21 pages • 42 minutes read
Alden NowlanThe Bull Moose
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1996A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Form, Meter, and Alliteration
The poem is written in free verse, which is unrhymed and unmetered. It has eight stanzas, with the first three consisting of five lines each; the next four have four lines apiece; and the poem closes with a single couplet—two-lined stanza. Thus, in terms of number of lines, the stanzas seem to be whittling down or descending, paralleling the journey of the moose from the forest until its ultimate end. The poem’s structure reflects its thematic concerns.
The rhythm and musicality in the poem come from its simple, powerful diction and clean structure. The words are filled with loaded verbs evoking a sense of velocity in the poem. Examples of such verbs are “lurching” (Line 2), "stumbling" (Line 3), “scenting” (Line 8), and “snickered” (Line 18).
Nowlan employs alliteration—the repetition of sounds—to create moments of poetic emphasis and also to infuse musicality in the poem. Phrases such as “pole-fenced pasture,” with its repeated “p” sound function almost as mnemonic devices in how they stick to the memory. Another example of alliteration is “too tired to turn” (Line 5); here, the hard “t” sound highlights the moose’s exhaustion and isolation. In Lines 21-23 there is a powerful triple alliteration: “let a giggling girl / plant a little purple cap / of thistles on his head.” The bunched alliteration highlights that this is a key moment in the poem that identifies the bull with a Christ-like figure. The “g” sound is supposed to be musical and accompanies the corresponding image of laughing young women, but ends up adding to the darkness of the metaphor.
That the young laughing women—associated with youth and joy—should desecrate the bull moose is doubly foreboding. Further, the stressed “p” sound marks the dark moment of the bull being crowned as if with a garland of thrones. The hissing “h” sound of “thistles,” “him,” and “head” add a foreboding tone to the image.
Metaphor and Simile
Nowlan uses explicit (simile: comparisons using the words "like" or "as") and implicit (metaphor: comparisons sans "like" or "as") comparisons through the poem to add depth of meaning. Many of the similes and metaphors describe the moose; the need for multiple comparisons to define the poem’s central figure shows that the moose is difficult to simply describe. He represents something humans cannot quite understand nor confront. The chief similes about the bull moose have to do with his great head “like the ritual mask of a blood god” (Line 9), or a head to be sacrificed; the bull moose tolerates the children “like an old tolerant collie” (Line 14); and in the end, he gathers his strength “like a scaffolded king” (Line 31). The metaphor “anything so shaggy and cuddlesome” (Lien 25) implicitly compares the bull moose to a stuffed toy. The “purple cap of thistles” (Lines 21-22) solidifies the moose’s comparison to Jesus Christ. Thus, the moose appears first to the people like a pet dog, then a stuffed toy, and finally something fearsome from which they run. To the narrator, the moose is always a semi-divine and doomed Christ-like figure. The comparisons to Christ can also be consider examples of allusion: a literary device which references a person, object, place, or idea with literary, cultural, religious, or any other historical significance.
Other metaphors include “the purple mist of trees on the mountain” (Line 1), where the trees are so far away that they appear like mist. Here, the mist of trees on the mountain evokes an aura of intangible mystery shrouding the origins of the moose. The phrase “mist of trees” (Line 1) can also be considered wordplay, since the phrase sounds like “mysteries.” The "sun dropp[ing} in the river" (Line 28) is a metaphor for a sunset, as well as for the end of the moose's life.
Metaphors work in unusual ways. One is through specific comparisons as seen above, and the other is in the context of the writing's themes and symbolism. In the context of “The Bull Moose,” the moose is a metaphor for nature and nonconforming people. Though such a comparison is not explicitly made in any specific instance in the poem, the association can be formed on a deeper reading of the poem. Similarly, the cattle are a metaphor for people who allow themselves to be tamed by society.
Imagery
Imagery is figurative language that creates meanings and emotional response by appealing to the five senses. Often, imagery includes other literary devices, such as similes, metaphors, wordplay, or alliteration. A poem’s imagery creates an atmosphere in which the reader can best experience the work’s themes.
In “The Bull Moose,” Nowlan uses two sets of images to convey people’s separation from nature. The first surrounds the bull moose and his habitat, and is evocative and romantic. For instance, the moose is said to descend from “the purple mist of trees on the mountain” (Line 1), and travels through forests of “white spruce and cedar” (Line 2). These images evoke the cold air of misty mountains. His movements are quick, conjuring up the idea of open spaces. The human world is described in more confined and materialistic terms, thus creating imagery evoking feelings of confinement or even claustrophobia. The moose is stopped by a fenced pasture. People line up to see him, their automobiles crowding the road. These images are understood by most and immediately conjure up the readers' own experience of seeing caged animals in zoos, or being judged and spied on by others.
Interestingly, though the poem was written in the early 1960s, it remains more than relevant in the contemporary cultural climate where every experience becomes something to be captured in an image. Further, the imagery draws on the power of allusion for readers familiar with Christian tradition. The young men who try to “pour beer / down his throat” (Lines 18-19) evoke the Christian imagery of Roman soldiers trying to gag Christ with a sponge soaked in vinegar. Thus, the humanistic imagery is anti-romantic and bleak. In the end, the two sets of images come closer, and the comparison becomes even more stark. While the moose rises like a king, the people flee to their automobiles. When he roars in death, they “leaned on their automobile horns” (Line 33)—the honking paling in contrast to the magnificent roar of the animal.
