Let's begin by examining how Philip Larkin treats violence in his poem "The Explosion." In this poem, violence seems to sneak up on the men affected. We know from the title and the first line that something horrible is lurking. There will be an explosion. The men, however, do not know this. They behave as they always do, walking to work, probably at a mine (considering the mention of the "slagheap" in line 3). They are talking, smoking, chasing a rabbit, finding a lark's eggs, and doing everything they always do. They have no idea that on that very day, a violent explosion will overtake them and kill them.

In fact, Larkin presents the explosion itself in an understated fashion. "At noon there came a tremor," he remarks in line 13. It is enough to make the cows stop chewing for a moment, and a cloud drifts up to dim the sun. But that is all. The next stanza already focuses on the effects of the violent explosion. Even though it is not described in violent terms, its violence is revealed in the dead. It is said, the narrator explains, that the men's wives saw their dead husbands walking toward them as if in an explanation of what has happened and in a final farewell. Violence has claimed the physical lives of its victims, yet it is has not won the day, for they live on "in God's house" (line 17).

Richard de Zoysa's poem "Animal Crackers" depicts violence in a completely different way. On a literal level, the poem describes a conversation between the narrator and his three-year-old child. The child wants a picture of a lion. This beast is "lazy" and "kindly" (line 3). It bites sometimes when provoked, but it is mostly "indolent," and it basks in "the sun of ancient pride" (lines 10–11). Its violence is under control—usually. The child then asks the narrator to draw a tiger. The narrator reflects for a moment on how the tiger's stripes blaze "Nature's warning" (line 21).

When the narrator pauses too long, however, the child demands, "DRAW!" (line 23) and draws his pretend gun. As the child pulls the pretend trigger, the sky outside lights up with "orange stripes of flame" (line 29). Something significant, something violent, seems to be happening outside, something far more serious than the child's pretend violence (which is somewhat disturbing in itself, for we wonder where the child has learned it).

The narrator tries to distract the child, saying that if the child is good, he will draw an elephant. He tells the child not to look out that window and that it is just a party with fireworks causing the noise and light. But we wonder if this is true, or if violence has come close to the home of the narrator and the child.

The author provides a note at the end of the poem that explains the metaphor built into this seemingly simple story. The lion stands for the Sinhala, the people of Sri Lanka. The tiger represents the Tamil terrorists, called the "Tigers." The elephant is symbolic of the government. We wonder now if the tigers, the terrorists, have descended upon the narrator's home. He does not answer our question, and we are left with the threat of impending violence and the uncertainty that comes with it.