Traveling Through The Dark Analysis

Poetry is an effective method to convey empathy to an audience, briefly and directly. Whether it be mood, symbolism, or personification, every poetic device used in literature can be used successfully to move readers and induce feelings of compassion. “Wildlife Management I” by James Galvin and “Traveling through the Dark” by William E. Stafford, are perfect examples of poems rich in pathos. They evoke a higher sense of understanding and connection. What distinguishes “Wildlife Management I” from Stafford’s composition, however, is its highly descriptive setting, dark irony, and tendency to urge the protagonist to make a decision under pressure, making it far more poignant and emotion-generating.
    In Galvin’s “Wildlife Management,” the surroundings of two characters are depicted heavily with personification. The trees are said to “keep their own counsel,” (v. 1) with the exception of one pine tree that

“gesticulates wildly, as if it suffered from its own inner cyclone” (vv. 2-3). Not only are the trees personified, but produce an image of a dark windy forest that appeals to one’s visual sense. The fifth verse of Galvin’s portrayal of the background implies something dangerous and tragic passing, and remaining, as if a plague erupted across a nation, leaving behind its aftermath. Directly quoting Galvin, he states, “We forget about the sunset and the dark coming on across the plain” (v. 5), suggesting the dark will not be departing soon. Whereas Stafford’s “Traveling through the Dark,” is direct, undetailed, and cuts to the chase. “Traveling through the dark I found a deer; dead on the edge of the Wilson River road,” (v.1) is a rather flimsy attempt at captivating audience with empathy, especially when it is the beginning of the poem; the determining factor of whether the entirety is worth reading or not. Altogether, each author has their own style of establishing a setting, but it is obvious that Galvin has fabricated the more mature and profound.
    In “Wildlife Management I,” the last verse is sprinkled with sad verbal irony.

One of the coyotes catches a twin baby antelope, “dangling it by the nape as gently as if it were her own” (v. 26) The irony dawns on the reader- the calf was bitten and drooped from its neck, as if the coyote brought it into the world and raised it, when it was actually the mother antelope who nourished it and kept it safe, to end up losing it, leaving behind the tragedy and grief of a lost life. Some would agree with the protagonist’s choice of rejecting to slaughter the coyotes. Stafford’s “Traveling through the Dark,” however, contains no irony and makes the death of a deer sound unimportant and common. He states, “It is usually best to roll them into the canyon” (v. 3). It seems like the person is accustomed to finding doe killings on the road, and knows how to suitably get rid of them, radiating an aura of cold-heartedness and darkness. Overall, Galvin has given his poetry more depth by using irony, and produced more sympathy from the audience than Stafford’s flat

poem.