Death and life are intertwined in such a way that one cannot come without the other. Richard Wilbur uses graphic description to clearly express this in his work "The Pardon," through a series of events that ultimately bring a man to learn to mourn, after causing him a lifetime without love. As a young boy, the speaker is traumatized by the death of his dog, and is thus lead to pursue a life that lacks both love and the recognition of death. As an older man, the speaker comes to terms with his losses as he sees the dog in his sleep. During this nightmare, it is evident that the sole purpose of the dog's returning is to haunt the narrator for the mistake that he made. While the nightmare is just as frightening as dealing with the death of a dog, it was frightening in a more positive way. Towards the end of the poem, Wilbur brings the reader to sympathize with the narrator once again, as the narrator finds that it is most important to appreciate death as another step in one's journey through existence. As a young and naive child, the speaker was shocked by the death of his dog. In just ten years of life, he had not been exposed to anything that has had such a personal impact. Wilbur is meticulous in choosing his lyrics as to convey a negative tone at the start of the poem. The vivid imagery of the "thick of summer" (line two) and "a jungle of grass and honeysuckle-vine" (line three) draw us into the scene, and we begin to feel afraid of the dog as well. Such strong description negates any doubt that this expressive scene disgusts the reader. The speaker himself cannot bring himself near the "twine of a heavy odor" (of a corpse, line seven), or the "flies' intolerable buzz," (line eight). With such detail, Wilbur clearly communicates the importance of death to the reader, even though the boy does not seem to understand. The boy is only allowing himself to be exposed to the sweeter scent of the honeysuckle, which symbolizes h...
