William Stfford
Traveling through the dark I found a deer
dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.
By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.
My fingers touching her side brought me the reason—
her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,
alive, still, never to be born.
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.
The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
under the hood purred the steady engine.
I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.
I thought hard for us all—my only swerving—,
then pushed her over the edge into the river.
This is another poem about dilemma in a journey. He uses a lot of conflicts and contradictions to bring out the mental struggle of saving a fawn between emotion and reason For example, he uses the car as a symbol of technology to contrasts with the environment; and the life of an upcoming fawn contrasts with the dead mother deer. In the last couplet, he includes the reader’s feeling – ‘I thought hard for us all’ to make us feel being put in the same situation. And that is one of the reasons I think this poem is a bit sentimental. Another reason is the choice of word. The 2nd line of the 2nd stanza – ‘ and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing’ and the 3rd line of the 3rd stanza ‘alive, sill, never to be born’ the sentiment is mounting.
Lastly, the word ‘red’ in the 4th stanza is particularly sensitive in this poem that I can associate with words like ‘blood’, ‘violence’, ‘conflict’ and ‘danger’. The last word ‘river’ usually symbolizes life or passing of time, but here it is ridiculously referring to death.
Traveling through the dark I found a deer
dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.
By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.
My fingers touching her side brought me the reason—
her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,
alive, still, never to be born.
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.
The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
under the hood purred the steady engine.
I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.
I thought hard for us all—my only swerving—,
then pushed her over the edge into the river.
This is another poem about dilemma in a journey. He uses a lot of conflicts and contradictions to bring out the mental struggle of saving a fawn between emotion and reason For example, he uses the car as a symbol of technology to contrasts with the environment; and the life of an upcoming fawn contrasts with the dead mother deer. In the last couplet, he includes the reader’s feeling – ‘I thought hard for us all’ to make us feel being put in the same situation. And that is one of the reasons I think this poem is a bit sentimental. Another reason is the choice of word. The 2nd line of the 2nd stanza – ‘ and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing’ and the 3rd line of the 3rd stanza ‘alive, sill, never to be born’ the sentiment is mounting.
Lastly, the word ‘red’ in the 4th stanza is particularly sensitive in this poem that I can associate with words like ‘blood’, ‘violence’, ‘conflict’ and ‘danger’. The last word ‘river’ usually symbolizes life or passing of time, but here it is ridiculously referring to death.
No comments:
Post a Comment