Traveling Through the Dark

Traveling Through the Dark
- William Stafford

Short Summary:

While at night a man finds a dead deer. He stops to push it off the road. He notices that it is pregnant and the unborn baby is still alive. He stops to think, then he pushes the dead animal into the river.

Paraphrase/ Explanation

First Stanza

I was traveling at night on the road by the Wilson River when I found a dead deer in the road. The road is not very wide. So the best thing to do is push the dead animal off the road into the river. If you try to drive around the deer’s body, you might drive off the road and be killed.

Second Stanza

I got off the car, leaving the lights on and I went to the deer. It had been killed recently, it was already stiff and nearly cold. I pulled the deer’s body to the edge of the road. Its stomach was large and I realized that her side was warm.

Third Stanza

When I touched the deer, I realized she was pregnant. It’s baby, inside her, was still alive and was waiting to be born- but it never would be. I stood by the road trying to decide what to do.

Fourth Stanza

The lights of the car shone and the engine was still on. I stood by the warm exhaust. I could hear the wild animals listening.

Fifth Stanza

I thought hard about what to do, my thoughts were the only thing that changed direction, then I pushed the dead deer off the road into the river.

Summary:

In this poem “Traveling Through the Dark,” W. Stafford expresses his feelings when he came across the dead doe. One evening, the narrator was driving on the narrow road to the side of Wilson River; suddenly, he found a deer that was recently killed. Thinking that his further movement would cause more dead, he stopped his car.

The poet/narrator could not move forward neglecting the doe. He stepped back. On the dim rays of his car’s rear-light, he saw a doe that was almost cold. The poet/narrator tried to clear the road by dragging the doe to the side. But, he found out that the doe was pregnant. He could not stop himself thinking, he touched the belly with his fingers. Surprisingly, her side was warm. He was greatly moved when he found that her fawn was still alive inside her belly. But the doe was unable to give birth to her fawn. Thinking about the fate of the innocent fawn, the poet was lost in his thought and could not pace further.

But the car was producing fumes with its irritating sound as if it was in life. Comparing the situation of the die with the fawn, the poet throws a bitter satire on so-called nature-lovers. The poet was lost in his thought for the short time but at last, he changed his idea. Then he dragged the dead doe, threw it into the gorge and went away.