Close Reading of "Dreams of the Animals" Anonymous 12th Grade

Dreams of the Animals by Margaret Atwood is a poem written in several verses. From the title of the poem, the reader can see that the emphasis is put on "the animals" not "the dreams". This gives the reader insight on the topic of this poem, that it will be focusing on the animals and their feelings. Also, since only humans are known to dream, this poses questions for the reader about what the differences between animal and human really are.

Dreams of the Animals is written in a voice for the animals, as the animals cannot speak themselves. Since the speaker is an activist for the animals, the poem circles around the topic that animals are just as important as humans, they are people as well. However, the concept that animals, "mostly dream of other animals each according to its own kind" (Atwood 1-3), does imply that animals have less complex dreams than humans do. Atwood's poem touches on the dreams of different species of animals, one example being how moles dream of ,"mole smells" (8). Dreams of the Animals follows a formal structure, as every animal and their dreams are situated into separate stanzas. For example, the second stanza is about, "certain mice and small rodents" (Atwood 4), and the fifth stanza is on the topic...