Essay Questions

What does the narrator call the elephant "the tetrarch of the jungle’’?

In the past, a tetrarch was a person who was given the task of taking care and ruling a province or a certain [art of the country for the King. The tetrarch had a great power and influence over the people in his region and thus he was respected by many. By calling the elephant a tetrarch, the narrator wanted to transmit the idea that the elephant had a great influence over the region where it lived and that it is a force that should be respected and appreciated because it is a representative of the king.

Why does the narrator claim no grass has the right to grow in the place where the elephant walks in the poem "Hurrah for Thunder’’?

The poem is an allegorical one and the narrator wants to transmit through the poem and important message about the state of the fauna and flora in Africa. The elephant is used in the poem as a symbol for the natural world, a place dominated and inhabited by animals. According to the narrator, those places should be inhabited only by animals and he transmits this idea by mentioning how grass should not grow in the places where the elephant walks through. The narrator did not want to transmit the idea that vegetation should not be present in those places but rather how humans should keep their distance and let the natural world on its own and not interfere.

What is a town crier?

In the poem "Path of Thunder’’ the narrator presents two characters: a man who is a town crier and someone who wants to become one as well. A town crier is someone who travels from one house to another, shouting important information. In a time when no other means of transmitting information was available, the role of the town crier was important. Nowadays, because of technological advancements, few places still have a town crier.