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Daniel Fordice
AP English 12
Ms. McGee
February 25, 2012
Poetry Comparison
The way someone interacts with nature is an extreme judge of character. Two distinct
characters are defined by their reaction to the death of a wild animal in “Traveling through the
Dark” by William Stafford and “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin. “Traveling through the Dark”
depicts a healthy and respectful relationship with nature when a man comes across the morbid
scene of a pregnant doe who has been hit by a car. “Woodchucks” shows the adverse affects of
killing pestilent rodents on the human psyche. Both poems use diction and first person to create
contrasting tones on human-fauna relationships, but Maxine Kumin uses an extended metaphor
in “Woodchucks” to create a more crazed and horrific tone.
“Gassing the woodchucks didn’t turn out right,” the blunt first line by Maxine Kumin in
“Woodchucks” creates a matter-of-fact tone that doesn’t show any real sense of affection
towards the intended victims of the gas. The narrator describes the woodchucks as malevolent
invaders, “They brought down the marigolds…took over the vegetable patch…beheading the
carrots.” This speaker uses aggressive diction such as this as a means to justify the need for
eradication of the woodchucks. The narrator further justifies her cause by seeing the actions of
the woodchucks as personal, “the food from our mouths.” The shooting of the woodchucks
reveals an unstable narrator, “righteously thrilling / to the feel of the .22 bullets’ neat nose.” A
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lack of respect for the creatures is seen in the comical connotation of the word “flipflopped” to
describe the corpse of the woodchuck being flung through the air. To make the scene appear
even more dramatic and villainous, Maxine Kumin identifies two of the slain woodchucks as a
“mother” and a “baby.” The blunt tone used to describe a family being killed off one-by-one
makes the act very disagreeable to readers. The diction in “Traveling through the Dark” creates
a much more serene, yet sullen tone in comparison to the violent nature of “Woodchucks.”
Though “Traveling through the Dark” by William Stafford is quite blunt in diction as
well, it creates a sense of strength that the narrator possesses. Within the first stanza of the
English sonnet “dead” is used twice, both times proceeded or followed by a pause that gives an
intense connotation. “Traveling through the dark I found a deer / dead…” creates an equally
striking open to “Woodchucks.” However, the blunt diction in “Traveling through the Dark” has
an undertone that shows the narrator understands and respects reality, “to swerve might make
more dead.” The first stanza serves as a prologue; it explains the very real possibility of
someone swerving out of the way of the dead doe in the darkness of night, killing more. The
dead mammal was described as, “the heap, a doe, a recent killing,” creating a morbid image and
a tone that seems emotionally detached. The tone gains emotional worth when the narrator
discovers that there is still life within the doe. “Her fawn lay there waiting,” is striking in the
way the narrator describes the unborn fawn as conscious and actively waiting to be born. “I
hesitated,” shows that this revelation has taken a toll on the narrator, he is no longer resolute in
dumping the body. It is this emotion that defines the narrator as strong. Though the scene of
pregnant doe is emotionally devastating, the narrator is able to recognize that there is no hope.
He is able to overcome his extreme emotions and think rationally, showing a considerable
amount of will power. The diction in “Traveling through the Dark” shows the immeasurable
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amount of emotional strength the speaker holds. A first person perspective is used to further
emphasize the strong and rational qualities of the narrator.
The use of first person narration allows the reader to identify with the speaker. In
“Traveling through the Dark” William Stafford takes advantage of this to describe the inner
turmoil the speaker faces as he confronts the reality of life and death. When the narrator first
approaches the scene he believes it to be a normal case of road kill, “it is usually best to roll them
into the canyon: / that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.” Stopping to clear an
obstruction in the road shows that the narrator is a responsible person; putting his life in danger
on the narrow road to keep others safe. However, his true judge of character is when he ignores
the weight of his emotions and pushes the doe into the river, killing her unborn child. “I stood in
the glare of the warm exhaust turning red,” reveals the immense amount of emotional strain the
speaker is under, pushing him to tears. The couplet that ends the sonnet gives reason to the
speaker’s actions, “I thought hard for us all-my only swerving-.” The use of “swerving” reflects
its previous placement in the first stanza, but it is now used in relation to his emotions. The
narrator could have blindly followed his emotions and tried to save the fawn, endangering his life
and those of other drivers, but instead he took the rational route, dumping the body. Though it is
a very disheartening action, the narrator had to act wisely and ignore his emotions, proving both
his strength and compassion. While the speaker in William Stattford’s “Traveling through the
Dark” defies the relentless emotional aspects of the death of the expecting doe, Maxine Kumin’s
narrator in “Woodchucks” falls victim to the intense power of taking life.
The speaker of “Woodchucks” succumbs to a delusional state after he is exposed to the
mind altering power that is associated with taking life. The narrator takes the infestation of
woodchucks personally when they begin to devour their crops, “The food from our mouths, I
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said.” The sight of the rodents taking his food sends the speaker over the edge, finding comfort
in the touch of his bullets. The narrator clenches the bullets, as if crazed by their potential. He
reaches a point of such angst that he believes he has the right to kill the animals, “puffed with
Darwinian pieties for killing.” Though he is using a gun, the narrator justifies his actions with
Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. The pinnacle of this dilapidated mental state of the
speaker comes after he begins picking the woodchucks off one-by-one, “the murderer inside me
rose up hard, / the hawkeye killer came on stage forthwith.” Every shot fired only fuel the
narrator’s anxiety filled state more, giving himself over entirely to his emotions. The speaker
recognizes the adverse effects of his mentality when the woodchucks invade his dreams, as if
taunting him, “If only they’d all consented to die unseen / gassed underground the quiet Nazi
way.” The use of first person allows the reader to recognize the emotionally charged state of the
narrator in “Woodchucks.” Kumin maintains this intense feeling of desolation and despair
through an extended metaphor, comparing the slaughter of the woodchucks to the genocide of
the Holocaust.
In the first stanza of “Woodchucks” the narrator describes how he tried to contain the
unknowing woodchucks in their subterranean chambers and gas them. This quick and efficient
form of massacre greatly reflects the gas chambers used against the Jewish community in the
death camps of the Holocaust. “The food from our mouths,” parallels the way many blamed the
supposedly “greedy” Jewish community for stealing and squandering their wealth, causing the
poor economic state of Europe. The narrator directly addresses this metaphor at the close of the
poem, “If only they’d all consented to die unseen / gassed underground the quiet Nazi way.”
The gas chambers seem so easy and effortless in comparison to singling each woodchuck out
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individually to kill them. By comparing such a trivial task to the grand scale of the Holocaust
shows the vast effect the small woodchucks had on the narrator, driving him to insanity.
The speakers in “Traveling through the Dark” and “Woodchucks” have opposing ways of
approaching the lives of animals; the first driven by rational thoughts, the later by emotions. The
narrator in “Traveling through the Dark” was able to keep a level head and repress emotions that
would have caused him to act recklessly by attempting to save saving the fawn. The speaker in
“Woodchucks” on the other hand succumbed to their emotions, leaving them in a dangerous and
incapable state. The use of diction and first person perspective allow readers to fully assess the
relationship between the speakers and the animals. An extended metaphor relating the
extermination of the woodchucks to the Holocaust further developed the dismal tone of
“Woodchucks.” The death of an animal truly tests the emotional limits of a person, proving the
stern state of some and the easily swayed mind of others.