Woodchucks

While there is no consistent meter throughout the poem, the lines are similar in length, and all five stanzas have six lines. This form resembles a natural monologue. Along with the poem’s simple language, this creates an unassuming narrator, which supports the initially lighthearted tone in describing a domestic scene. The simple and unassuming form makes the poem’s final message all the more shocking.

The poem’s unusual rhyme scheme further underscores the forbidding and uneasy allegory that will be revealed fully in the poem’s closing lines. Each stanza has an ABCACB rhyme scheme, creating a halting pace with the unexpected inversion of the rhyme in the last two lines of each stanza. The rhyme foreshadows that something is not quite right about the topic of the poem.

An allegory uses multiple interconnected symbols to create a hidden meaning that often reflects a moral truth or political message. Kumin’s allegory depends on three main symbols: the speaker, a gardener; the woodchucks; and the garden.