Traveling through the Dark

William Stafford’s poem Traveling through the Dark, tells a story of man versus nature, through themes and numerous poetic devices. In this poem, there are many conflicting themes between man and nature, actions and consequences. Through Stafford’s careful placement, use of words and poetic devices, he portrays these underlying themes within his poem. Stafford's simplicity in his poems cunningly conceal the intrinsic theme to this specific piece. One could miss said theme if looking too deep or taking the poem at face value. Luckily, we, as readers, are equipped with the knowledge to identify the poetic devices. These devices give us the ability to use such devices to dissect the poem and reveal the hidden theme.
Upon reading Traveling through the Dark, the author has an intimate conversation with the reader, sharing a personal experience. This allows Stafford to draw the reader deep into thought about what is really happening within the poem. He accomplishes this form of speaking with his audience through free verse with no pattern or structure to the poem. Nevertheless, Stafford creates end rhymes and internal rhymes with assonance and consonance. For example, in every second and fourth line of each stanza, “road” and “dead”; “killing” and “belly”; “waiting” and “hesitated”; “engine” and “listen”; “swerving” and “river” it creates a formal tone for the reader. These words compliment each other while giving a significant meaning in the poem. For instance, “road” and dead”, relate to how dangerous the road can be or how the path that one chooses in life can lead somewhere unpleasant; “killing” and “belly” present the author’s decision of getting rid of the doe and what lies within the belly or the killing of life within Mother Nature; “engine” and “listen” resembles the speakers call to society. Alliteration is also used once in the poem as well, “to swerve might make more dead,” he uses this poetic device in this line to emphasize the word “dead.”
Stafford organizes his poem in a way where his audience’s emotions rise and fall, engaging them. For example, the first line “Traveling through the dark I found a deer,” (1) that creates more of a lightened mood to the reader but as the poem proceeds to the second line, “dead on the edge of the Wilson River,” it immediately changes the mood of his audience to a melancholic emotion, feeling empathy for the doe, therefore gaining more sympathy towards nature in the poem. Another example, in line 6, where he describes his findings, “…a heap, a doe, a recent killing,” he draws the reader in by slowly showing to his readers what he sees, revealing the gory images of the deceased doe. Also, in lines 11 when he describes the fawn, “alive, still, never to be born.” The author describes how the fawn is alive and still but presents the decision already made for the author.
The author applies personification to also exert the idea of man versus nature. The road is personified in line 4, “that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead,” giving the road the ability to knowingly take lives. The wilderness is personified in line 16, “around our group I could hear the wilderness listen” (16) Giving the meaning that the wilderness is listening and possibly watching him with the struggle of his decision to dispose of the doe and its unborn fawn or not. The author gave the car personification “aiming” its lights bringing consciousness to man that there are other living organisms in the world besides humans. It also “purred” its engine as if it was a constant nagging of the existence of man.
Stafford uses various amounts of symbolism within this poem as well. The title itself is symbolic for man’s blindness and unconsciousness of the world and its surroundings. Most people these days continue down this “road” of life without thinking of the consequences of their actions. This is seen within the poem, of the driver who made the “recent killing.” He too was driving in the dark when he hit the deer giving no remorse for the deer he struck or if he should move the deceased doe aside so fellow motorists will not “swerve” to “make more dead.” The deadly "swerve" of this road also represents the both carelessness of the motorists and the fatal effect of a decision gone awry. The dead deer represents nature, consequences of one’s actions. Another symbolic figure in the poem is the unborn fawn, which symbolizes the future of nature in the over-powering world of man. It still waits in the womb of the doe, in hopes that man will let it be born. The Wilson River road, where the events take place, is symbolic of the road of life that man travels on constantly. The “narrow” road is the careful and difficult decision that can go askew if “swerved.” The car represents many things in this literary piece. Throughout the poem, the car is idle but when the engine “purred” the car is the constant reminder to the narrator that life goes on. The narrator stands between man-made creation and mother nature’s creature faced with a decision to be made: push over the deer and prevent potential fatal accidents of other humans or keep her there to conserve the life of her unborn fawn, continuing the life of mother nature’s creation? Standing between the car and the doe, Stafford could “hear the wilderness listening” (16) to say that he is somewhat haunted and feels he is being watched as he is confronted with this difficult decision. “I thought hard for us all” (17), the narrator thought for his fellow man, nature, and his own conscience. Should he preserve the doe’s corpse thereby saving the fawn’s life or should he dispose of her body and save other human lives? The narrator’s own “swerving", as he describes it, is his own dangerous or fatal choice to be made. Either way, he ultimately takes on the lives of others. He has made his decision, to push the deer into the river and release her body to mother nature. This decision can be viewed differently. One could argue that his decision to preserve his own species was a selfish decision to throw nature by the wayside as man typically does. Just as one could argue that Stafford contributes to the cycle of nature by giving the doe’s body to nature while conserving his own species.
As one reads Traveling Through the Dark, one can see the imagery that Stafford uses to engage his readers. In most of the examples of symbolism, we see this imagery. For instance, when the car “aimed” its lights, one cannot help but visualize car lights aiming down a dark road, fading into the shadows of the night. In his description of the cold, dead deer, how her body had already stiffened. One can almost feel the cold body of the doe, and as the poem goes on, the warmth in her belly that tells the readers of the unborn fawn. Stafford describes “the glare of the warm exhaust” (15); it’s turning him red. As a reader, one can feel his or her own skin warming and blushing from the thought. This tool is very useful and helpful. It connects the reader to the words of the author, allowing them to experience the literature, as the author wants his readers to. Without imagery, this piece would be dull and morbid, making the theme lost and neglected.
Traveling Through the Dark reveals the difficulty in life, and the difficulty in properly dealing with problems that naturally occur as one progresses along the path of life. He also reveals the underlying message that man must be cautious to the beauty of nature. We as humans or mankind are constantly traveling through the dark, blind. Constantly unaware of the life that surrounds us, in the trees, mountains, and animals. It is only when fellow human lives are at stake that we can see the dangers, the pros and cons. Stafford puts this into perspective. He shows us the care that was taken, if not care then the time that should be taken when any man is making such a decision. There are other things to consider when dealing with man and nature. We should treat them as one and the same. William Stafford proves these themes with his placement of words and the use of poetic devices.