The+Hound

“The Hound” Life the hound Equivocal  Comes at a bound  Either to rend me  Or to befriend me.  I cannot tell The hound’s intent  Till he has sprung  At my bare hand  With teeth or tongue. Meanwhile I stand And wait the event.

Robert Francis

[[image:apenglishp3/robert francis.jpg width="227" height="305" align="left"]]
1901-1987  From Pennsylvania, studied at Harvard and lectured at colleges but lived for sixty years in the same house in Amherst, Massachusetts Wrote in a whimsical style, often about puzzles and paradoxes From "The Black Hood": "Thus do I praise duplicity and *** it" Robert Frost considered him "of all the great neglected poets, the greatest"

TIME in “The Hound”

Theme-

 * **Life cannot be planned, and all someone can do is be prepared for the best or the worst.** This is the suggested message throughout the entire poem. Lines that tell what the speaker is doing, specifically "Meanwhile I stand/And wait the event", explain that people are not capable of changing the course of their life, and can only wait to see what may happen next. This philosophy can be applied to any and all aspects of life, be it love, careers, or even spirituality.
 * It can be interpreted as an **anti-Carpe Diem poem,** because the speaker seems to assert that he'd rather wait to see how his life goes along rather than trying to be in control at any moment. However, its ambiguous nature could also be considered **pro-Carpe Diem**, because if one does not know what could happen next then he or she should try to make every moment count.
 * Francis uses the motif of **Optimism vs. Pessimism**, as he describes the different ways he can see his life going. "Either to rend me/Or to befriend me" shows how people may see life in either an optimistic or a pessimistic life, but neither view is right or wrong. It can be concluded that the speaker asserts a Realist view towards life, in which he tries to not be biased, positively or negatively.
 * The poem might also suggest the concept of **Destiny**, rather than life being random or people having free will, and the metaphor/personification of life as a dog would suggest that life has a mind and an "intent" of how the person shall live.

Imagery-

 * **Extended Metaphor/Personification**
 * "Life the hound"-the speaker's personification of life as a dog is shown throughout the poem, and he uses this metaphor to relate his attitude towards life to something many people have seen or experienced: watching a dog charge at them.
 * **Connotation**
 * "Hound"-the specific comparison to a hound, rather than a general dog, contributes further to the meaning of the work. Though the hound group includes many diverse breeds of dog, hounds have all been used for tracking and hunting purposes, which furthers the idea that the speaker might be being hunted down by life. At the same time, many hound breeds, such as the Basset Hound, are known for being easygoing and friendly pets, showing the possibility that life is also friendly.
 * "Bare hand"-to say that the speaker is bare handed would suggest that he is left out in the open, exposed to what life might bring without any assistance
 * **Diction**
 * "Either to rend me/or to befriend me"-this couplet describes the two options that life may take in regards to the speaker, doing either harm or good. The rhyming of these lines adds to the dual nature of life, as it is ambiguous which word life is choosing to follow.
 * **Tactile imagery**
 * "With teeth or tongue"-this describes both of the sensations that the speaker could feel in the next moment, being metaphorical to either pain or pleasure in life.
 * **Kinestetic imagery**
 * "Comes at a bound"/"he has sprung"-this describes the lively, powerful and intimidating movement of the hound, as he charges at the speaker, adding a sense of apprehension to the poem. It can also be considered visual as the speaker describes what he is witnessing.

Meter-

 * Has a free verse structure with a random number of syllables per line ranging from 3-5, and lacks a rhyme scheme. It could be interpreted that the first three lines are a triplet, with ABA rhyme, and the next two are a couplet, but the rest of the poem follows no detectable rhyme scheme or rhythm.
 * This arrhythmic structure and rhyme scheme gives the entire poem a capricious feeling, which adds to the feeling of apprehension displayed by the speaker. Like the speaker, the audience cannot expect what might happen next.

Emotion-

 * In the first few lines, there is a slight sense of admiration towards the movement of the hound
 * It soon becomes apprehensive in the couplet, as the speaker tells that he is unsure what the intentions of the hound are
 * In the last few lines, the speaker might become more accepting of his uncertainty, as he is seen just standing and waiting, rather than trying to run away

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Works Cited

Arp, Thomas R., and Laurence Perrine. "Figurative Language 1." Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 7th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College, 1998. 620-21. Print.

Greyhounds in Motion. Adapt. Post Blue. Greyhounds in Motion. Youtube, 2 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.

"Hound Dog Breed Group." American Kennel Club. American Kennel Club, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

"Robert Francis." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.