The Buck in the Snow Essay Questions

How does the construction of the poem as a work of free verse influence and amplify its tone and mood?

The free-flowing form of the work reflects its contemplative tone and the unresolved mystery of the speaker's inquiry into death. The spontaneity implied by free verse gives the impression of access to the speaker's thoughts in real time. The speaker's primary conclusion is simply "how strange a thing is death"—musing rather than argument. Whereas the structures of a formal pattern would suggest composure and even premeditated speech on the part of the speaker, free verse makes no such promise. Instead, it offers an impression of intimacy and vulnerability.

Discuss the symbolism of the orchard wall.

The orchard wall symbolizes the boundary between human and animal realms, and, by extension, between nature and human habitation. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker spots the deer standing inside the orchard—presumably, the property of the speaker or another human. The deer run back into their own habitat, traversing the boundary between the woods and the orchard in the form of a wall. Outside of the orchard, they encounter both danger and freedom: the buck dies but the doe moves freely and remains full of life. Thus, the wall offers some degree of security, but also appears to keep certain experiences and freedoms at bay from the humans inside it.