Summary
The speaker realizes that the cow is not in pain, but is making a noise that is an expression of the very quality of “cowness.” The speaker sees that the cow is making a metaphorical announcement or defense of itself and its species to the surrounding areas, which includes fields, clouds, hills, and an inlet leading to a bay. The cow stares at the speaker from over the stone wall, appearing to examine the speaker's head and shoulders.
Analysis
The final stanza inverts the poem’s perspective: while up to this point, the speaker had carefully observed the cows, here the noisy cow observes the speaker “with one wild, shocking eye.” This shift conveys the interrelationship between humanity and nature. Just as the speaker is an agent who reflects upon and muses over the cows, the cows also “regard,” or consider, the speaker. The final line also references the wall that borders the cow’s pasture, which the cow must look over to observe the speaker, again reinforcing the thematic distance between humanity and the natural world. There is a physical and metaphorical distance between the cow, which embraces its inherent “cowness,” and the speaker, who lives in a more complex and ambiguous society that discourages the acceptance of one’s inherent being. By looking over the wall at each other, the speaker and cow momentarily bridge this gap as the speaker reflects upon the self-expression inherent to nature.
Stanza 5 also builds on the earlier stanzas’ appreciation for the wonder and beauty of nature. Just as the cow’s noise was “phenomenal” and striking, the cow’s eye is “wild” and “shocking.” While the noisy cow is in communication with the speaker through her shocking gaze, she is also communicating with and connected to the natural environment. This line gives Collins an opportunity to widen the poem’s focus from the cows in the field to the broader natural landscape of Ireland. These lines also use structural repetition—each feature of the landscape is introduced by a single adjective that can be said to capture its essence just as the cow proclaims her essence: the “green fields,” the “gray clouds,” the “limestone hills,” and the “blue bay.”
The key theme in this stanza is the importance of recognizing and embracing one’s authentic self. The cow is depicted as “announcing” itself to the outside world, willing to both accept and communicate its inner being. The nautical imagery from the fourth stanza is continued here, as the cow is described as “pouring out” its self-expression, continuing to link the cow with the broader natural environment. The imagery of pouring out also links the cow’s internal and external states—its internal feelings have extended into the outside world. The cow’s cry is then described as an “ancient apologia.” The word “apologia” is typically used to refer to a formal written defense of one’s belief or position. Here, the cow’s noise is an expression of its species’ essence; a defense of its way of being. It can also be seen as a broader defense of the natural world because it is the catalyst for the speaker's deeper understanding of cows and nature. By describing this apologia as “ancient,” Collins expands the meaning of the cow’s noise, from conveying the cow’s own individuality to also embodying an expression of the profound wonder and beauty of cows as a species, or of nature as a whole. The word “ancient” underscores the unchanging, deep history of nature and subtly contrasts with the rise of modern human society, of which the speaker is a part.
