Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Mary Oliver’s poem "Rabbit" is a poignant meditation on death, decay, and the cycle of life. The poem begins with the vivid and haunting image of a "scatterghost" rabbit, emphasizing its inability to escape its fate. The rain and wind, described as "everybody’s brother" and "ten crazy sisters," personify natural elements that are typically forces of change and renewal but, in this instance, are powerless to alter the rabbit's condition.

The speaker introduces a personal element by acknowledging their own role in dealing with the rabbit's body. "No one but me, / and my hands like fire, / to lift him to a last burrow," signifies the solitary and intimate responsibility of handling death. The description of the speaker’s hands as "like fire" suggests both the warmth of care and the harshness of the task at hand.

The speaker waits for days as the rabbit’s body decomposes, described graphically as it "opens and begins / to boil." This stark imagery conveys the reality of decay, contrasting sharply with the memory of the rabbit "leaping in the moonlight." This memory captures a moment of life and vitality that the speaker longs to restore, but understands cannot be revived. The emotional conflict of wanting the rabbit to miraculously heal and spring up joyfully underscores the depth of the speaker’s grief and the desire to deny the finality of death.

Eventually, the speaker resolves to bury the rabbit, completing the necessary yet painful act of shoveling earth over the body. The following day, the speaker discovers a small bird’s nest lined with the rabbit’s fur, housing warm chicks. This discovery serves as a powerful metaphor for the continuity of life and the transformation of death into new beginnings. The use of the rabbit’s fur to warm the chicks illustrates the interconnectedness of life and death, and the way in which one life can nurture another even after its end.

The speaker’s rhetorical question, "are you listening, death?" directly addresses the inevitability of death, while simultaneously highlighting the resilience and renewal found in nature. The warm chicks in the nest symbolize hope and the persistence of life amidst loss.

In "Rabbit," Mary Oliver deftly navigates the themes of mortality and the natural cycle, using vivid imagery and personal reflection. The poem’s structure, with its clear progression from death to new life, mirrors the natural processes it describes. Oliver’s language is both tender and unflinching, capturing the raw reality of decay alongside the gentle continuity of life.

Ultimately, the poem invites readers to consider the ways in which life and death are intertwined, and to find solace in the renewal that follows loss. Oliver’s "Rabbit" is a moving exploration of the inevitability of death and the enduring presence of life, emphasizing the beauty and interconnectedness of the natural world.

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