Pulter’s focus in this poem is on parental love and the equal “manifest[ation]” of this to one's children (line 16). She draws on William Wood’s depiction of the Indian moose in his New England’s Prospect, commending the animal’s equal division of “comforts” and “care” between her “three young” offspring ([1635], 16-19, esp. 18; lines 1-2). Utilising the moose as her predominant emblem in the poem, Pulter proceeds to compare the moose’s parental strategies with those of other animals, including the ape and the eagle, beasts that she criticises for their unequal division of affection between their young. Engaging in the discourses of Wood, Pliny, and Aesop, this emblem is indicative of the ways in which Pulter's emblems draw on esteemed literary, philosophical, and classical texts for her own didactic purposes.
Pulter’s message of equal love develops and modifies slightly at line seven of the poem, as she emphasises the more strategic aspects of the “policy” by which the moose distributes her children as an act of preservation (line 7). Pulter salutes this unbiased act of separation as she observes the way that parenthood is at the mercy of chance. Several of her occasional lyrics indicate Pulter’s own struggle as mother of children who lived elsewhere, suggesting that Pulter champions the moose as an example of parental sacrifice; see The Invitation into the Country2 and To My Dear Jane, Margaret, and Penelope Pulter, They Being at London, I at Broadfield38 for examples of Pulter’s occasional lyrics addressing her separation from her children. Her own experience of maternal loss—13 of her 15 children having pre-deceased her—must also have made her particularly sensitive to the devastating role chance could play in parenting.
The poem itself acts as an instructive emblem aimed at parents, a divergence from the audience of children often addressed in her emblem collection; see, for instance, Come, My Dear Children (Emblem 2)68 and Doves and Pearls (Emblem 36)101. “The Indian Moose” therefore illustrates the multiple layers of moral address Pulter achieves throughout her emblem collection. Pulter directly acknowledges her intended audience in line 15, stating “Let parents learn by what is writ above”. This imperative appears similarly in The Manucodiats (Emblem 5)71, which evokes the emblem of manucodiats—birds-of-paradise—as “transcend[ent]” examples of parental love; here, Pulter employs a similar command, stating “Let parents then learn here indulgency” (lines 10, 16).
Despite her instruction to parents, the final line of Emblem 7 takes a “psalmic” turn inward, as Pulter appeals (indirectly) to God, desiring her own edification as a good protestant mother (Rachel Dunn [Zhang], “Breaking a Tradition: Hester Pulter and the English Emblem Book”, The Seventeenth Century, 30.1 [2015], 55-73, 64). This is a significant feature of Pulter’s emblem collection as she often begins by providing a description of the emblem, followed by an explication of the moral, and then a conclusion of self-reflection, as characterised by an inward turn, to reflect upon her own mortal position as a virtuous protestant mother, wife, and royalist. For more on this aspect of Pulter’s emblem collection and a clear example, see Mighty Nimrod (Emblem 1)67, esp. note to line 21 of our Amplified Edition.
