Imagery

      Imagery in poetry is essential to creating an environment the reader can place them self in. In William  Stafford's "Traveling through the Dark," imagery is used to represent an underlying theme of being able to let go. Though describing the death of a pregnant dear, its passing on can be related to the loss of a loved one. "She had stiffened already, almost cold." Stafford begins describing the deer with the term "cold," reflecting on its lifeless body, moreover, the more spiritual aspect that the deers soul has left her body; however, when describing her belly: "her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting," he portrays the incapability of letting go to the dead deer. Though she is literally dead, fugitively part of her remains alive. His "hot and cold" imagery sets the tone of a limbo, where the speaker is in fact questioning the reality of the dead deer. He ends with pushing her off to the side, but the buildup to that action is key to the meaning of life and death.