"Seventeen"

The poem, "Seventeen" really struck my emotions quite hard. I am an extreme animal lover and this poem just really got to me because I couldn't ever imagine doing anything of this sort to an animal. I understand that it was the best thing for the dog, because he would've suffered more if the author wouldn't have put it out of its misery but, it's just so sad. The part that really touched my emotions was when he talked about when he went to kill it the tail wagged a bit. This just made me so sad, simply because I love animals and I couldn't ever imagine doing this to an animal, even if it was the best thing for the animal.

Seventeen

1. The title focuses on this idea because seventeen is a right of passage, and a loss of innocence because he had to kill the dog, and these are things that a seventeen year old shouldn't have to do.
2. The author heavily uses descriptive adjectives in the poem to help describe the injured dog.
3. The speaker of the poem is believes that the other driver is a complete idiot, he is really irritated when the driver turns and does that with the dog in the back. The speaker thinks that the author isn't thinking, and for being an older person, he should be more concerned.
4. Killing the dog would be characterized as a symbolic action because it is showing that the author is dealing with what he planned to do, and then there are random feelings that cause him to doubt his decision.