Essay Comparing Traveling Through The Dark And Woodchucks

Many types of people exist in this world; two distinct variations of people include those who respect animals, and those who do not. In the poems “Traveling through the Dark” by William Stafford, and “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kuhn, each poet utilizes different aspects including tone, diction, and images to express the different views on the relationship between death and animals. “Traveling through the Dark” shows a narrator who exhibits concern and respect to the animals, feeling obliged to a duty to help animals, while “Woodchucks” displays a narrator who feels powerful and excited in the act of killing animals, demonstrating a lack of respect. Even though both poems incorporate death, and a tone manifested from that, the tones act as polar opposites. The tone created by the narrator in “Traveling through the Dark” exemplifies one of remorse, and respect. The narrator drags the deer over to the side, and considers the doe inside of the dead

In “Traveling through the Dark”, the dead deer, described as, “the heap, a doe, a recent killing,” creates a sad image, especially when the reader learns that the deer holds an unborn doe. This image creates sympathy and respect for the animals, that which the narrator channels through his decision regarding pushing the deer off the edge. In “Woodchucks”, quite the contrary seems apparent. The reign of death one can picture from the poem, “he died down in the everbearing roses… ten minutes later I dropped the mother...another baby next...one chuck left”, shows no remorse, and killing as a good thing. The image displays the narrator hunting all of the woodchucks; creating a detached image as one can imagine a bunch of woodchucks lying around dead. This image shows no respect in accordance to the animals, as killing them all represents itself as the sick and violent