“Muscled Presence”: Douglas Livingstone\'s poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Snake

Abstract

In his book Poetic Animals and Animal Souls (2003), Randy Malamud
outlines the fundamental questions for an ecologically sensitised poet or
critic:
Why do animals matter in art? What relation do cultural
representations of animals have to real animals? What ethical
relationship and responsibility does the artist have to the animal
subject? How can art about animals serve as a metaphor, or a
testing ground, or a microcosm, for our real-world interactions
with animals?

English in Africa Vol. 34 (1) 2007: pp. 133-153