Ansel Elkins poem “A Girl with Antlers” is a medium-length tale about a girl finding herself though she is different.
Throughout the poem, the speaker is meant to represent the hard transition many find themselves faced with. She grows up. The poem is segmented into different portions of her life, from her birth to the moment she is perceived to become a woman. In her birth we learn her mother died while she survived, and through the word choice and an opposing line we realize she feels guilt over this. She tells of a midwife naming her Monster, along with her mother coming to her in a dream. Her mother tells her she must find happiness with who she is, but when she awakes she is still alone and guilty in the woods.
When a woman finds her and brings her in, the speaker realizes how different she is by the woman’s expectations. She wishes the girl to wear dresses and gets concerned when her antlers aren’t shed like a whitetail deer’s. The speaker reminds the woman she isn’t a deer. While the two have opposing views on some things, it is the first acceptance the girl finds. This leads to the ending line, which impacts the speaker in a big way. She seems to finally accept herself as she is and be proud of it once the woman tells her:
You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Mainly, the poem is about accepting everything that makes up you. The fearful things, the things that you think are wrong or monstrous, and the wonderful things as well. You must find happiness in the wildness of you and never change who you are for someone else’s acceptance.