When I carefully consider the curious habits of dogs
I am compelled to conclude
That man is the superior animal.

When I consider the curious habits of man
I confess, my friend, I am puzzled.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Ezra Pound's poem Meditatio

17 Comments

  1. A CHANDRA says:

    Nice poem

  2. Balwant Singh says:

    Very good, very concise, very thought-provoking. Man has more potential to evolve to a higher superior being, I am sure; but dog may or may not have such potential. Very good poem.

  3. Lucia Aerung Bwebwetaake says:

    yes, may be we can be as curious as dogs
    but we dogs can not be as loving as we are towards our fellow human beings. we are special beings. we can love and we can feel for another human beings including dogs but dogs cannot feel for us.

  4. Temaiti says:

    i really like this poem because it clearly state the fact of human being. they are multihhuman being not like animals. generally we can act like clever, smart human being but at the same time we can also act and live the way other living organism does like animals.

  5. Paul Camacho says:

    This poem is saying that dogs sometimes behave strangely, and when the behavior of dogs is compared to the behavior of humans, it is obvious that human behavior is less strange, thus superior. But when the poet examines some of the strange behaviors that humans are capable of, he becomes perplex, BECAUSE, dogs have a good reason for why they behave strangely, THEY ARE DOGS, what the hell is our excuse! Ta da! Thank you very much.

  6. Jack says:

    The dog is not the superior animal. Niether are humans the same as animals. Dogs can be loving, witty, violent and exhibit any number of other complex behaviours that they may share with humans. Humans, however, have creative capabilities of art, and of science. Dogs can use their reasoning skills to catch a ball or a frisbee, but they will never, as Newton did, attempt to use that principle to explain the motion of the stars and planets.

    The key to the second part of the poem is that humans can choose to act constructively, through science, art, literature, archecture…any number of disciplines OR to just be lazy. A lazy human is not superior to a dog.

  7. Nikki says:

    was ezra christian?

  8. Rajni says:

    This poem suggests that human behaviour is comparable to that of animals. The human kind is so busy proving it’s superiority over all living beings but in the due course, forgets their own behaviour needs reviewing. Despite so much of violence and crime, the human beings consider themselves as most sophisticated, intelligent and rational race living. Concepts such as compassion have no more meaning to humans. All that matters to them is competition and all they care about is themselves. At least dogs “don’t bite the hands that feed them” unlike humans.

    • Sereima Lele Naba says:

      I LOVE YOUR ANALYSIS OF THE POEM . iT REALLY IS TRUE ,,DOGS DESPITE THEIR LIMITATIONS SHOW MORE COMPASSION TO THEIR OWN..THAN HUMAN

  9. Lyla says:

    Perhaps we can look farther than what this poem is saying and realize we are not more than a beast or less than a beast, but we I ARE a beast. Since when are humans all the sudden not animals? We’re just evolved chimpanzees driving around and ordering McDonald’s. It’s really spoken and written language that discerns humans from animals.But this is not a strong enough foundation to say that humans are not animals. We’re just highly intelligent animals, which in turn blinds us from the fact that we are one evolutionary step from climbing in trees and not wearing clothes.

  10. Lang Le says:

    This is a case of stopping before the poem ends. It leaves the readers free to fill in their own conclusion. I cannot erase from my mind this ending: I am compelled to conclude / That, in second thought, dog may be the superior animal.

  11. Lulu says:

    “That man is the superior animal.” We are the superior animal? In what sense? This could be interpreted into that we are superior intellectually or we are more of a beast…

  12. Slidth says:

    I believe what the poem might be suggesting is the human assumption that we’re superior to everyone. Every human race believes there superior to the others humans believe they’re superior to the animals. But in almost all cases we fall back on primitive insticts, fight or flight. Maybe we’re just fooling ourselves by thinking we’re superior, we supposedly have the ability to reason above that of animals but we so often fall back on primitive behavior.

  13. a2b says:

    Are these not just the musings of an old mind bemoaning mankind and implying his own detachment from such criticism?

  14. jen says:

    We are a untrustworthy race. I cant wait till we learn that we our going to evolve into something great. One great thinker of frequency & vanity (shape) will no longer matter!! are we the weakest link…

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