Apple Orchard and Stone Wall (Symbol)
The speaker first glimpses the two deer standing in an apple orchard. Soon after, they leap over the orchard wall and disappear into the woods. The orchard symbolizes the human, domestic realm—one to which the deer have some access but to which they do not truly belong. Inside the orchard, they are available for the speaker to watch, but when they depart, the speaker loses sight of them: they have left the world inhabited by humans. The orchard wall, therefore, is also a symbol. It represents the boundary between domesticity and wilderness, and between human and animal.
Blood (Symbol)
When the buck dies, the speaker notices the contrast of his blood against the fallen snow. Two aspects of this description stand out: the words "wild" and "scalding." The use of the word "wild" to describe the buck's blood emphasizes his vitality as well as his difference from the speaker, in death as well as in life. The blood "scalds" the cold, lifeless snow, as if the meeting of these two opposing substances has an almost violent edge to it. The convergence of life and death ignites tension and conflict. Therefore, the blood can be considered a symbol of life, and in particular, the buck's untamed, animal life.
