Pidcock 1

Buddy Pidcock
Mrs. Burr Instructor
English 1010
4 January 2017
The Use of Literary Devices challenge our decisions
In William E. Staffords Traveling through the Dark
In the poem Traveling through the Dark William Stafford protests human behavior and
some of their struggling decisions may not always be easy, or even the right. William expresses
this idea through his a few different ways. The author starts out with sensory detail to capture the
readers imagination, almost as if the reader is now experiencing the same situation. Stafford
brings in effective diction to paint the picture for the reader to support the sensory detail. Sound
devices are added in the poem to bring the authors predicament to life With the help of
Staffords literary device choices the reader is able to participate in different perspectives to
better understand the emotions, and understand William Staffords controversy.
The writer starts the poem by saying Traveling through the dark I found a deer (line 1).
Almost as her is referring to something else, life. Stanfords powerful detail helps extinguish the
feeling the character must be going through. The state of mind in which the character is in. trying
to figure out what is going to be the best course of action. As the stranger has stopped to resolve
the dilemma of finding a deer on the road. He goes on to saying phrases like The car aimed
ahead its lowered parking lights; under the hood purred the steady engine (line 13-14). Meaning
almost like a laugh, as this human machine knows the damage it is causing, and is chuckling at
its naturally born rival. Describing the car as if it were the enemy, characterizing it to be the

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weapon. Line five By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car illuminates the story by
the exemplary detail. By describing the scene of a mountain side where nothing is visible except
the view from the radiant lights of vehicle. One man with no one to watch him, has to weigh his
options to decide what would be the right thing to do.
I stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing; she had stiffened already, almost cold, I
dragged her off; she was large in belly (line 6-8). Stiffened now able to picture the feeling of the
corps with a troublesome man dragging the hardened body scraping the road, as it now lays on
the side of the road. The outstanding specific words Stanford used to ensnare the readers mind,
and make them think a little, which allows them to understand that it could have been easy to
leave the doe off the side of the road, but now it means a little bit more. My finger touching her
side brought me the reason her side was warm (line 9-10). The deer is pregnant. In line 4 that
road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead. Cant just leave the poor creature, because
more might end up like it. This is why the visitor determined to get the animal off the road. It is
usually best to roll them into the canyon (line 3). Usually is the key word. Now the the
character has to decide what is going to happen to this dead mom which the character now
knows is pregnant with the unborn fawn that lies within her. Like it said normally it would be
best to dispose of the animal, but this time it is very peculiar.
The hardest decisions are the ones that count. I thought hard for us all-my only
swerving-then pushed her over the edge into the river (line 17-18). The man decided it would be
best to settle the matter presented before him, and remove the carcass and shove it down the hill.
Not many people are prepared and able to make the decisions that may not always seem like the
right one. The impacts that human has now tortured nature and the beauty that shines brightly

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everyday before us. Stafford was able to make the reader understand that humans have an effect
even though they may not know it, with the help of his poem. Using his literary devices to
capture a moment to help us understand, that we need to take care of the world as it is shared
amongst many living things. And that we need to make sure that we are always doing the right
thing. Even if no one is watching.

Work Cited
Stafford William. Traveling Through the Dark. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed.
Michael Meye. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013.904. Print