Irving Peter Layton, OC (March 12, 1912 – January 4, 2006) was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following but also made enemies.
Layton theorized that poetry should be "vital, intense, subtle and dramatic," and his work is ample proof of his description. He also edited volumes of poems by other Canadians. The first volume of his memoirs, Waiting for the Messiah, was published in 1985. Of the poets who emerged in Montréal during this period, Layton was the most outspoken and flamboyant. His satire was generally directed against bourgeois dullness, and his famous love poems were erotically explicit. Even in the last decade of his life, his poetry continued to inspire praise, outrage and criticism.
In the poem"The Bull Calf", the poet portrays a new-born calf which could barely stand killed by a freeman because the calf is no help to make money.The theme of this poem is animals that are considered inferior than humans are treated unfairly. There are some quotes that can illustrate the theme.
"The thing could barely stand." Yet taken from its mother. New-born lives are pure. They have not experienced the outside world . If a baby does not have his mom accompany with him, his life will be rough. They are too young to face the ruthlessness of humans."No money in bull calves," Freeman had said. One should not put a value on a life. You can only live once. Lives are the most valuable things in the world."We dug a deep pit and threw the dead calf into it." We should treat animals with more respect. We are all equal in nature. Even though we as humans are the dominators of the nature world, we still have to be considerate and kind to animals which we live together with in the world.
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