The Bull
The Bull - meaning Summary
Power Dethroned by Season
The poem portrays a powerful bull first likened to a god in a lush summer setting, then displaced as seasons change. Natural forces and social rivals erode his strength; his authority over the herd collapses and he is driven down hills, pursued and frightened. Wright uses this animal scene to register loss of dominance, the passage of vitality into weakness, and how changing environment and rivals expose vulnerability.
Read Complete AnalysesIn the olive darkness of the sally-trees silently moved the air from night to day. The summer-grass was thick with honey daisies where he, a curled god, a red Jupiter, heavy with power among his women lay. But summer's bubble-sound of sweet creek-water dwindles and is silent, the seeding grasses grow harsh, and wind and frost in the black sallies roughen the sleek-haired slopes. Seek him out, then, the angry god betrayed, whose godhead passes, and down the hillsides drive him from his mob. What enemy steals his strength - what rival steals his mastered cows? His thunders powerless, the red storm of his body shrunk with fear, runs the great bull, the dogs upon his heels.
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