Introduction
Animals are an integral part of society, though not all people appreciate and like them. The use of animal imagery is a common method to introduce some new information, to teach something, or to compare and contrast the features typical for animals and people. Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” and “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, Lawrence’s “Snake”, and Thomas’s “The Hunchback in the Park” contain animal imagery, each having a different meaning and purpose. Fears, admiration, and compassion are introduced with the help of animal imagery in the poems by Carroll, Lawrence, and Thomas.
It goes without saying; animals are creatures that are made to make people happy, though this concerns pets only. However, other animals, suchlike wild lions, and venomous snakes can be dangerous and are able to damage human health should be discussed in the literature because of their natural characteristics which can be attributed to human beings. People that are likely to deceive and betray are typically called snakes, while brave and courageous men are compared with lions.
Literature would be faded and inexpressive without the use of animal imagery because authors are free to discuss various characteristics typical of animals and people, compare and contrast them, and try to analyze people’s actions with regard to animals’ ones.
The Use of Animal Imagery in the Works of Lawrence, Carroll, and Thomas
The attitude of the author to the animals he uses in his works is very important because feelings are an essential part of the poem. Sometimes the image is used so clearly and appropriately that the reader experiences the same feelings as the author; this means that the purpose of the poem is reached.
Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwock and a walrus are animals used in order to teach the young readers different features that can be attributed to both human beings and representatives of the animal world. The poem “Jabberwocky’ teaches to be fearless and courageous; though the main character of the poem tends to obey his father’s words and is not likely to risk his life, he has to defend himself from the creature that “came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!” (Carroll 17). As we can see, the protagonist of the story happened to be brave and strong enough not to escape and to accept battle. The creature Jabberwock is used as a symbol of fear and all prejudices of which the boy should be aware because it is believed to have strong “jaws that bite, the claws that catch” (Carroll 17) and of other creatures that can damage his son’s health.
The poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” was also written for children in order to demonstrate the danger of strangers that can deceive and make something terrible. The poem is structured as a conversation of two friends, the use of an image of a walrus is appropriate, though an image of a person could have been used. In this case, the young readers should learn that people can be as mean and dangerous as animals and strangers should not be trusted.
Lawrence’s snake can be considered as the object of adoration because the author seems to admire “a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld” (Lawrence). The poem is aimed at glorifying the beauty, implemented power, and nobility of a snake. The author likes this creature and persuades the readers to like and admire it with the help of a soothing tone which seems to lull the readers and make them calm down. Even the organization of the poem is devoted to the snake as the external form resembles a snake. Unlike Carroll’s Jabberwock which resembles a snake as well, this one is peaceful and graceful in spite of a stranger looking at it.
Snake can be treated as a measure to find an antidote for certain venom or as an object which can be placed into the serpentarium in order to let people watch it. However, Lawrence had chosen another role for a snake; he likes this calm creature and uses his poetical gift to persuade the readers to like it as he does. The admiration and tenderness towards a snake can be traced throughout the poem; the speaker is honored because “one of the lords of life” (Lawrence) uses his hospitality.
Thomas’s poem “The Hunchback in the Park” narrates the story of a person with a hunchback. This person is compared with a dog that is as poor and miserable as the hunchback. This stylistic method is commonly used when an author wants to evoke some feelings in the reader. Contrasted to the snake used by Lawrence which is used to evoke admiration and the Jabberwock which is used by Carroll to make the readers more careful, Thomas applies comparison with a dog in order to evoke compassion and kindness in his readers.
The author feels pity towards the hunchback, he compares it with a dog that is chained in the kennel and cannot do anything with its situation. However, the main character of the poem by Thomas “slept at night in a dog kennel But nobody chained him up” (Thomas). Here we can clearly see that this person was chained with people’s attitudes and prejudice. The absence of compassion can be considered the main theme of this poem because people are cruel creatures and are not able to feel kindness towards strangers.
The reasons for using a definite animal in the poem are, as a rule, different, though the images of animals are commonly used in order to evoke some feelings in the readers or to make the description more vivid and expressive. Animals can be treated like dangerous creatures as well as kind and beautiful living beings. People are addressed in poetry and asked to share the feelings of authors towards animals described in poems and other works of literature. While some authors admire animals in their works, others try to beware readers of possible dangers that can damage their health.
Invented creature and a human-like walrus by Carroll are used in order to teach young children of possible features that can be possessed by animals as well as by human beings. Animals, in this case, are used in order not to introduce certain names of people so that children did not use these names associated with the poems. The poems “Jabberwocky” and “The Walrus and the Carpenter” can be considered vivid examples of using animal imagery to make children learn some traits of characters typical of people.
As the primary audience of the English writer’s works was supposed to be young children, he made his best to create interesting images that would be engaging and memorable. The beasts may be analyzed with the same approach as Jabberwock was invented to introduce the fears and prejudices of people in terms of evil and dangers that may be encountered in life. The story teaches not to be afraid of problems and to face them with as much honor as the person can afford to demonstrate.
Snake is used by Lawrence in order to make the readers admire the beauty and grace of this creature. The author feels sorry for throwing a log into the water and tries to rehabilitate himself and to turn back the clock not to let himself do such a mean action. The snake is used as a creature that evokes contradictory feelings and which can be liked or disliked regardless of the territory you live in, the education you have obtained, or your beliefs towards the power of a mystery. As a rule, snakes are described as dangerous creatures that can bite you, and if it turns out that a snake is venomous, a person can die in several minutes or even seconds. However, the snake described by Lawrence is mighty and graceful and it would not come to bite a human being that is afraid of it; though the speaker does not seem to be afraid of a snake, he is honored and would not harm the snake.
A dog is used as a symbol of poverty and exile in the poem by Thomas because this animal is the most appropriate when talking about people that are lonely and have no home, about people that have no place to go except their kennel, about people that are poor and estranged and no one, not a soul is likely to help them. The dog is the most appropriate creature, in this case, because it can be kind and devoted to those who would decide to become his friends. A hunchback is as lonely and estranged as a dog which tends to hide in a kennel and escape from reality where everything seems to be so alien to him. The dog is used in order to make the loneliness of the hunchback more obvious and outrageous.
Conclusion
The use of animal imagery is intended for producing the effect which would be difficult to produce using images of people. Compassion, kindness, tenderness, a sense of justice, and fairness are the lesser part of virtues that are likely to be developed in children with the help of fairytales using animal imagery. Most animals are used as companions of people in literature, though some of them can be really dangerous and others can become devoted friends.
Carroll uses the invented creature in order to introduce a set of prejudice as a universal combination of everything that parents usually tell children to be aware of. The walrus is used together with a person to introduce negative features of character that can be attributed to people rather than animals. Lawrence uses a snake which is described as an object of the author’s admiration; it is powerful though calm and unaggressive. Thomas uses the image of a dog in order to compare it with the main character of the poem, the hunchback. The dog is likely to evoke compassion and is commonly associated with loneliness.
Works Cited
Carroll, Lewis. Jabberwocky and Other Poems. Mineola, NY: Courier Dover Publications, 2001.
Lawrence, David Herbert. “Snake.” Dissident Websites. N.p. N.d. Web. 2010.
Thomas, Dylan. “The Hunchback in the Park.” Art of Europe. N.p. N.d. Web. 2010.