Poetry · Chapter
To Dog explained
A satirical poem addressing the dog as a base, uncivilized creature, reflecting on its primitive origins and suggesting that even a dog, like man, could fall from grace.
What happens
A satirical poem addressing the dog as a base, uncivilized creature, reflecting on its primitive origins and suggesting that even a dog, like man, could fall from grace.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Artifice
Contrasts the dog's raw, natural state with the artificial breeding that has tempered its wildness.
Hypocrisy and Corruption
Satirizes the legal protection of dogs despite their base nature, hinting at societal hypocrisy.
Characters to notice
- Father Adam
Referenced as 'Old Adam' who cursed the dog's progenitor.
Key passages
“Old Adam, when he saw Thy prime progenitor, I doubt not, swore And kicked the curst kioodle from the door”
When Adam first encountered the dog's ancestor, he likely cursed and kicked it out.
Imagines the biblical Adam's reaction to the first dog.
“How racy of the soil thou must have been!— Indigenous and close to nature’s heart!”
You must have been earthy and wild, deeply connected to nature.
Highlights the dog's primitive, natural essence.
“It may be, though, thou wert created upright. If Man (the angels’ care) could fall, a pup might.”
Perhaps the dog was originally created upright, but if man could fall from grace, so could a dog.
Suggests a parallel fall from innocence for both humans and dogs.