Natural Landscapes

Nature plays an important role in the poem, offering the reader solace in its various forms of beauty. Prairies, the "deep trees" of forests, mountains, and rivers receive the blessings of rain and sunlight, showing the cyclical nature of all things. The speaker moves quickly in naming these settings without lingering anywhere particular. This provides a birds-eye view of these places, helping the reader expand his or her perspective on life. According to the speaker, the reader is inherently connected to nature through the "soft animal" of the reader's own body.

The World

The world at large is portrayed as a large, generous, and inviting place in "Wild Geese." Given its own voice in the poem, the world offers itself to the reader's imagination as it repeatedly announces the reader's place "in the family of things" (18). There is no hint of worldly danger or injustice in this...