death in general is what causes humans to stop along their path and take time to make decisions.One main way the theme of death is illustrated is through symbolism of the deer, canyon, and river. The deer is a roadblock which must be dealt with before the man can continue on his journey. He cannot simply push death to the side of the road. Here, the deer would rot and fester; instead, as Stafford states in the first stanza, " it is usually best to roll them into the canyon" (line 3). The way to deal with this problem is to discard of it immediately and to not hesitate at all. Literally, this is true for the safety of other motorists. Furthermore, it is necessary to deal properly with this problem so one can continue on their path in life. The canyon, and river at the bottom, therefore come to symbolize the depth of our individual souls; we push problems into our souls, and slowly deal with them. By doing this, our problems and death, may be symbolically washed away.Another way the decisions made when stopping along the road of life are symbolized is through Staffords use of the double entendre "swerving" (lines 4, 17). Literally, when explaining why the man should move the deer, Stafford writes, "to swerve [in a car] might make more dead" (line 4). This also refers to a swerve in judgement. If the man makes a swerve in his decision, it has consequences, and may cause problems, or maybe even death. The second time Stafford uses "swerve," it is much more apparent that he is referring to judgement. He says, "I thought hard for us all my only swerving" (line 17). Because of the circumstances of the deers death, namely that its fawn is still alive inside it, the mans decision is extremely difficult, and he hesitates to think. Stafford marks the importance of these references to "swerving" by marking them both with use of caesura. Through this, Stafford illustrates the importance of this symbolism and of the moment. This i...
