Poetry can have different meanings to different people. It all depends on the person reading it, the context it is being read in, etc. Poems that don’t specifically state what they are about are especially open to interpretation by readers. Even though Windigo by Louise Erdich has its subject in the title, not everyone knows what the legend of Windigo actually is. Windigo seems like it has a very dark theme in the beginning, but it turns out to have a happy ending.
The poem starts out as some creepy thing that doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere pleasant. “You knew I was coming for you, little one” (Erdrich, line 1). There is a dark tone about this. This cannibalistic beast called Windigo is coming for a child. There is no way this can end well, right? Not only is the terrible beast coming to take this person away, most likely to eat her (in this case, we will assume this person is a girl), but she is a small child. This reads into people’s deepest fears - to think of your child or younger sibling, or even any child in your life, being taken away into the forest by some terrible creature.
Erdrich gets even darker in her writing as the poem goes on. She talks about the dog groaning and then Windigo is calling the little girl into the woods with him. She leads you to believe that nothing good will become of this child. The real legend of Windigo has a lot to do with cannibalism, so if you know that when you read closer to the middle of this poem, it will give you chills. “Oh, touch me, I murmured, and licked the soles of your feet” (Erdrich, line 14). It’s almost as if he is tasting her before he digs in for his meal.
After lines of being led to believe that this child was going to be eaten alive by this thing, some light finally shows. He brings her back home after taking her for some time in the forest. It’s almost as if this child saved him. She went with him into the night. He lured her into his trap with the plans of devouring her, and she made it out alive. He carries her back, even. “And I carried you home, a river shaking in the sun” (Erdich, lines 24-25). It’s like a glimmer of hope in the darkness.
Windigo by Louise Erdich, like many other poems, is open to interpretation by the readers. There is no denying, though, that although it seems to be a dark poem with no escape, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Works Cited
Erdrich, Louise. Windigo. 1984.
I realize this has a lot of work to be done. I have to add a lot more to it. This is a rough draft and all I have for now.
