Monday, July 8, 2013

Explain the title of the poem "Traveling Through the Dark." Who are all those traveling through the dark?

"Traveling Through the Dark" is a poem that speaks to the tension between humans and nature and between technology and nature. The speaker describes finding a recently-hit pregnant deer, and they must decide whether or not to move off the road by rolling the deer into the river.
The title of the poem can take on several meanings. There are the deer, who represent nature. They are traveling through the dark of the night, unable to fully comprehend the danger of technological "progress" and the destructive ways of civilization.
Humans are also traveling through the dark literally in their vehicles, plowing through the natural world as they go. But they are also figuratively traveling through the dark, often unwilling to truly consider the impact of vehicles and other aspects of civilization upon nature.
Then there is the unborn deer who is traveling through the dark. The deer fetus is encased in the darkness of the mother deer's womb. The fetus is a passenger in darkness who is innocently awaiting birth and who will never leave the darkness of the womb, as the mother deer's life is cut short by humanity.

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