What does the title mean in traveling through the dark?

By William Stafford The title sets the scene both literally and thematically. The speaker is driving at night—traveling through the darkness. The title also gives us the sense of “darkness” as in the unknown and suggests our travels through the mysteries of life, death, and the great beyond.

Why does the speaker in traveling through the dark say it is best to roll the dead deer into the canyon?

It’s best to roll the dead deer off the road and into the canyon because the road is narrow and another driver, swerving to avoid hitting the deer’s body, might crash and be killed. These two lines tell us a lot about the speaker. This isn’t his first time on a dark country road.

What is the main theme of the poem Travelling through the dark?

The main theme of this poem is that man cannot do anything against nature because nature is so powerful and beyond humans’ imagination. Here in this poem, the action develops stanza by stanza. In the first stanza, the speaker finds a dead doe on the edge of Wilson River road while driving at night time.

What type of stanza does William Stafford use in the first four stanzas of traveling through the dark?

Traveling Through The Dark is an 18 line poem, 5 stanzas, 4 of which are quatrains with a couplet at the end. There is no full rhyme, no rhyme scheme in fact and the meter (metre in UK) varies somewhat, with iambic pentameter popping up here and there, in lines 7, 10 and 14.

What does the deer represent in traveling through the dark?

In the title, the darkness means the shroud of what is done when no one is around. Then, in the second stanza, the deer means the death of innocence. In the third stanza, the alive fawn in the pregnant mother means that hope still exists. Unfortunately the hope died with the innocence.

What does my only swerving mean?

The speaker thinks hard about life and death, about mortality. The word “swerving” echoes the “swerve” in stanza 1 (“to swerve might make more dead”), emphasizing the importance of staying on the road, on the right course. Our speaker really wants us to stay on that road.

What message does the poet wish to leave with the reader in Travelling through the dark?

Death and Morality. “Traveling through the Dark” is a poem about coming face to face with death. The speaker is faced with a no-win situation, understanding that moving the dead doe’s body out of the road will potentially save other drivers, but also that doing so will kill her unborn fawn.

How does the poem traveling through the dark achieve an ironical overtone?

At first, the poet shows sympathy on the fawns but at last he ends the life of the fawn. The poet seems nature lover but kills the doe and it’s unborn kid. The reader shows love to the fawn but not to the doe. So, in conclusion, the poem has ironical tone although there is sympathy on fawn.

What is the tone of the poem traveling through the dark?

The tone of the poem is sympathetic yet ironical. In the beginning, the poet is moved deeply by the fawn but at the end, we find he ends the life of the fawn by pushing its mother down into the river. So the tone of the poem is ironical but the readers sympathize with fawn.

What type of poem is Travelling through the dark?

Free Verse. While this one falls under the heading of free verse there are some structural and metrical elements that make the poem feel very ordered. One of the first things that jumps out about this poem is that it’s organized into four, nice, neat four-line stanzas, with a tidy little couplet at the end.

How would you describe the tone of traveling through the dark?

What does the car symbolize in traveling through the dark?

The speaker’s car in the poem symbolizes technology as well human civilianization more broadly. This car comes across as totally out of place in its surroundings. In fact, it seems almost demonic. Its parking lights are “aimed ahead,” glaring into the darkness and calling to mind the way a hunter aims at their prey.