The first descriptor we hear of the area is in the first line, with the mention of the sun. This combined with the behaviour of the apes creates the impression of a warm, lazy day, and a feeling of content – a feeling of safety. The first part comes to a conclusion with the last line of the second stanza; 'It might be painted on a nursery wall.' This line not only highlights how still the scenery is – so unmoving it resembles a painting – but more than anything gives an overall impression of how non-threatening these animals are. These supposed predators and jungle animals are so tame they could be wall-decoration for infants. When the narrator moves on to the jaguar, the cage is a dark prison – keeping this danger, this threat, away from us.
The writer also makes use of alliteration, enjambment, caesura and rhyme to create moods in the poem. The use of enjambment and caesura in the first part makes the narration almost seem lazy, dragging the sentences out and creating an almost lulling rhythm. The lulling effect increases when combined with the use of assonating rhymes. Alliteration can be found in both the first and second parts of the poem, playing with different consonants and creating different effects. In the second stanza, we have the alliterations 'stinks of sleepers', 'still as the sun', and a general repetition of 's'-sounds, creating a continual, steady sound which further promotes the drawn-out, lazy feeling of the narration in the first part. In the second part, we find alliterations such as 'fierce fuse' and 'bang of blood in the brain', creating a far more energetic and fierce impression of the narration and thereby a more fierce impression of the animal spoken of. The overall narration of the events in the poem is fragmented, giving the reader flashes of the experience to consider rather than a full beginning-to-end narration.
