What aspects of identity and transformation are explored in the poem?
From the very beginning of the poem, we are introduced to the theme of transformation as Little Red Cap transitions from the end of childhood into her first experience with maturity and adulthood. Through the chronological progression of events that Little Red-Cap encounters, the reader can see the formation of both her identity as a young woman, and also the development of her artistic identity as a poet. This goes hand in hand with transformation in that the pursuit for Little Red-Cap’s sense of self leads her to learn lessons and experiences about relationships’ ability to give and take from identity.
Transformation: “deep into the woods, away from home, to a dark tangled thorny place”
This presents the first significant transition in Little Red-Cap’s life, going from childhood to maturity and therefore from innocence to experience. The symbol of the woods is often evocative of danger in folklore, indicating that Red-Cap is stepping across the boundary from safety to the risky territory of adulthood and relationships. This is furthered by the layering of the adjectives ‘dark’, ‘tangled’, and ‘thorny’, all of which develop visual imagery associated with fear, discomfort and unfamiliarity. Although this line appears to elicit a sinister image of growing up, Little Red Cap has made this transition of her own accord which indicates that she is no longer a vulnerable little girl but rather a mature woman who is beginning to discover her own character and own ‘path’ (in reference to straying away from the path in the original tale).
Identity: “Words, words were truly alive on the tongue, in the head, warm, beating, frantic, winged; music and blood”
The vivid imagery present in these lines reveal perhaps the true appeal and attraction of Little Red-Cap’s relationship with the wolf. This is the promise of finding her artistic identity through experience and exposure to great poetry, which is the factor that drew her to the wolf in the first place. The personification of words serve to make the speaker’s fascination with the books all the more mesmerising, almost as if to establish a living relationship between Little Red-Cap and the poetry itself. This significance of this to Little Red-Cap’s formation of identity is emphasised through putting a stress on each descriptive word/adjective by breaking them apart with commas. The diction choice of the terms ‘beating’ and ‘winged’ also conjure up the impression of a bird, perhaps suggesting that these books are are source of liberation (symbolism of flight suggesting freedom) of Little Red-Cap’s artistic identity.
Identity: “a mushroom stoppers the mouth of a buried corpse”
After a ten year-long relationship between Little Red-Cap and the wolf, she finally recognises that what once inspired her identity to flourish now inhibits her from expressing her own individuality. The imagery of the mushroom often connotes decomposition and decay, therefore suggesting that her relationship with the wolf has long-gone reached its expiration date. This is enforced by the symbol of the buried corpse which suggests a stagnating relationship and a consequent loss of identity. Similarly, the ‘stopping’ of the mouth corresponds to the suppression of the individual’s voice which is particularly pertinent considering Little Red-Cap’s place as a poet and artist.
Transformation: “Out of the forest I come with my flowers, singing, all alone”
This final line signifies the other pivotal moment in the poem, being the renewal of maturity which is now hand in hand with newfound independence as suggested by the phrase ‘all alone’. The line establishes the poem’s circulatory with the phrase ‘out of the forest’ which directly mirrors ‘into the woods’ in the first few stanzas. This indicates that she is a changed woman; now one with a self-assured sense of artistic identity. Although the poem closes with the death of a relationship, the carrying of flowers bears the symbolism of celebration. This highlights the ambivalence of the poem wherein the joy of the relationship is lost, but the experience and formation of artistic identity (singing as form of poetry) is something permanently gained.