<p>Lifes Cycle
Death can be prolonged, but it can not be avoided. In William Staffords Traveling Through the Dark and Mary Olivers The Black Snake, the theme is that within the cycle of life, death approaches instantaneously. Each author uses a different animal to specify their thoughts and feelings about death in both poems. While death is common in each poem, both authors go a different route in order to explain their emotions. The theme that appears in both poems can be observed by studying how each speaker uses tone and symbolism.
To begin with, the tone has a big impact on both poems. Each speaker used a particular tone in order to describe their thoughts and feelings about death. Even though in both poems, its an animal that is dead, each speaker reacts to it in a particular but different way. The tone is built around sorrow at the beginning of both poems. In Traveling Through the Dark the speakers tone is remorse in the second stanza of the poem. The speaker says, her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting, / alive, still, never to be born. / Beside that mountain road I hesitated. (Stafford 10-12), which implies that the speaker has hesitation because he feels sorry for the fawn inside the dead doe. Now in The Black Snake the tone is also sorrow and is almost identical to Staffords poem in the beginning. The speaker writes, I stopped the car / and carry him to the bushes. (Oliver 7-8), which suggests that the speaker shows sadness towards the dead snake and gives a burial site to the snake. In each poem the speaker uses a similar tone, such as sorrow, in order to express their feelings towards death; however, the tone of each speaker becomes different as both poems develop. For Staffords poem the tone continues to be sorrow through the end. Stafford writes, 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. (16-18). These lines indicate that the wilderness was watching to see if he would do the right thing, and that he thought very hard about his decision. The tone is still remorseful and that the speaker still has serious thoughts before pushing the deer into the river. The tone that the speaker uses shows that his thoughts run deep when he comes face-to-face with death. In Olivers poem the tone makes a dramatic change towards the end. The speaker says, and drive on, thinking / about death: its suddenness, / its terrible weight, / its certain coming. Yet under, (Oliver 13-16) which implies that the speaker no longer is sad about the dead snake, but more concerned with the thought of death. At this point the tone is still sorrow; however, it is about the meaning of death. As the poem progresses Oliver writes, It is the light at the center of every cell. / It is what sent the snake coiling and flowing forward happily all spring through the green leaves before / he came to the road. (21-24). Which states that life and happiness was the reason that the snake sprung out of the leaves and into the road just before death finished the snake off. In the final stanza, the tone of the speaker had changed from sorrow to joy. The tone Oliver uses, implies that the speaker did not dwell on the dead snake; however, she did think more about how sudden death happens.
To follow-up, symbolism was very critical in both poems and it provides more support towards the theme. Certain words are used in the poem in order to symbolize death. The title Stafford uses, Traveling Through the Dark, implies that life is like walking through the dark, because one never knows when death will arrive or what obstacles may be in the future. The speaker uses the word dark as a symbol of death. Dark represents death because in the dark everything happens so fast without any knowledge that something has happened, just like the mechanics of death. Olivers title, The Black Snake also involves a particular word as a symbol of death in her poem. Just like how Stafford uses dark to represent death; Oliver uses black to indicate death. Black symbolizes evil, judgment, and death. As different words represent the same thing at the beginning of each poem; both poems use symbolism in order to change routes. As Stafford writes, Traveling through the dark I found a deer / dead on the edge of the Wilson River road. / that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead. (1-2). He indicates that he has spotted a dead deer on the side of the road. Within these two lines symbolism is taking place by using the animal. The deer is a symbol of innocence, bravery, swiftness, and has positive connotations. So to see a dead deer, really shows the reader that death is making a cycle and it appeared rather quickly. The speaker continues to say, that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead. (Stafford 4). This phrase states that if the speaker was to ignore the dead deer, it could cause a wreck and kill someone else. The main symbolism of this particular line is protection of humanity against death. Stafford says, I thought hard for us all-my only swerving-, (17), which suggests that the speaker thought about his actions before he did anything else. Within this line swerving is a symbolism of hesitation. The speaker hesitates before caring on with his thoughts, because he knows that death is a serious matter and it should not be taken lightly. Oliver writes, When the black snake / flashed
onto the morning road, / and the truck could not swerve- / death, that is how it happens. (1-4). She implies that the time of the day is in the morning and that the truck could not dodge the snake; therefore, the snake was hit and killed instantly. Oliver also uses an animal as a form of symbolism just like Stafford. However a snake is not represented the same way as a deer is. A snake symbolizes evil, speedy, and devious. So when a snake is seen dead it does not feature the same kind of thoughts towards the speaker. A dead snake does not force the speaker to think about the safety of other humans, but instead the speaker thinks about how fast death happens. Here the speaker makes a connection of death to a snake. The speaker considers death as evil, abrupt, and sly just like the snake. The speaker says, It is light at the center of every cell. (Oliver 21), which symbolizes that life, not death is the main source of energy at the center of every human being. While one author connects death with the protection of humanity. The other author connects death with life as the energy provider in every human being.
Stafford and Oliver used tone and symbolism to support the theme of both poems. The theme is that the cycle of life is precious; however, death happens very quickly and at anytime. The tone that each author used gave the readers an idea of how the speakers felt about death. Stafford stuck with sorrow as his tone for the poem. As for Oliver, her tone started with sorrow at the beginning and drastically changed to joy. Symbolism was very strong in both poems and without it, the speakers thoughts would become unclear. Both authors used particular words and phrases to symbolize death. In Staffords poem, his symbolism was used to emphasize the protection of humanity against death. Oliver used symbolism in order to show the importance of life rather than dwelling on death. Both poems imply that life is a gift, take advantage of it before death arrives.</p>
<p>Works Cited
Oliver, Mary. The Black Snake. Literature and the Writing Process. 9th ed. Boston: Longman, 2010. 680-681. Print
Stafford, William. Traveling Through the Dark. Literature and the Writing Process. 9th ed. Boston: Longman, 2010. 679. Print</p>