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October 10, 2002
A Ruff Death
Gerald Stern’s poem “The Dog” is an excellent description of death from a dog’s perspective. At first glance, the poem may look like an anti-poem describing many nuances a dog creates, such as yapping and even shitting. ... Realizing that dogs cannot talk or think like humans, Stern has to develop an emotional relationship between the readers and the dying dog. Stern utilizes the technique of personification to draw the reader into the dog’s feelings and to develop the emotional relationship. Throughout the poem, Stern tells of a dog’s last hours before death and the thoughts that the dog experienced. Stern’s objective in unfolding the poem slowly was to force readers to forget about the simple mindedness of dogs and enjoy the human-like characteristics that humans and dogs share.
Stern starts the poem with a question and answer thought series going through the dog’s mind. The dog wonders “what was I doing with my white teeth exposed/on the side of the road/ I don’t know” (1-2). The dog furthers the thought with “I don’t know why I lay beside the sewer” (3).
Approximate Word count = 937
Approximate Pages = 3.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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