17 pages • 34 minutes read
Mary TallMountainThe Last Wolf
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Wolf
Beyond the historical context of wolves being hunted to near-extinction, wolves have a spiritual symbolism in TallMountain’s poem and in many various indigenous beliefs. According to Welford’s 1994 article, TallMountain spoke with Bill Moyers about the “wolf spirit” that inspires her poetry. In “The Last Wolf,” this spirit has a “mystery of his wild loping gait” (Line 12): The wolf is a symbol of wildness. Knowing that this is the “last” (Line 1) wolf in existence imbues the poem with a profound sense of loss and grief.
Wolves have also been described as symbols of destruction, which develops TallMountain’s theme of the destruction of modern society. How wise, then, of TallMountain to select a symbol of both the wild world beyond civilization and one embodying the concept of destruction. The poem would read in a decidedly different manner if she had chosen a different animal, such as a bear or even a coyote, which is similar to but not the same as a wolf.
Color
There is a strong color motif running throughout “The Last Wolf.” The mechanical, artificial colors of the traffic lights—"red and green” (Line 9)—are contrasted with the natural colors of the wolf—his “gray muzzle” (Line 23) and “yellow” eyes (Line 25). Yellow is a color that bridges the technological hues and the animal ones; yellow is the middle color of stop lights, the one that advises caution, much like the “burning” (Line 25) eyes of the wolf.
Also, TallMountain includes the color white. The “spare white spread” (Line 24) of the speaker’s bed recalls that they wrote the poem while in a hospital, as mentioned in her interview with Bruchac. The “ruined city” (Line 2) is itself in need of hospitalization for death and rebirth; the speaker metonymically represents modern humanity.
The aforementioned “ruby-crowned highrises [sic]” (Line 6) also demonstrate the importance of color in the poem. TallMountain’s choice of the term “ruby” aligns with the idea of jewels in a crown, and the reader understands this is a synonym for red. The diction choice here is compelling, however, as it is the only use of an unordinary color term, which draws particular focus to the image.
Sense of Place
In “The Last Wolf,” TallMountain clearly establishes a sense of place; her poem is grounded in specific sensory and cartographic (map-based) details. The famous hilliness of San Francisco and the Bay Area comprise a place-based motif. The wolf travels “down the steep” (Line 4) hill in the first stanza and, in the second stanza, is “ascending the hill” (Line 15). This up and down movement gives the reader kinetic (embodied) clues about the experience of walking through the streets. The tight switchbacks of Lombard Street are the most famous example of a steep San Franciscan hill, but so many streets, like the named “Montgomery Street” (Line 5), are also very steep.
Furthermore, Montgomery Street is a street that runs north-south through several neighborhoods above Market Street (which divides San Francisco into northern and southern sections). This contrasts with the cardinal directions that are associated with the wolf and the speaker. The wolf makes “his way eastward” (Line 11), and the speaker’s bed is “looking west” (Line 19). Facing all four directions is part of many indigenous ceremonies. Furthermore, TallMountain’s inclusion of the street name and directions allows the reader to at least attempt to plot the wolf’s path on a map. This specific sense of place grounds the reader, which is a generally essential element in poetics.
