Vivek Bheeroo22/10/11

Analysis of wife hits Moose poem

“Wife hits moose’ is a poem written by Thomas Lux in 1986. The poem is a narrative one, where the main plot is that a married woman hits a moose, whilst on her way home. However, upon further analysis, the reader can find many more connotations to those lines. Lux achieves those effects through a wide range of techniques, which shall be discussed and analysed throughout this essay.

Stanza one introduces both the victim, the moose, and the one causing the accident, the wife. The time at which the accident occurs is mentioned, at dusk time. This could indicate that the day is coming at its end, and that tiredness and fatigue has won over both subjects. This idea is further supported by the “heavy and primordial” jaw of the moose, which highlights the fatigue felt by the moose. The fact that he decides that “the day, for him, is done” without any “psychic struggle” also shows that it must have been indeed very tired, that the fact of calling it a day is done without any thinking or hesitation. The caesura, in this case the semi-column is used to draw the attention of the reader to the fact that the moose is moving “somewhere else”. This could be a metaphor to represent a day’s cycle, since the fact that it is moving away could represent the setting of the sun. Another caesura, this time in the form of a full stop is included right after this line. The purpose of this is not only to show a change in idea within the very stanza itself, but also to draw the focus of the reader to the wife this time. It must be noted that the very first mention of a human being is accompanied by the first mention of man-made objects, in the case a car, which the wife is seen to be driving. The mention of human beings can thus be taught of as disrupting the harmony created by Lux in the opening lines of the poem, whilst giving an account of nature.

Stanza two is a run on lines from the last line of stanza one. This could indicate that the same idea is utilised in stanza two. It could also represent the movement and rapidness at which the car is travelling, and thus does not cut the swiftness with which the poem is read. The fact that the forest is “not yet fat enough for the paper companies” indicates that very soon, men are going to exploit those trees, in order to manufacture paper. The second and third lines of this stanza create a creepy and unwelcoming. The fourth line till the end of the stanza is constituted of short lines, separated by caesuras, in the form of commas. This accelerates the tempo of the poem and creates a sense of suspense. It may also be looked at as the gradation technique, describing each of the moose’s actions. The suspense is brought to its maximum with the point of suspension “…”. What follows is the terrible accident of the wife running into the moose with her car. This depicts, to its maximum, the dissonance between men and nature. The fact that the word “hard” is surrounded by commas is to draw the attention of the reader to the intensity and gravity of the accident.

Another run on line is used to begin stanza three, which once again is done in order to show that the same idea is utilised in stanza three. The fact that the “brakes slammed” slows down the tempo of the poem, by destroying the suspenseful moment created by Lux. A simile is used to describe the moose’s antlers as being “diamond tipped”. This simile not only shows how strong the antlers can be, but also shows that the animals and nature are the real diamonds of Earth. Lines three, four and five describe the impacts of the accident on the car; “scratch windshield, car damaged: rib-of-moose imprint on fender, hoof shatters headlight”. This is contrasted to the very little damages and injuries suffered by the moose, as it “lands on feet and walks away”. This contrast reveals that despite the car being made from superior

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Vivek Bheeroo22/10/11

intelligence, the moose is still the one winning the battle of nature against humans. This idea is further reinforced by the fact that even the wife has been “shaken, unhurt, amazed”, whilst the moose has simply walked away.

The fourth stanza differs radically to the previous three. The setting of the road in the forest is left. The voice of Tomas Lux is seen as the latter reflects on who between the two (wife or moose) believe in “superior intelligence”. He then then uses his reflection of whether the two believe in this superior intelligence in order to formulate his own, and his answer is clear; “Yes”. What the poet means by superior intelligence may perhaps mean human intelligence at its peak. The fact that the wife believes in it and that the moose does not even know what it is brings us to a paradox; the moose was the one which got the least of injuries, despite the car being made of human intelligence. This piece of fact is thus what Lux regards as the new “supreme intelligence” in lines 27, and thus fully believes in it. The fact that Lux closes the poem on a “thank you” shows that he has proved his point via the moral of the story; despite all the intelligence men can put in their innovations, the real supreme intelligence is that of nature.

The poem is a narrative one, where Lux recounts how a moose survived an accident with a car, driven by a wife. Using his story as a moral, he then reflects on the meaning of real supreme intelligence.

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