes remain .“ But for how long…? It is humorous that, tempted by the scarecrow, ravens miss the valuable tomatoes. This refers us back to reality, in our own world and makes us wonder. Do not we also often miss worthy things in life? I am confident that it is so and that we humans often succumb to temptation at times, overlook truly valuable things or leave them pass us without paying the necessary attention. And if we need to compare ourselves to animals – in this case to crows, we are far more subjective in our judgments and tend to err, since unlike animals we are not entirely driven by instincts. After he has mastered the basic instincts, man is free to choose what is good and valuable for him but the greater the freedom, the more the possible mistakes. In this instance, however, the poem and its characters are not the best model for comparison because they are completely reversed and are moving away from traditional ideas. Through the usage of personification, which in itself is a type of metaphor, the author turns the ugly scarecrow which we encounter in the beginning of the poem into a straw-man towards its end.
Through ascribing human features to the material scarecrow – at first comparing it to Jesus and later calling it a straw-man, the author is looking for a comparison and inclusion of the material world into the world of mankind. While placed in the role of the man, the scarecrow is not the stronger party in this cacophonous murder. The very act of attack on a scarecrow illustrates the overturning of the law of the jungle. The small ones attack the big ones. Compared to a human - the highest being in the evolutionary development, the scarecrow is not the master, but the victim of the black birds. Chained and helpless, it was destroyed without a trace, it's his sad end – is this his futile death?! A poem about the tragic sacrifice– is this ‘’Corvine Metaphor“in fact? If so far I have succeeded to convince you in the tragedy, hopelessness and negativism that has permeated the work, then here is the well known proverb–‘Every cloud has a silver lining” And there is no way that an absolute optimist like me will miss that silver lining in the poem. "Tomatoes have a reprieve"-says the poet, but nowhere in the whole poem is it indicated the timing of the destruction of tomatoes from crows. Exactly here lies the possibility of their salvation. The scarecrow saves tomatoes by giving a chance and time in which the crops can be harvested and survive. By this way his sacrifice is not in vain, and although on black wings it did not stay on the ground but fly to the sky. In the image of heaven the motive for retribution and purification is indirectly implied, we do not see the sad, but the heroic part of sacrifice. The scarecrow shows us that salvation is not always what you think it is and it can take different forms and manifestations. Sometimes salvation is a little time you need; salvation is the sacrifice of others; salvation is the freedom to help yourself, because a rescue is never true and complete if you do not desire it, look for it and find it in yourself.