In the poem Animals, the poet provides a comparison between humans and animals in terms of desire. According to the poet, all the animals are self-sufficient, calm and peaceful. They are happy with their lives and never weep because of their sins as they never commit any. They never quest for materialistic things.

On the other hand, humans are quite opposite to the animals. We desire for materialistic things and judge each other in terms of possessions. Humans are greedy and often commit sins because of the desire and greed.

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According to the poet, animals are better than humans because they are satisfied with their lives. They do not care about anything and instead enjoy their lives. They do not have greed for materialistic things. They never commit sins.

On the other hand, humans always remain dissatisfied with their lives. They are greedy and always try to possess worldly things at any cost. Humans also commit sins and then weep in the night. This is why animals are better than humans.

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Following figures of speech/literary devices have been used in the poem Animals:

1. Personification: It is the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form. In the poem, poet says that animals patient, well-satisfied, ascetic, impartial. All these qualities are possessed by humans.
2. Repetition: It is the repetitive used of a word or phrase. The poet repeats the word long in the 3rd line, “long and long” to tell that he keeps watching animals for a long time.
3. Alliteration: It is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. e.g. “look at them long and long”, “they do not make me sick”, “plainly in their possession”, “I wonder where they…”.

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