1. “Death of Beauty” by Tim Bowling
What I like about this poem:
I chose “Death of Beauty” by Tim Bowling because I could really relate to the persona’s experience. I
think many people remember a pet from their childhood and recall what it was like to lose them. At the very
beginning of the poem, Bowling says that Beauty was “the last Labrador of our childhood” (1). This struck me as
not only his grief for an important pet, but for his lost childhood. Something definitely changes when the pet you
grew up with passes—it is like your childhood dies with it. I remember my Border Collie, Patch, that my family
bought as a Christmas present when I was eleven years old. She was an amazing dog! She came running down the
street every day after school to walk home with me and my brother, and she was famous for visiting all the other
kids on the street. When she got cancer and we had to put her down, I was in my twenties, and I felt like a
significant stage in my life was ending. It was so sad. I can’t help but cry a little every time I read this poem,
especially when the persona describes Beauty growing old and tired, because I can imagine what that was like for
the children: “…when/the grizzle finally frosted her black dance through/the world, she crawled one humid August
afternoon/to the cropped grass under the pear tree…” (2-5). This image is so beautiful, but mournful; Beauty is tired
and ready for death.
Alternate title for the poem: Lost Childhood
Theme:
The death of a pet is a tragic, but inevitable part of childhood and growing up.
In the poem, “Death of Beauty” Tim Bowling narrates the death and funeral of his beloved childhood pet.
Beauty is old, and as the family buries her under a tree in their back yard, the children have to come to terms with
the loss of their pet and their own childhood. In the heat of the summer, death almost holds an element of fantasy
about it; that is, their dog’s death still does not seem entirely real as the children imagine “the wasps drag[ing] the
red barge of her heart/under the deeper Nile” (20-21). Juxtaposed with this is their mother, who “wav[es]/the flies
away with a dishtowel” (11-12); a very common action that brings the mystery of death back to the ordinary and
everyday. An important part of children’s lives has come to an end, and as they mourn Beauty, they also try to come
to terms with the meaning of death, and the end of child-like innocence.
Ending of the poem:
The ending is my favourite part—I love the line “…if Beauty’s dead and buried in the ground,/oh sweet
summer,/what’s that lovely panting in my shadow?” (29-31). Even though his pet is gone, the memory of her is still
with him. Once, I saw a painting that reminds me of this ending: a little boy was holding a ball for his new puppy,
teaching it to play fetch, and behind was the ghost of his dead dog watching over him, or “panting in [his] shadow.”
If this ending doesn’t choke you up just a little, you have no heart!!!! I think it is the perfect ending and I would
give it a 10/10.
Biography:
Tim Bowling is from British Columbia, but he lives in Ladner, Alberta now. He has been a finalist for the
Governor General Poetry Awards twice and has been nominated for and won many other awards in Canada, such as
the Canadian Authors Award, Alberta Books Award, Petra Kenney Poetry Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship
grant. He is best known for his poetry (he has published seven poetry collections), but Bowling has also written
three novels.
http://www.nightwoodeditions.com/author/TimBowling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Bowling#External_links
“Death of Beauty”. Tim Bowling. Dying Scarlet. 1997. Nightwood Editions.