In the poem, "The Death of a Toad," written by Richard Wilbur, the speaker dramatizes what could be perceived as a trivial incident: a careless suburbanite runs over a toad with his lawn mower. The speaker's retelling of the event is enhanced by the author's use of imagery and diction.

In the first stanza, the main focus is of the accident and the toad's "hobbling hop" (2) to his shady gravesite. The speaker describes as the toad reaches his "final glade" (6), a metaphor referring to the toad's final place of rest. The lines in this stanza, whether overtly or not, make reference to the cessation of the toad's life. The toad is "sanctuaried," (3) such as in a church, which can be associated with death; and the bush under which it hides is a "cineraria," (4) reminiscent of the ceremonial storage of human ashes after cremation. The toad is truly the...