300 Goats

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human qualities to nonhuman entities. To imagine and express the feelings, thoughts, or interior conditions of, say, a goat, is to create a metaphor, or linguistic symbol, for something abstract, inaccessible, or unknowable. Anthropomorphism can be subtle, as when Nye’s speaker asks, “Will they huddle together, warm bodies pressing?” (Line 3)—to huddle means simply to crowd together, and goats are as capable of that action as humans. The anthropomorphism is discernible more through the tone of the poem. The speaker is worried and supposes that the goats need guidance and protection.

In her book, The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness (Prickly Paradigm Press, 2003), feminist scholar Donna J. Haraway discusses her own anthropomorphism of her dog. Anthropomorphism becomes a way of learning the “otherness” of another creature to live together and coevolve.

The potential danger of the human urge to anthropomorphize is in stripping an animal of its animal-ness. The speaker refers to the Chinese zodiac, and whether the goat/sheep figure symbolizes leadership qualities or a passive, follower nature. The goats are only qualified in the poem by their number, which is large: 300.