Critical Analysis of The Pardon

Critical Analysis of The Pardon

Death and life are intertwined in such a way that one cannot come without the other. Richard Wilbur uses graphic description to clearly express this in his work "The Pardon," through a series of events that ultimately bring a man to learn to mourn, after causing him a lifetime without love. As a young boy, the speaker is traumatized by the death of his dog, and is thus lead to pursue a life that lacks both love and the recognition of death. As an older man, the speaker comes to terms with his losses as he sees the dog in his sleep. During this nightmare, it is evident that the sole purpose of the dog's returning is to haunt the narrator for the mistake that he made. While the nightmare is just as frightening as dealing with the death of a dog, it was frightening in a more positive way. Towards the end of the poem, Wilbur brings the reader to sympathize with the narrator once again, as the narrator finds that it is most important to appreciate death as another step in one's journey through existence.

As a young and naive child, the speaker was shocked by the death of his dog. In just ten years of life, he had not been exposed to anything that has had such a personal impact. Wilbur is meticulous in choosing his lyrics as to convey a negative tone at the start of the poem. The vivid imagery of the "thick of summer" (line two) and "a jungle of grass and honeysuckle-vine" (line three) draw us into the scene, and we begin to feel afraid of the dog as well. Such strong description negates any doubt that this expressive scene disgusts the reader. The speaker himself cannot bring himself near the "twine of a heavy odor" (of a corpse, line seven), or the "flies' intolerable buzz," (line ...

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...this poem exemplifies a journey from innocence to reality over the course of many years. The poem is also the recognition that death is not an endpoint. The shock of death impacted the inexperienced young boy so greatly that he was caused to live an entire life through the eyes of an innocent ten-year-old who did not know of loving or mourning. Until his dream, the narrator was denying of death. One single experience, however supernatural as it may have been, exposed the man to reality and changed his views forever. The knowledge that life can be found within death caused the author to change. He was once unable to "forgive the sad or strange in beast or man," although now he begs for "death's pardon." This poem is the maturation of a close-minded young boy into a loving man. Whether this man can be redeemed from all that he lost in his life, it is unknown.