# Big Stag explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by James McIntyre.

## What happens

The speaker describes a magnificent stag that eludes hunters, observed by keeper Donald McKay. The stag grazes with its doe and fawn, and the speaker's tender feelings prevent him from shooting it, though he fears a pot-hunter may one day kill it, causing sorrow for the family.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nature and the Environment

The stag and its family are depicted in a natural, idyllic setting, emphasizing the beauty and vulnerability of wildlife.

### Mortality and Loss

The speaker fears the stag's eventual death at the hands of a pot-hunter, highlighting the sorrow of loss in nature.

## Character check-ins

### Tom McKay

Keeper who reports seeing the stag recently.

## Key lines

> My heart grew tender, I did lag / So long I could not shoot the stag

My emotions softened and I hesitated so long that I was unable to shoot the stag.

_Illustrates the speaker's compassion overriding the hunter's instinct._

> But I do fear some fatal day. / That some pot-hunter will him slay, / Who would be heedless of the woe / And sorrows of the fawn and doe.

Yet I worry that someday a hunter seeking meat will kill him, indifferent to the grief it would cause the fawn and doe.

_Expresses concern for the stag's family and criticism of unsentimental hunting._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_12_se/chapters/big-stag
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_12_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_12_se/chapters