A poem holds more meaning than what a normal story can tell. In "The Death of a Toad," a lawn mower runs over a toad, leading to its slow and painful death. Using diction and imagery, Richard Wilbur writes about its death in vivid description. He uses simple actions of a toad to reveal his feelings and his views. Using his choice of words carefully, Wilbur gives off the different moods at various points of the poem. At the start of the poem, Wilbur begins by elaborating on the horrible incident that occurred to the toad. The chipping and chewing off of the toad's leg gives off a sense of harshness and a suffering. It was the beginning of the toad's death. "With a hobbling hop," the toad shows the struggles he goes through as he makes his way into finding a peaceful place for its final stages of life. Finding out that even a toad could die of a tragic accident, he saw its "the rare original heartsbleed" go. Using these words, he tells the reader that even a small animal led its own special, independent life and once its death occurs and its blood is shed, the same blood will not be shed again. With the phrases, "in the gutters of the banked and staring eyes" and "soundlessly …show more content…
He uses imagery to allow readers to feel like they are actually there and experiencing his view and feelings of the toad's death. He relates to the readers by making it appear like that the death of the toad for him was almost like losing a loved one. Using imagery, Wilbur describes the start of the toads death in a straightforward and direct fashion. "A toad the power mower caught, chewed and clipped of a leg" gives the reader a clear picture of what is happening-- a lawn mower ran over a toad and lost its leg because of it. In the second stanza of the poem, the toad "lies as still as if he would return to stone" giving the reader the image of the toad's still, lifeless body, disclosing that the toad is finally