We looked at the poems The Behaviour of Dogs and Flying to Belfast, :: English Literature

We looked at the poems The Behaviour of Dogs and Flying to BelfastWe looked at the poems The Behaviour of Dogs and Flying to Belfast,1977 by Craig Raine. In Raines poem The Behaviour of dogs hedescribes to us the many different breeds and types of dog that thereargon in the world and what effect they have on our lives. In the poemCraig Raine describes dogs in a different way than we would normallythink of them to make us see them in unfamiliar ways. To make thedogs actions easier for us to imagine he uses imagery of things wesee in everyday life and on television but that we dont usuallyassociate with dogs, Their feet are four-leafed clovers that leave ajigsaw in the dust.This start of the poem is describing dogs feet. Saying the dogs feetare four-leafed clovers is describing the shape of the dogs paw, butalso four-leafed clovers are associated with good luck, which gives usa benign and warm association. The second verse is also submitting afriendly atmosphere around dogs when it re fers to the way dogs grinand tease us, this shows the good relationship shared between manand dog. Raine describes the teeth of dogs like Yale keys suggestingthat they are serrated, jagged and sharp, Raine also uses imagery todescribe the way a dogs tongue slips out as it pants, joke-shopNiagara tongues, this line also includes an element of humour if youimagine a massive joke-shop tongueIn the third verse Raine starts focusing on the different breeds ofdog, and certain characteristics that make them different to oneanother. He mentions a whippet and how it jack-knifes across thegrass, implying that the whippet is sharp and quick. He also noticesan afghan hound with its fringe of straight hair on either side of itshead like the tralatitious folds of an opera house curtain he alsomentions how the afghan looks a bit like Wild Bill Hicock - whichimplies that dogs can sometimes have humanity characteristics, thehuman theme is carried on in the last verse, when Raine ismentioning cert ain things that dogs do.In the next verse Raine talks about the Labrador and how it, cranks avillage pump, this is a definition of how it wags its tail sovigorously and enthusiastically. Then he goes to the opposite type ofdog, the boxer who, shimmies her rump, docked to a door knocker,this describes how a boxer has to wag its consentient posterior because itstail has been cut off. When describing the Alsatian Raine says, the