Reading Myself by Robert Lowell

This poem is really a self-reflection. Lowell uses metaphors to express his ideas. First is the metaphor of fire. The size of the fire seems to correspond with the value or the popularity of a piece of writing. He says he knows how to set a "river on fire". This would imply that he is a good writer, but he precedes this comparison with "memorized the tricks". This is almost like cheating. He is basically saying that he has memorized the tricks of others have come up with, that his appearance of greatness is a facade. Little of his merit is based on his original ideas. The other major metaphor he uses is the bee building the beehive. In essence, he is saying that no writer's work is done until he gives everything to it. And even then there is no guarantee that the work will be permanent.