Analysis of King of the Mountain
A new born fawn follows his mother
Clumsily he trots
Holding up his small body
Covered in white spots
His mother nestles him
Into the tall Montana grass
He silently waits for her return
Perfectly still while others pass
She shows him the way
Teaches him what a deer needs to know
What to eat, where to hide
When danger comes
Where to go
Survival of the fittest
Comes out when the coast is clear
He’s learned to detect trouble
When it is near
The buckling develops antlers
That sit on top of his head
He spars with his young friends
That will become his competitors for a doe to be bred
There will be losers, winners
Some left limping, others dead
The buck antlers soft velvet
Harden for the upcoming fight
After the ruts battle for love
He later sheds his natural weapons
Losing the left one and the right
They will grow back
He becomes bigger each year than before
Marking his territory with rub lines
Daring all trespassers to battle him in the woods war
Wolves, hunters
Predators galore
He out smarts their teeth, claws and guns
Lives on another year more
He makes his bed
In the mountain where his gene pool is spread
Outsmarted the lions
Escaped sickness, heart piecing arrows and lead
Old and grey
He is wise
His fallen squirrel chewed antlers
Are the hunters only prize
Not even seeing a glimpse of him through the trees
With their eyes
He walks up the same trail
King of the mountain, his massive crown proudly worn
He lays down for his final rest
Peacefully passing
In the same bed he was born
Scheme | XAXA XBXB CDXXD XEXE FGXGFG XHXIH XJXJ FJIJ GGIG CKFKXK XLXXL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011110110 10011 1011110 10011 110101 01010101 110011001 10011101 11101 101101111 111111 1101 111 0101010 1110111 1110110 1111 01001010 1111111 111111 110110100101111 1111010 1110101 0110110 1010101 10011011 1101110010 10011001 1111 1011011101 101100111 101111010011 110 10001 11111101 1101011 1111 0010111111 10010 01101101001 101 111 11010110 1010101 110100111101 111 111011 110101101101 11111101 10010 0011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,514 |
Words | 288 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 5, 4, 6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 6, 5 |
Lines Amount | 51 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 111 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
About this poem
This poem was written to creatively describe the life of a successful buck. From animals to hunters and sickness something is always after the elusive big one. This is about the one that got away, who leaves behind his shed antlers every year and who will also leave behind young offspring that will carry on his dna. Inspired by a specific buck in Montana but can also speak for many deer that pass away from old age.
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"King of the Mountain" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/158640/king-of-the-mountain>.
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