How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts · Chapter
Puffin; Nuffin explained
A short verse describing a puffin perched on ice and the speaker's failed search for its double, finding nothing instead.
What happens
A short verse describing a puffin perched on ice and the speaker's failed search for its double, finding nothing instead.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book.
- Setup
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs in the tension between the Ibis’s preserved, sacred death and the…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Wordplay and Homophones
The title and final word play on 'puffin' and 'nuffin' (nothing), using homophonic wordplay.
- Humor and Absurdity
The absurd search for a puffin's double ending in 'nuffin' creates a humorous, anticlimactic conclusion.
Characters to notice
- the Birds
The puffin is a bird, representing the broader category of birds in the chapter.
Key passages
“Upon this cake of ice is perched, The paddle-footed Puffin: To find his double I have searched, But have discovered—Nuffin’.”
A puffin with webbed feet stands on a block of ice; I looked for its twin but found nothing at all.
Literal paraphrase of the verse's content.
