Dogs Death by John Updike

In the year is 1669, a poem titled “Dogs Death” was written by a man named John Updike. The poem consists of 20 lines which also makes five stanzas. In the beginning, the first and second line writes as “She must have been kicked unseen or brushed by a car / Too young to know how much, she was beginning to learn”. Basing off the title and the descriptions, the author is providing the reader that this is about a young female dog that has been in serious pain. Even though the dog was young, she was in the process of being trained and learning how to do things. To finish the first stanza in the third and fourth lines, it sates “to use the newspapers spread on the kitchen floor / And to win, wetting there, the words, “Good dog! Good dog!” In these lines, it is beginning to indicate that the family may not pay attention to the puppy because the dog wanting to do extra good such as being bathroom trained on the newspapers to just hear the words of love and acceptance. Starting in the second stanza, Updike writes, “We thought her shy malaise was a shot reaction”. The word “malaise” can be defined as an unknown feeling of uneasiness of discomfort. This meaning that the family thought the puppy was just acting different from a shot she got. “The autopsy discloses a rupture in her liver. / As we teased her with play, blood was filling her skin”, this shows that even though the family did not rarely pay attention to her as much as someone should, they still cared for her health and trying to comfort her pain while she is at the vet from the words “as we teased her with play”. To end the second stanza, “And her heart was learning to lie down forever”, a reader can analyze that this indicates that the puppy is dying. “Monday morning, as the children were noisily fed / And sent to school, she crawled beneath the youngest’s bed.” In the first line, it shows how the family is still not paying close attention the lonely dog. It has been known that when a dog is ready to die, one will leave off someone to be alone and die; in the case, that is what this dog is doing. The author continues writing, “We found her twisted and limp but still alive. / In the car to the vets, on my lap, she tried”. As someone could visually picture the dog in extreme pain exemplifies the sadness the mood has been set in. However, the narrator shows sympathy and acknowledged the dogs pain as they drive to the vet. In the fourth stanza, it finishes the sentences from the last line in the previous stanza which states, “To bite my hand and died. I stroke her warm fur. / And my wife called in a voice imperious with tears”. The dog is still trying to portray as a “good dog” by attempting to still play with the owner. The word imperious can also be defined as assuming with anger or ignorance without justification; this meaning that the wife was reacting to the dog’s death by crying out of anger and denial. Updike proceeds to write, “Though

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