Traveling Through the Dark

Traveling Through the Dark darkly inspiring, lyrically lovely poem, William Stafford's "Traveling through the Dark" contains both literal and metaphoric imagery. The main thrust of the poem comes from the theme of death, although chance and choice also play important roles in the piece. The narrator finds a deer dead on the road and stops his car to avoid hitting it and to avoid swerving and hitting more of its kind.

One of the only verbs repeated twice in the poem, "to swerve" evokes a sense of last-minute decision-making based on a combination of instinct, inbred ideas, and even logic. The narrator also notices that the deer is pregnant, its fawn "lay there waiting, / alive, never to be born." That one image and concept encompasses "Traveling through the Dark," as there is little the narrator can do to rescue the unborn yet alive organism inside the belly of the dead deer.

Therefore, a sense of sorrow and helplessness also pervades the poem. While on the surface, "Traveling through the Dark" deals with the impact that mankind has on the natural world, the verses also imply underlying meanings and metaphors. These meanings and metaphors can be interpreted in a variety of means: the unborn fawn can indicate an unborn human fetus and its impending doom can suggest abortion, for instance.

The fact that the narrator does have a choice of how to act in the situation also impels the reader to ponder his or her own choices, many of which involve last minute "swerves." When the narrator discovers the deer, the first instinct is to use common sense and reason: "It is usually best to roll them into the canyon: / that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead." Not only is the narrator exempt from blame in the killing of the deer; he or she consciously tries to avoid causing more death.

He or she could have instinctively swerved but instead gathered his senses, stopped, and examined the body. The act of stopping exhibits caring and concern: he or she is obviously affected deeply by the sight of the deer. Moreover, the poet underscores the intensity of the sight and sense of death through his diction: "a doe, a recent killing; / she had stiffened already, almost cold." Simple words like "stiffened and "cold" drive home the theme of death without rendering the poem unnecessarily gory.

However, here the sense of helplessness sets in. face-to-face with a live but unborn fawn, the narrator wonders what the best course of action would be. Obviously, he or she is not equipped to carry the animal back to civilization where it can receive proper medical care. Perhaps if the driver had a cellular phone, he or she could notify the proper authorities so that they could deal with the situation.

Otherwise, the only recourse is to do what is most logical: put the deer out of harm's way by "pushing her over the edge into the river." While this act seems cold and heartless, it is the best decision the driver could have made under the circumstances. After all, he is traveling with others, as the poet indicates by the word "group." Had he been alone, it is possible that he or she would have acted differently.

The two most poignant themes of "Traveling through the Dark" are conscious killing and difficult decision-making. The driver knowingly pushed the pregnant deer into the river; although he realizes.