What kind of poem is woodchucks by Maxine Kumin?

Kumin has written a narrative poem that tells the story of killing the woodchucks in her garden, using an extended metaphor to compare this killing to warfare—and, at the end, to genocide.

How does the narrator of the poem woodchucks kill the woodchucks?

In the poem “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin, the speaker is in her garden and is annoyed with some woodchucks that are eating and destroying the produce in the garden. The speaker in turn tries to remove the woodchucks by using humane gas to kill them and when that is unsuccessful, she resorts to more violent means.

Who is the speaker in woodchucks?

Maxine Kumin’s
The speaker in Maxine Kumin’s poem, “Woodchucks,” is a “lapsed pacifist” who has been turned into a “hawkeye-killer” by a family of marauding woodchucks that destroys her garden.

What historical context is reflected in the poem woodchucks?

Throughout the poem, it seems that the author was referencing the Holocaust. This is revealed in the last stanza when she uses the word “Nazi”. She compares the killing of the woodchucks to the killing of the Jews during the Holocaust. The woodchucks symbolize the Jews as the gardener in the poem symbolizes the Nazis.

What is the poem ” Woodchucks ” by Maxine Kumin about?

When that fails and the woodchucks eat her marigolds, broccoli, and carrots, her indignation deepens into what she believes is righteous anger, and she takes to… Kumin’s poem is an extended metaphor about how people are able, in their own minds, to justify violence against others.

Who is the author of the book Woodchucks?

Kumin provides an alternative approach to view the woodchucks, which were once considered as the innocent creatures in the forest.

What happens in the fourth stanza of Woodchucks?

In the fourth stanza, “Ten minutes later I dropped the mother. She flipflopped in the air and fell, her needle teeth still hooked in a leaf of early Swiss chard” (Kumin 8). Just a few minutes later, this was another brutal loss of life. The speakers thirst for blood seems to be increasing with the stanzas.

Why did people think Woodchucks were at fault?

And the entire justification and explanation boils down to woodchucks being at fault. It was a misfortune that occurred but it did bring a change in people’s thought process all over the world. To conclude, I still feel that there are people after the war, who still feels that violence is more effective approach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr5R2nd_L2c