The Dog and His Master
The first poem in the collection is entitled “The Dog and his Master’’ and it analyzes the relationship between a dog and his master. The first stanza praises the dog named Snarl as being the best dog and as not being discriminatory when it comes to rich and poor. The dog protected his master during the night so he could sleep without fearing for his life and fearing that his wealth will be stolen.
In the second stanza, the dogs becomes the narrator and tells the reader about his duties. The dog had to protect the people in the house from “Rascals’’ who may come during the night to rob his master. In the third stanza, the dog mentions how he was blessed with a good scent that allowed him to find those who had bad intentions. The people mentioned here as wanting to steal from the master are not only thieves but also friends of the master and close associated who want to profit out of him.
The poem ends with the dog claiming that all those people “Provoke my Growling and offend my Smell.’’
Adam Posed
The next poem in the collection is entitled “Adam Posed’’ and presents the first interaction between Adam and Eve. The story presented in the poem is slightly different from the way it is presented in the Bible in the sense that in the beginning of the poem, Adam has to clear away thorns. In the Bible however it is mentioned that thorns did not exist on earth only after the two sinned against God.
Eve is presented as a nymph, a creature that has a great power over Adam and also as someone who has the power to influence the world around her. The way in which Eve is presented is important because it promotes further the idea that Eve was responsible for convincing her husband to sin against God and that she was the one responsible for the fall.
