Bull Song
Bull Song→ point of view of the bull (sad treatment of animals)
Capots→ Cape used in bullfighting (Vocab)
** contrast of the violence of the bull from the bulls point of view with the grace and beauty and artistry of matadors
Bull is male
Bull symbolizes power
Repetition of like flies, like flies roaring- associate roaring with lions ( unusual image of like flies roaring)→ negative image!
Shift to second stanza
Stood dizzied:
Sun and anger: reminiscent of the stranger ( killing of the arab man)
Neck muscle cut→ blunt ( read fast which makes it seem like damage is done quickly
Blood falling from the gouged shoulder→ more poetic read slower and makes the death seem to take longer
The whole stanza is a question→ effect on the reader is that is addresses the reader and causes them to think
Who brought me here? → relate to humanity
Walls and Blankets: walls are the arena and blankets is the red material
Atwood talks about how the bull fights against blankets etc. rather then humans
Sarcastically calls humans gods because they have to hide behind blankets. Matadors are referred to as gods→ elevated to the status of gods rather than the mythological gods (make reference)
Who flutter and evade→ butterfly imagery they evade being killed by the bull even though they created the drama themselves
Turn and horns gore blackness→ no dignity enjambment- no hope left because he hits nothing with his horn upon his death his honor is gone and the identity is one vision of who this bull is and what this bull is
Four legs thrust out like posts→ vulnerable
I should have remained grass→ very sad wished he wasn’t born/ regretting his existence
Ironic: he is so powerful but wants to be something so passive
Repetition of the flies again→ crowds cheering
I exit, dragged a bail of lump flesh:
Poem about the suffering of an individual rather than a human it is a bull instead
Final stanza the reflection on how people think of this as a
Capots→ Cape used in bullfighting (Vocab)
** contrast of the violence of the bull from the bulls point of view with the grace and beauty and artistry of matadors
Bull is male
Bull symbolizes power
Repetition of like flies, like flies roaring- associate roaring with lions ( unusual image of like flies roaring)→ negative image!
Shift to second stanza
Stood dizzied:
Sun and anger: reminiscent of the stranger ( killing of the arab man)
Neck muscle cut→ blunt ( read fast which makes it seem like damage is done quickly
Blood falling from the gouged shoulder→ more poetic read slower and makes the death seem to take longer
The whole stanza is a question→ effect on the reader is that is addresses the reader and causes them to think
Who brought me here? → relate to humanity
Walls and Blankets: walls are the arena and blankets is the red material
Atwood talks about how the bull fights against blankets etc. rather then humans
Sarcastically calls humans gods because they have to hide behind blankets. Matadors are referred to as gods→ elevated to the status of gods rather than the mythological gods (make reference)
Who flutter and evade→ butterfly imagery they evade being killed by the bull even though they created the drama themselves
Turn and horns gore blackness→ no dignity enjambment- no hope left because he hits nothing with his horn upon his death his honor is gone and the identity is one vision of who this bull is and what this bull is
Four legs thrust out like posts→ vulnerable
I should have remained grass→ very sad wished he wasn’t born/ regretting his existence
Ironic: he is so powerful but wants to be something so passive
Repetition of the flies again→ crowds cheering
I exit, dragged a bail of lump flesh:
Poem about the suffering of an individual rather than a human it is a bull instead
Final stanza the reflection on how people think of this as a