Traveling through the Dark and Seventeen

"Traveling through the Dark"
1. The way the speaker describes the car illustrate the car to seem like the predator when it describes it as "purring" and in a way stalking he deer with its low headlights. When leaves the author notes its red taillights and this makes a connection in the minds of the reader to the blood the deer shed. In the poem the car is a technological advancement that seems to be acting on its own and interfering with  the natural flow of nature. The car seems to be symbolic today's technology.
2. In the poem the tone is matter of fact and conversational. The author is kind in consideration to what happened, yet he is not overly sensitive nor overly gory. Through his details of the story and specific word choice, we see the tone.
3. The last stanza has an effect of finality. In it the author shortly wraps up everything he has yet to tell the reader and gives a sense of the end, finality. Ending with two lines showed a difference between the other stanzas and gave it emphasis which helped to finalize the story.
4. The poems title perhaps felt that in the story he was acting all alone without any guidance, hence "the Dark." The word dark can also show that he was uncertain of how to act. Since the situation is new and unfamiliar and the title says he is "traveling." The title is appropriate because it helps to describe the author's journey on this specific night. When the speaker says  he "thought hard for us all" he is showing he gave great consideration in what his final action would be, perhaps meaning that he weighed the  different options he had and reasons for taking the actions.

"Seventeen"
1. The title focuses the idea of a rite of passage by being named seventeen. In America, we know this age as having more freedoms and responsibilities. In the poem, the main character displays these traits, by acting with responsibility and helping the dog.
2. The author uses detailed language that shows the distressed and later pathetic state of the dog. In the poem he describes the dog as trying to run away from the accident, the author writes, "he scrambled, fell, and scraped along the hot asphalt before he tumbled back into the air" (lines 3-5).
3. The speaker of the poem seems to be responsible and caring, taking action to help the injured dog. He also seems to be young by his actions and also by his seeming inexperience. The driver of the pickup seems to be short tempered and selfish through his actions the reader encountered. Leaving the scene of the accident before making sure the dog was in proper care showed he was self centered and uncaring for the animal.
4. This could be a symbolic action because the dog dying could be like the seventeen year old's innocence and it has died. It is also symbolic because the speaker is now acting with the good of others in mind and acting responsibility.