Ananylzing Poetry:
...are of another life would be a new task for a first-time mother and could give reason for some concern. As hard as it would be to imagine misplacing her child, it’s not hard to picture it as something that could actually happen. However after first mentioning “misplacing” her child in the beginning of the first stanza, the speaker goes as far as saying that she “drops it and it explodes” towards the end of that same stanza. By letting the thought of dropping and killing her child control that portion of her dream, the speaker begins to allow her dream transform into a nightmare. The speaker begins to let her fears and uncertainties of becoming a mother start to overcome her. In the second stanza, the speaker is in a peaceful meadow were she sees the “white wolf” for the first time. She sees “three men playing rough with it.” The wolf “breaks free” of the men, and in the third and final stanza our speaker is faced with the ultimate confrontation. The speaker becomes forced to choose between risking her own life to protect her child or to give up the life of her child to protect herself. As the wolf runs toward the speaker, she “tosses the baby behind her, / listening for it’s cries,” making sure that it is ok during the struggle with the wolf. As she struggles with the wolf, she “circles it’s throat” “until her thumbs push through.” She sees the “white fur seep red.” She had killed the wolf and protected her child from a dangerous predator. Thus, proving that she is capable of becoming a good mother by doing what was necessary to protect her only child. However as she looks at the wolf, she sees t...