He must either kill an unborn deer or chance his or someone elses life. After consideration he pushes the doe into the canyon. The beginning of the first stanza is quite peaceful, which is conveyed through the conversational tone of the speaker who “found a deer” when “Traveling through the dark” . However, immediately after introducing this seemingly pleasant encounter, Bradford goes on to say that the animal is “dead” . Such a quick change of action alters the mood of the poem altogether from an optimistic to a pessimistic one. The effect of abrupt scene shift is intensified due to the lack of punctuation between the first two lines.

• The indirect implication is the difficulty of choices people have to make throughout their lives.
• While he was known for his generally accepting attitude and conformist views he still thought for himself when things became important.
• Frost begins his poem with the speaker recalling that “Two Roads diverged in a yellow wood” and saying that he is “sorry he could not travel both.
• They “stumbled” to the back of the car, suggesting that it’s quite dark out and there may be more things in the way.

The poem stimulates thinking about the complications on the life’s road, the outcomes of which are frequently impossible to predict. Choosing between two roads is used to symbolize the decision making situation and the feelings he has when he makes the wrong decision. Frost calls the poem “the road Not Taken” to suggest that once a choice is made between two equal choices, the tendency is to dwell on the choice not made. The title of the poem immediately suggests that the speaker is focusing not on the choice he did make long ago, but on the road he chose not to take.

The Car

Has he been this way before and found a run over animal? Or has he been made to swerve himself because of the negligence of others? Either way, he offers a matter of fact approach to this particular unfortunate creature’s demise. On the surface the poem is a traditional offering – four quatrains and a couplet – but delve deeper and there is much more to discover, as in many of William Stafford’s poems. ‘Cutting Loose’ –focuses on being positive in life, despite circumstances and events that might try to tear one down. — To better imagine the setting of the poem, take a look at this Google Maps image of Wilson River Highway, where the poem takes place.

Lines 17

The speaker contemplates his choice and then makes it. There is little fanfare and only a few lines of deliberation. The third stanza builds up tension with the speaker realizing that the fawn inside its mother https://thebeautychain.co.uk/news.php is still alive, “never to be born.” This makes him hesitate as he prepares to roll her off the road. He wasn’t sure for a moment what the right choice was, to do something about the unborn fawn or continue with his mission. Already it is clear that he did not show much regard for it. He came across a dead deer lying upon a road and without any thought or consideration the first thing he wants to do is push it off the side.

Similar Poetry

Does it become important when other peoples lives or feelings are at stake? According to this poem it becomes important when it is convenient to you. The speaker wants to get back into his car so he stops thinking about the baby and just does what he always does. After further investigation he realises that the deer is pregnant, and the fawn is still alive.

Themes And Meanings

You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. This is an ethical dilemma – open up the doe to bring a new fawn into the world, risk being hit by other cars. Or simply push the doe, the heap, down into the abyss. There is also personification in the final quatrain when the car aims its parking lights.

The dark means both the time of the day and the feelings of fear and uncertainty. Along with the first word of the poem – “Traveling” – darkness symbolizes the difficulties one encounters on the road of life. Hence, the next symbol – the road – means the course of life and people’s actions on it. In the poem, the road is “narrow” , which reminds of the complicated positions in which individuals sometimes find themselves.

If you just conform to common thought you would lose your individuality sooner or later. If you just think for yourself, refusing always to conform to common thought youre going to get a lot of people angry with you who think you are an idiot. For example, you cannot say that you think Charles Dickens or William Shakespeare were bad writers because they dont hold your attention well. On things like that it is best to just conform even if you cant understand why they are great authors so that people wont think of you as uneducated. This actually seems to be the way that Stafford functioned in life.