Student Question
What shared worldview is expressed in the poems "The Print of the Paw" and "To An Aged Bear"?
Quick answer:
The speakers in N. Scott Momaday's poems “The Print of the Paw” and “To An Aged Bear” are highly observant, creative, and articulate, and they are committed to helping others see the natural world in a new and vivid way. They also have a great love for nature and recognize its spiritual elements.
N. Scott Momaday's poems “The Print of the Paw” and “To An Aged Bear” are certainly very different in style, but they both reflect the speaker's characteristics and particular worldview. The speaker is highly observant, especially as he explores the natural world. Notice how precisely he describes the paw print in “The Print of the Paw.” He sees the leaf embedded in the print and even observes that “The edges have been crushed; there is a fine dust of color, like pollen, in the mold” (lines 4–6). In “To An Aged Bear,” the speaker helps us picture the world around the bear. Can't you almost see the “thickets of ripe berries” (line 4)?
The speaker is also extremely creative and articulate in his descriptions. He values beauty and tries to imitate it as best he can. He imagines the bear moving with “meticulous grace” (line 10 of “The Print...
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of the Paw”), and he calls the setting sun “that old conflagration” (line 8 in “To An Aged Bear”). The speaker wants us to join him in looking at nature in a whole new, much more vivid way.
Why? The speaker loves the natural world. He even says so in “The Print of the Paw.” Those who would view his painting of the bear (and also those who read his poem) “would know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, how much I love the bear whose print this is” (lines 27–29). The way the speaker addresses the bear in “To An Aged Bear” also reveals his love for the creature, for he tells it to “Translate yourself to spirit; / Be present on your journey” (lines 11–12). He recognizes the bear's unique spirit, and he calls the aging bear to move gracefully into the world of the spirit where it will be present in a whole new way. The speaker clearly believes that the natural world is more than material, that is possesses a spiritual element that survives beyond death. Again, this shows the speaker's deep love of and respect for nature.