The Andrew Hudgins poem, “The Cow,” showcases the differents types of love as the narrator tells of his experience with his cow. The poem starts with the speaker expressing his love for a cow in a way similar to how a child shows fondness for something. In the third stanza, the tone of the poem changes abruptly as the narrator explains the events that occur after the cow grows weak. Hudgins paints a graphic image for his audience as he describes how the narrator kills his beloved cow. The poem comes to a conclusion as the narrator prepares the cow’s meat for a meal, which also includes its own butter. The author seems to highlight the absurdity of the narrator’s “love” for the cow, bringing to light the issue of materialistic love within society.
EVALUATION…show more content… This is evident within the poem’s first line, “I love the red cow” (Hudgins 938). In the context of the first stanza, it would appear that the word “red” signifies the narrator’s affection for the cow. Due to this, the audience believes that the poem will just continue to describe the relationship between the cow and its owner. However, as the reader continues to go through to poem, it is clear that this is not true. The color red appears once again in line 11, “We’ll slit her red throat” ( Hudgins 938). This reveals that the phrase’s actual meaning refers to the cow’s red meat. Although it might not have seemed like it in the eyes of the readers, the narrator’s intentions with the cow were the same throughout he poem. The author is trying to teach his readers not to expect what is usually expected. By using foreshadowing, Hudgins is able to grab his audience’s attention and reveal his purpose in writing the
