Poetry Readers

← Back to Forum

1. 
   

   deleted48 Admin
   deleted48 · Apr 1, 2026

   link to poem
   
   

   O beautiful
   was the werewolf
   in his evil forest.
   We took him
   to the carnival
   and he started
      crying
   when he saw
   the Ferris wheel.
   Electric
   green and red tears
   flowed down
   his furry cheeks.
   He looked
   like a boat
   out on the dark
   water.

   
   
   Discussion Questions (Suggested):
   
   1. Who (or what) is the "werewolf" in this poem; do you think it represents a literal creature or something symbolic? Is the poem more about the werewolf, or about the people observing him?
   
   2. How do colour and light imagery (electric, green, red, dark) contribute to the overall meaning? How does it shape the mood or tone?
   
   3. Does the poem challenge how we typically think about "monsters"? If so, how?
   
   Please feel free to diverge from these if you have other comments / interpretations - I'll add some of my thoughts later tonight. This is one of my all time favourite poems, so I'm excited to hear some external thoughts! It's poetry time, after all!
2. 
   

   Liminality Admin
   Liminality · Apr 3, 2026

   1. Who (or what) is the "werewolf" in this poem; do you think it represents a literal creature or something symbolic? Is the poem more about the werewolf, or about the people observing him?
   
   I think the poem is more about the people observing him. The werewolf doesn't really get a voice in the poem and we are looking at him from the outside in. When I read it, a lot of questions pop up in my head like 'why is the forest evil, but the werewolf beautiful?' and 'why is the werewolf crying all these colours?' and I think these unusual word choices make the observers' perspective stand out as the thing to pay attention to.
   
   The werewolf definitely seems symbolic, maybe of someone 'Other', who doesn't belong to the carnival-loving culture.
   
   
   2. How do colour and light imagery (electric, green, red, dark) contribute to the overall meaning? How does it shape the mood or tone?
   
   Oh this is an interesting one! I was more thinking of the "electric", "red" and "green" as a contrast to the more 'natural' connotations of the forest. I kind of see the colours as being part of drawing this artifice/nature contrast between the werewolf's "evil" forest and the not evil (?) "carnival". Then the "dark" in the second-to-last line seems to say the carnival is actually the "dark water" and adds this sense of foreboding and negativity to the carnival. Definitely curious to see other people's interpretations on this.
   
   3. Does the poem challenge how we typically think about "monsters"? If so, how?
   
   Now that I've gone through the other questions I can kind of see the theme of people being a part of their environment, in a way? So the werewolf is "beautiful" in his forest but when brought to an unfamiliar place cries these violently-coloured tears. Then the boat image could convey his out-of-placeness and a sense of loneliness, suggesting that a 'monster' is just a person out of place.
   
   Really cool poem!
3. 
   

   deleted48 Admin
   deleted48 · Apr 3, 2026

   1. I always thought the "werewolf" was a symbol for someone who feels misunderstood / out of place in society.rather than behaving like a typical "monster," at least in the way the general population defines it, the werewolf is quite vulnerable, especially when he begins crying at the carnival -> I took that to represent more about how others perceive and treat those who seem unusual?
   
   carnivals themselves are these places of great spectacle, anyway, and it is this mini world outside of reality that imitates (and exaggerates) "human" experiences - at the start, the werewolf belongs to something real, his “evil forest.” that space feels authentic, even if it’s dark or dangerous because it is his natural environment where his identity makes sense. then he’s taken to the carnival where everything there is heightened and symbolic.
   
   ^ the presence of “we” in the poem complements this, too, perhaps implying that the werewolf may be put on display / taken somewhere for others’ curiosity rather than his own comfort. like, how the line “we took him” suggests he doesn’t have much choice in the situation, as if they are treating him like an attraction rather than a person (or creature with feelings).
   
   2. "electric” suggests something harsh, modern, maybe overwhelming... I thought the usage of colour make his later tears feel almost surreal, like his emotions don’t belong in the normal human world. in a way, it is strange and magical, but it is also sad and isolating (because the circumstances for WHY he is alone / crying). the lights expose his displacement; he looks “like a boat / out on the dark / water,” because he is something separate or out of place.
   
   3. I imagine, yes? maybe?
   
   normally, a werewolf (or any “monster”) is something we expect to fear because they are violent, dangerous, less capable of feeling than humans, etc. I thought this poem flips that expectation though since one of the first images is the werewolf being described as “beautiful,” which immediately complicates the idea that he’s purely frightening. he feels awe, sadness, maybe even grief, and he reacts more like a sensitive outsider rather than a predator.
   
   the most striking moment to me is him crying at the ferris wheel, as that is something that’s supposed to be "fun." the carnival (our world) is bright and exciting, yet it’s what disturbs him.
   
   ^ I also interpreted the line about being "a boat / out on the dark / water" to also show that he exists within some liminal space between human (being beautiful, showing vulnerability through crying) and being a "monster" (living in an evil forest, furry cheeks). a boat isn’t land and it isn’t water; it exists between the two, never fully belonging to either. and werewolves are, of course, between man and wolf.
   
   ALSO I'm so glad to see some discussion on this - loving it so far!

Sign in to reply to this topic.