“The Animals” is the Bible The story behind “The Animals” has a stronger connection to religion than it seems. Josephine Jacobsen’s use of animals as humans detaches the biblical world from the world of “The Animals”, giving the reader a sense of indifference. As Jacobsen uses the biblical phrases and words, “Sanctus” and “the dove flew out of the dark”, she gives a sense of hope and peace. The Bible, a collection of texts sacred in Christianity and Judaism, and the New Testament show Jesus’s birth and death. Through his life cycle, Jesus went through five major transitions during his presence: Baptism, Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. However ”The Animals” focuses on Jesus’s Baptism, Transfiguration, and Crucifixion. This cycle shows the defeat of darkness, as hope and peace overcome it. Through the animals, we see actions that Jesus performed through his Baptism and Transfiguration. Building suspense, the stanza demonstrates the animals’ actions of moving about in the night. “At night, alone, the animals / came and…show more content… His Crucifixion is one of the most distressful and repulsive murders in the Bible. Jesus was burned at stake, “high on a frozen tree the sparrow sat.” The cross is shown as a “tree” and the cold-hearted people, behind his killing, make the tree “frozen.” “At three o’clock / The luminous thunder of its” Jesus was known to have died at three on Good Friday. With his death came a sense of all good leaving the world, letting “the serpent” commandeer the world. The vile “serpent” is a symbol of the evil figure, as it is described, “The somber serpent looped its / coils to write / In scales the slow / snake-music of the red ripe globe.” The imagery of “fall fractured the earth” is depicting Jesus as summer. Summer has always been depicted as good and fall is a depiction of evil and disaster, symbolizing the