Lem Ward was born on Sep 19, 1896 in Maryland. While growing up in the Crisfield, Maryland, region of Chesapeake Bay, Lem Ward and his brother Steve, learned to carve working duck decoys from their father, who also trained them as barbers. In 1918, their father drowned in a boating accident, and with the loss of his income, the family was almost destitute. Lem and Steve began carving decoys as a part time occupation, supplemented by barbering and hunting wild game.
In this poem, the poet speaks about Geese. There are some facts about geese which are as follows: during the second year of their life, geese find a mate. They are monogamous, and most couples stay together all of their lives. Its nest is usually located in an elevated area near water such as streams, lakes, ponds, and sometimes on a beaver lodge. The female spends more time at the nest than the male. Geese are very affectionate and kind hearted with other geese in their group. If anyone of them falls sick or wounded, few of them with draw from the formation and strive to protect and care for him. The geese withdrawing from the main group would stay with the sufferer goose till it recovers to fly again or depart its life.
Geese enhance their flying range as much as 71% than their individual flying range by flying in “V” form. The flapping of one’s wings provides an automatic drift to the immediate follower goose. Exhibiting excellent team work, when the leading goose gets tired, another one takes the guiding position, and the former shifts back in the formation.
It is a story which happened in Lem Ward’s life. He has portrayed this story into poem. He starts this poem with a hunter whom the author himself is. The hunter shoots at a flock of geese but they flew off before he reaches there. He targeted on a whole group, but unfortunately only two were caught. Here he tried to slaughter their whole family but he could not. The two geese which he shot fell on the sandy beach.
In the second stanza, the male bird fell down next to the waters’ edge just before he died, he called his wounded mate and she dragged herself to his side. “He faintly called to his wounded mate / And she dragged herself to his side”(7-8), from these lines the reader feels that the dying male bird calls his female mate for help till his last breath.
In the next stanza which is “Caressing her one and only mate / As a mother would a child.”(11-12) the poet reveals how a mother loves her child similarly here, the female bird comes to him and croons in such a way mother does to her child. And in the following stanza, the female bird holds her male partner with her broken wing. She lies on his breast with feeble mourning and both the birds die.
In the next stanza, the author confesses that the cruel hunter in this poem is none other than himself and then in the deep snow he came to his knees and shed hot tears. Here, the reader feels that even though the poet confesses his mistake, he cannot bring back those birds alive, and whatever he does he cannot equal their lives. The geese were helpless. There was none to help them. In this world man does not help another man, but on seeing the birds helping each other in their death beds, he felt a lot that the love and care which he could see in these birds, he could not see them in human beings.
In the following stanza, the poet buries the birds in the sand, wrapping them in his coat. He then threw his gun and belt in the bay when he was crossing in the boat. “I buried the birds in the sand where they lay, / Wrapped in my hunting coat, / And I threw my gun and belt in the bay” (21-23), from these lines the reader feels that, before the poet buries the birds, he buries his passion to kill birds and hurt other species and he comes to know that there will be no use with his gun thereafter because of this only he threw his gun away.
He concludes by saying that, the other hunters will call him a poor sport and mock at him, but he does not bother about that. But on that day some changes happened in his heart and he prays God to stop him from shooting again.
No comments:
Post a Comment