An Analysis of the Poem Buffalo Dusk The main topic of this short poem is the connection between the extermination of the buffalo and the extermination of those who saw the buffalo, i.e. say the Indians. It also alludes to the Europeans who came to the Americas, charging across the country the same way buffalo charge across the land, trampling and killing the lush green pasture. Poetry includes many poetic devices such as metaphor, repetition, imagery, and alliteration. The title itself, "Buffalo Dusk", implies the gradual and expected death of the buffalo, due to the cyclical nature of the universe. The setting of the sun often inspired death, but also renewal and rebirth in primitive man. The buffalo, an entity subject to the same laws as everything else, is condemned to have a birth, a climax, and a death, just like the day itself. The notion of a cyclical universe is also expressed in verse 6, where the buffalo procession is described as “a great twilight spectacle,” or a glorious and purposeful march to death. When writing about the fleeing buffalo, the author thought of the immigrants from the United States and how they charged across prairies and mountains across the country, from east to west, trampling everything in their path. This is accentuated by line 5, which describes the position of the buffalo......in the center of the card......and a loud drum, as the alliteration of words such as "pawed", "prairie", " pageant" accentuates the peaks in the poem. This is intended to emphasize the imagery, stimulating the reader to form a picture. Rows 1 and 7 and 2 and 8 repeat. This, once again, highlights the author's intention. The beginning is the same as the end. The middle is always unpredictable, but the beginning always coincides with the end, once again underlining the unstoppable cycle of life and death. The poem ends as it began, a mild but very touching statement. At this time, the center of the poem is the people of the United States and all civilization. The beginning was predictable. It all began in earnest, with the birth of a new people and new ideas. The end, however, is as predictable as the beginning and is bound to come.