How does Edna St Vincent Millay reveal her attitude toward deer hunting?

White sky, over the hemlocks bowed with snow,

Saw you not at the beginning of evening the antlered buck and his doe

Standing in the apple-orchard? I saw them. I saw them suddenly go,

Tails up, with long leaps lovely and slow,

Over the stone-wall into the wood of hemlocks bowed with snow.

Now lies he here, his wild blood scalding the snow.

How strange a thing is death, bringing to his knees, bringing to his antlers

The buck in the snow.

How strange a thing,—a mile away by now, it may be,

Under the heavy hemlocks that as the moments pass

Shift their loads a little, letting fall a feather of snow—

Life, looking out attentive from the eyes of the doe.

The Buck in the Snow poem is written by Edna St Vincent Millay in the 1920’s. The poem is a narrative poem, which is about the poet seeing a buck in the snow. The poet sees a buck and the doe on a winter day and feels lucky to see them. Later, the poet sees the buck dead. Then, she realizes how quick and unexpected death is. In the poem, the poet doesn’t introduce how the buck is dead or who killed it. In winter it is traditional to hunt animals. So, it is assumable that the buck is probably killed by a hunter. The death of the buck is applied in the poem through the theme sudden move from life to death. By changing her perspective to the buck throughout the stanzas Edna St Vincent Millay reveals her attitude toward deer hunting.

At the first stanza, the poet feels very enthusiastic about seeing the deer. She asks, “Saw you not..?” directly to the reader. Then answers her question by saying “I saw them.” I saw them suddenly go.” The poet feels so lucky that she sees the deer and the doe.? The repetition of the phrase “I saw them,” suggests that how precious to see these deer for her. Later, she describes the buck. In her description she uses the alliteration “tails up, long leaps lovely and slow” Those words help the poem to have a rhythm and sounds good to the readers. Also, the word “lovely” indicates how impressive the buck is for the poet. Then, the poet uses the metaphor of stone-wall. Walls are mostly used as barriers. They are sometimes used to protect something like the walls of the houses which protect us from the bad conditions. They are also used to prevent events from happening, such as the fences around fields, which prevent the animals to get in and eat the source. But this metaphoric wall is the “wall” between life and death. As the buck pass over the wall, he immediately dies. Through the poem, the poet uses a repetition of the phrase “hemlocks bowed with snow.” Hemlocks are coniferous trees, and they are used to create the setting in winter. However, there are also hemlocks that are used to produce poisons. These poisonous trees create a reference to death.

Then the second stanza starts. The second stanza contains just one line. This one line emphasizes the death of the buck. In this stanza, the death of the buck is told. There are no details about when the buck is killed, how it is killed, or who killed it. The poet uses a metaphor in this line which is “his wild blood scalding the snow” This phrase is creating a vivid image of the killed buck leaning on the snow. However, scalding has the meaning of burning something with liquid. So, the blood of the buck burns the snow. But the burn is hot and snow is cold. Thus, the poet creates a contrast between the blood and the snow like the contrast between life and death. At the previous stanza, the “stone-wall” metaphor is used to separate life and death. This stanza is just one line like the “wall”. This stanza separates life and death, too. Also, it separates the perspective of the poem. The poet is enthusiastic and impressed with the buck. However, at the second stanza she just includes one line and a metaphor. At the third stanza the perspective totally changes.

At the third stanza the poet leaves the optimistic perspective about the buck and the doe. She starts to contemplate death. Death gets strange for her, at the first stanza she was describing the buck very cheerful, but at the third line she starts to contemplate death. Also, her poetic device usage changes at the third stanza. At the first stanza there are metaphors, alliteration. However, in the third stanza there is just an idiom that is not very effective as she changes the idiom. She says,” bringing to his knees, bringing to his antlers” The idiom is “bringing to his knees,” which means defeating someone. However, the idiom is adapted to the condition of the buck and becomes “bringing to his antlers.” There is even no rhyme at this stanza. The poet uses rhyme at the first stanza which goes A-B-B-A-A. Also, the poet choices words which create a rhythm at that stanza. Later, the poet uses the phrase “a mile away, it may be.” She uses this phrase, but we don’t know what it is until this point. At the last line of the poem, “it” is introduced the readers, life. “It” represents life, the doe. The doe is alive and a widow in winter.

The buck is killed. The doe is still alive, but needs to face the winter alone. It would be definitely hard for the doe to survive without her mate. This creates a contrast between life and death. Dead male deer and live female deer create this contrast to show how quick the death is. Even if the buck is killed by a hunter, or by the poet, the doe will be alive and try to survive alone.

Cambridge University Press (Ed.). (2014). The Buck in the Snow. In Songs of Ourselves (pp. 68–68). essay, Cambridge University Press.