The Hunter and A Deer Poem Summary Notes and Line by Line Explanation in English Class 7th

Introduction

‘The Hunter and a Deer’ is a poem about a hunter who goes to the forest to hunt deer but couldn’t when he sees its family. His heart melts with compassion and instead of shooting it, he feeds them instead. This act of kindness makes him feel amazing when he returns back home.

About the poet

The poet is Anonymous that is, the name of the poet is not known.

Theme

The theme of the poem is compassion, the poet wants humans to stop harming animals for fun or even as a sport. They are helpless and they have families too, we must love them instead of hunting them.

Stanza 1

The hunter went on a journey
To find some deer meat
He saw a buck and looked into his eyes
He saw a plea, the buck begging for his life
A doe and a fawn came from behind
Needing the buck in their lives.

The hunter in the poem had decided to have a feast with the deer meat and thus went on a journey for hunting. He saw a deer (buck) that looked into his eyes and felt that it was begging to pardon his life. At that very moment, a young deer (fawn) and his mother (doe) also appeared from behind as they needed each other in their life.

Stanza 2

The hunter knew what he came for and raised his gun
But out of nowhere, he saw the buck’s son
It was cute, to say the least
And if he killed the buck he’d feel like a beast
The hunter looked at the deer again
And something grew in him.

The hunter was determined on killing the father deer and raised his gun but when he saw the deer’s cute son, he realized that if he went ahead, he would feel like a monster. The hunter looked at the deer again and felt connected to it.

Stanza 3

He gathered some nuts and fed the deer
And he felt the deer’s lack of fear
He smiled a great big smile
He stayed with the deer for a while
And he went home feeling great.

This time instead of trying to kill the deer he gathered some nuts to feed it. The deer was no more scared of the hunter and he felt happy doing so. The hunter stayed with the deer for some time and returned home empty-handed but satisfied.