Above Pate Valley

Gary Snyder’s has written “Above Pate Valley” is very straightforward manner following a clear time line of events. His style seems somewhat abrupt and he includes only basic details of the events he part takes in after he has finished clearing this trail. Snyder seems to use only the minimum detail needed to explain what he is seeing. As oppose to Dillard’s style, Gary Snyder seems to emphasize the fact that he is just passing through nature, while Dillard likes to drop everything and focus only on what is around her. In this sense, Gary Snyder seems to view nature as a way he can relax after a hard days work. It’s as if Snyder has both physically and mentally wandered off after completing his task and it is not until he thinks of “fat summer deer” and the paths they create that he allows his mind to wander back to where he is and he remembers what he has accomplished earlier that day. At this point he puts closure to the poem as well, packing up his things as if to return back down the trail he has previously cleared, his own trail.

Mary Bozzelli