The Heaven of Animals by James Dickey

The Heaven of Animals by James Dickey

Here they are. The soft eyes open.
If they have lived in a wood
It is a wood.
If they have lived on plains
It is grass rolling
Under their feet forever.

Having no souls, they have come,
Anyway, beyond their knowing.
Their instincts wholly bloom
And they rise.
The soft eyes open.

To match them, the landscape flowers,
Outdoing, desperately
Outdoing what is required:
The richest wood,
The deepest field.

For some of these,
It could not be the place
It is, without blood.
These hunt, as they have done
But with claws and teeth grown perfect,

More deadly than they can believe.
They stalk more silently,
And crouch on limbs of trees,
And their descent
Upon the bright backs of their prey

May take years
In a sovereign floating of joy.
And those that are hunted
Know this as their life,
Their reward: to walk

Under such trees in full knowledge
Of what is in glory above them,
And to feel no fear,
But acceptance, compliance.
Fulfilling themselves without pain

At the cycle's center,
They tremble, they walk
Under the tree,
They fall, they are torn,
They rise, they walk again.

In comparison with James Dickey's The Hospital Window, this poem is very similar. One of the first similarities I notice is the short, staccato sentences. Both poems have short lines with very strong "t" sounds. The poem also flows very well with repetition of sounds like "To match them, the landscape flowers,/ Outdoing, desperately/ Outdoing what is required:/ The richest wood,/ The deepest field". Dickey does a great job of emphasizing the nouns with the use of "the" and then saying "outgoing" to articulate different thoughts.

Another similarity I find is the way Dickey uses the words "rise", "floating", and "glory above them" in this poem. Although he is talking about animals in this poem, the way he talks about his father in The Hospital Window draws a picture of a similar heaven. He creates a sort of grim image with "It could not be the place/ It is, without blood./ These hunt, as they have done/ But with claws and teeth grown perfect" but then makes up for it in saying that this is where all animals can be at peace because although they must experience pain, they somehow find a way to live again in this heaven.