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The Theme Of Mortality In Richard Wilbur's 'Death Of A Toad'

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Explanation Outcome 3 The third outcome required of students in this course was to examine the theme of mortality from a critical perspective. To demonstrate this outcome, the critical theory of formalism was applied in the paper “The Theme of Mortality in ‘The Plague’”. To better demonstrate an understanding of this theory, the author utilized an examination of the imagery and formative language used in “The Plague” to bring out the menacing nature of the rats as they were portrayed in the story, and thus the universal and pervasive nature of human mortality. Outcome 3, Paper 2: "Imagery and Death in 'Death of a Toad. '" Richard Wilbur’s poem 'Death of a Toad’ is loaded with imagery regarding the harsh relationship between technology and nature. The structure of the poem (funnel-shaped) bears deep imagery concerning the impacts of technology on the human society. Wilbur wrote his poem at a time when the industrial revolution was taking root and development the peaking in the United States. Effects of activities such as clearing lands by the act of ‘mowing’, resulted in settlement and production on land. The long-term effect is, however, the diminishing returns associated with biodegradations, species extinction, and interference with the local food web. This is symbolized by the reduction in the number of words in the last lines representing the narrow end of the funnel. The toad spoken about in this poem is clipped by the power mower during a garden clearing and the
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