Diction: An Experience

           A poem's diction conveys the underlying emotions and persuasions of the author. It gives the reader a direct insight into the type of person the author is and  into what the author is experiencing, along with how the author is experiencing it. A cold and monotonous diction speaks to the same emotions of the author likewise a jovial and upbeat form of diction speaks to the happiness of said author. Moreover when one considers the poem Traveling through the Dark by William Stafford, one can clearly experience everything the author is going through simply by understanding the diction. Traveling through the Dark is about a man who while driving encounters a dead doe on the street. This doe was about to give birth but regrettably died in the middle of the road and in order to avoid more deaths the man is forced to push the deer off the cliff. Even from the title one can immediately tell the mood of this poem is somber and downcast. This is further exemplified by the slow and, at times, painful description of the narrators experience. He takes great lengths to describe the initial thought process he goes through; the fact that he must remove this dead doe from the street in order to avoid more deaths. Then the initial coldness he felt when he touched the dear and the lifelessness that seemed to permeate from the doe, "she was stiffened already, almost cold, I dragged her off, she was large in belly". From this the fragmented thought process of the narrator is made quite clear, especially through the prevalent use of commas to divide his thoughts. Further, from this form of diction, one can understand the immense emotional sorrow and regret the narrator must be experiencing. The next stanza delves even deeper to both the narrators actions and thoughts, "My fingers touching her side brought me the reason." This line reveals the out-of-body experience of the narrator as he personifies his fingers. And yet again the the prevalent commas are still evidently revealing his emotional instability, "her fawn lay there waiting, alive, still, never to be born". The author is clearly experiencing each moment separately and is attempting to absorb the magnitude of what he is going through. The diction of Traveling through the Dark puts the reader in the mind of author and lets us experience this death with him. Thus, a primary use of diction is the creation of an experience for the readers.