Poem 3

Ariel
Evan
Suinn
Mike

Biscuit
Jane Kenyon
The dog has cleaned his bowland his reward is a biscuit,which I put in his mouthlike a priest offering the host.
I can't bear that trusting face!He asks for bread, expectsbread, and I in my powermight have given him a stone.

The speaker of the poem is the dog’s owner. In this poem the dog finishes his food and expects a treat from his owner but he could give the dog something else because he has power over the dog. In the first stanza, the poet uses positive words to describe what’s going on. For example, “reward”, “biscuit”, “offering” are all positive words. But in the second stanza, the poet uses more negative words because he realizes his power over the dog. For example, “bear”, “expects”, “power”, “stone” are all negative words in this poem. The images in this poem are the dog cleaning his bowl, his rewarding biscuit that the owner put in the dog’s mouth, and the dog’s trusting face.
The meaning of this poem is that some people use their power to be in control of someone or something else. Just because you are more powerful than someone else, doesn’t mean you can control them to make yourself happier. You should treat everyone the way you would want to be treated.