Poem Analysis: The Bull Moose

English 1102
18 August 2010
The Bull Moose “The Bull Moose” by Alden Nowlan and “Downfall” as sung by Trust Company is a fine display of the relations between what people can see on the outside and what we hide inside ourselves by the workings of the figurative language, connotations and metaphors used. To begin the comparison between each in a literal sense would be to compare an animal to a human being, at which the comparison breaks down after the more basic levels: living, breathing, moving, feeding, etc. Is this really so true that animals do not find the same or similar points of breaking that rest inside every animal? I think that every animal and human has a point at which when seeing no other option will either break down or rise in display of a last show of mighty power. Beginning this exploration of comparison I start with two lines “Too tired to turn” (6) “Breaking down”(6). Both of these lines indicate that the one being personified is weakened and growing ever weaker under the pressure of the world around them. Those either by age or other stresses both are feeling the pressure being exerted mentally and physically. In the case of the moose it would be

In these which are “as he toppled” (33) and “Downfall, fall”(32). The comparison between these is obvious if only by the words, reading these again it is hard to make the distinction between each because of the similarities involved. This is because ultimately both the moose and man fell, breaking down in each other’s topple from power, nobility, and strength. Seeing both of these even with such a small range of comparison does still bring spooky thoughts to mind, that maybe for as much as we humans like to think we are different from animals. We suffer from fears the same way, have the same hopes and courage, and in the ultimate twist of irony, we both are equal in our falls when we