a drumlin woodchuck

A Drumlin Woodchuck

One thing has a shelving bank,
Another a rotting plank,
To give it cozier skies
And make up for its lack of size.

My own strategic retreat
Is where two rocks almost meet,
And still more secure and snug,
A two-door burrow I dug.

With those in mind at my back
I can sit forth exposed to attack
As one who shrewdly pretends
That he and the world are friends.

All we who prefer to live
Have a little whistle we give,
And flash, at the least alarm
We dive down under the farm.

We allow some time for guile
And don’t come out for a while
Either to eat or drink.
We take occasion to think.

And if after the hunt goes past
And the double-barreled blast
(Like war and pestilence
And the loss of common sense),

If I can with confidence say
That still for another day,
Or even another year,
I will be there for you, my dear,

It will be because, though small
As measured against the All,
I have been so instinctively thorough
About my crevice and burrow.

“A Drumlin Woodchuck” is a poem by Robert Frost. It tells the story of a woodchuck that lives on a drumlin, which is a small, rounded hill formed by glacial deposits. The woodchuck is described as an industrious and hard-working creature, digging tunnels and preparing for winter.

However, the poem takes a philosophical turn as the narrator begins to question the woodchuck’s purpose in life. He wonders if the woodchuck is simply a mindless creature, driven only by instinct and without any deeper sense of purpose. He compares the woodchuck’s life to his own, and wonders if he too is simply going through the motions of life without any real sense of meaning.

In the end, the narrator realizes that the woodchuck’s life, like his own, is simply a part of the larger cycle of nature. He accepts the woodchuck’s existence, and recognizes that all creatures, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, have a place in the world.

The poem is a meditation on the meaning of life, and the relationship between humans and the natural world. It suggests that there is a deeper purpose to existence than simply survival and reproduction, and that we should strive to find meaning and purpose in our own lives, just as the woodchuck strives to prepare for winter.