Travelling through the Dark
The
poem, “Travelling through the Dark”,
depicts the internal conflict between the mind, a sense of responsibility, and
heart, the compassion, of the narrator. At the same time, through the symbolic
“Dark” of the title the poet is able to portray that the growing affinity of
human with machine is tempting them to collide with the nature, a collision
which will be threatening for all the living species on the planet, not only a
doe.
On a
dark night, the narrator was driving his car on Wilson River road. At the edge
of the river he found a dead deer. His common sense told him to roll that deer
into the gorge because the road was narrow and a slight carelessness might call
for more accidents. He stopped his car and went near to it. It was a doe and
had been dead. But when he dragged it he found that it was pregnant.
When he observed its belly closely, he
sensed that the fawn inside it must be alive. But he also knew that it could
not be born. The tragic fate of the fawn made him emotional. It was difficult
for him to throw the body into the gorge because it would kill the baby
instantly.
His dilemma and inactness blocked the
street. He listened the people getting restless as everybody was in hurry to
go. They immediately wanted the road to be opened. The narrator thought very
deeply and concluded that it wasn’t practical to leave the dead body of the doe
on the street. It could make more accidents. Therefore, he threw it into the
gorge and chose to perform his duty.
1. Explain the title of the poem. Who are all
those travelling through the dark ?
ANS: By the
title we know the speaker is driving a motor in the dark. He travels through
the heights and along the jungle. He is nature lover. They are all nature
lovers and naturalists who travel through the dark. “That road is narrow”
indicates that the speaker is in the jungle by the side of the river, not in
the highway.
2. Show how the action develops stanza by stanza.
ANS: The
poem has five stanzas and each stanza is interrelated. In the first stanza, the
speaker finds a dead deer on the way and pulls it to the side. In the second
stanza, he gets down the car and sees a deer killed immediately. It is stiff
and cold. He pulls it off. In the third stanza, the speaker doesn’t act but
thinks seriously about the living fawn inside the belly of the deer. In the
fourth stanza, he explains the sounds of machine in the car in the isolated
place. And in the last stanza, he pushes the deer into the river.
3. At what point does the physical action cease,
to be replaced by another kind?
ANS: In the third
stanza, the physical action ceases and mental actions begins. The speaker feels
the warm belly of the dead doe and seriously thinks about the future of the fawn
and imagines different things about it.
4. How do the last two lines complete both
types of action ?
ANS: The
last two lines complete both physical and mental activities. The first line of
the last stanza shows mental activity and the speaker thinks about the living
creatures and nature. But the last two line describes the physical activity of
the speaker and he pulls the doe into the river. Both activities end.
5. What is the meaning of the last two lines
of the poem ? Does the poem moralize?
ANS: The
last two lines in the poem means there is a problem in the environment and
problem of life. The life problem can’t be corrected because the doe is already
killed which is bitter reality. The dead body can pollute the environment and the
speaker has morality to last duality of life and to keep environment clean so
he completes his duty.
6. Do you think the reference to the alive but
never-to-be-born fawn sentimental ?
ANS: Yes, of
course, the poet tries to make the poem sentimental and he opens the reality of
the life of the fawn. They are made but dead without birth in the earth. It is
bitter reality.
7. Explain the meaning of the word “swerve”
in line 4 and line 17. Does the speaker “swerve” ?
ANS: In line
four of the word “swerve” means to change the direction of the car and in line
seventeen the word “swerve” means to change the idea. In line four, the speaker
doesn’t move or change the direction of his car because it makes the condition
of deer worse and in line seventeen he changes his mind and pushes the deer
into the river instead of thinking about the fawn’s fate.
8. Stanza 4 is the break in the narrative. How do
you explain it’s significance in the poem ?
ANS: From
first stanza to third stanza the speaker describes the condition if deer and
it’s fawn’s fate but immediately in the fourth stanza, the writer changes the
subject and describes his situation. It is important because there is a part of
life that they should continue their journey. The break occurs because the poem
moves from physical description to the mental state of the poet. He changes his
mind and decides to push the dead deer into the river.
9. What is the tone of the
poem: ironical, sympathetic, and indifferent?
ANS:
The tone of the poem is ironical. 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.
