¶ … Cows by Lydia Davis, and Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens
In Davis' work, the reader gains an intimate knowledge of cows and their habits and patterns of living. This poem basically gives a summary of a day in the life of a cow and includes waking up, grazing, feeding, and other such activities. The poem is replete with metaphors. Most of these relate to descriptions of the cows, such as in the quote
"Their bodies are entirely black, but they have white / on their faces. On the faces of two of them there are large / patches of white, like a mask. On the face of the third, / there is only a small patch on the forehead, the size of a/
silver dollar."[footnoteRef:1] [1: Lydia Davis, The Cows (Louisville:...
Such description also includes the environments, where the author states things such as "they look across the road," and "I see most of them from the kitchen window over the top of a hedge." By including these descriptions, Davis, allows the reader to have a clear picture both of the cows themselves and their activities, as well as their locations and their environment. It is also important to mention the author's personification of the cows in the quotation,
"They are not disappointed in us, or do not remember / being disappointed. If, one day,…
