In the opening stanza Diaper uses rich imagery to present a detailed picture of an ant colony preparing for bad weather. There is a semantic field of language choices suggesting the wisdom of ants. Their actions are described as ‘prudent’ and ‘conscious’ in preparing for the rains, immediately dismissing the idea of them as brainless creatures. Instead Diaper depicts them as forward planning and visionary with an eye of ‘future hopes’. This suggests they are not just driven by an instinct to eat, sleep and have sex, but instead have bigger hopes and dreams that they strive to protect. This intelligence and foresight lead to the certainty of their survival in ‘secure’ and ‘safe laboured cells’, which suggests they are not just just desperately trying to survive, but have carefully planned in the most certain terms. 

You also have this lovely oxymoronic depiction of ‘the deepest caverns of their puny hill’, which serves to contrast the minute scale they are operating in with the brilliance of their design and planning. Even though an anthill might be easily squashed, or in this case be washed away, the colony is deeply embedded beneath the earth and able to survive any blow.

Now we get onto the biblical intertextuality – Diaper is a priest after all. At the end of the first stanza all the ant’s preparations are presented as being to enable them to ‘mock the coming floods.’ The verb choice here again helps convey just how well prepared they are as they can laugh at something that could be potentially colony ending. This is also a reference to the biblical floods of Noah (indeed floods seem to feature in quite a lot of religious texts) that washed away a sinful human race apart from the one devout man. So, while we were wiped out by a flood, the ants are mocking it. Through drawing this parallel Diaper is encouraging the reader to appreciate just how remarkable ants are.

In the second stanza these parallels come thick and fast. We get a sense of the diversity of ant culture as there are ‘a thousand kinds unknown’ who ‘have each their several laws, and settled states’. This little bit of maths helps to give the reader an appreciation of the rich and impressive multi cultured nature of ant species, much like the richness of human societies. What’s Diaper personifies the ants by terming the differences in species as ‘laws’ and ‘settled states’, which convey a sense of human order, developed societies and settlements. Similarly the ants are given human emotions in terms of ‘constant sympathies, and constant hates’, which makes us think of them as thoughtful and discerning creatures who have things they enjoy and despise rather than dumb animal habits that are hardwired into them. 

This continues in line 6 of the second stanza, but again Diaper uses a biblical allusion to reinforce the similarity between them and us. What we might observe as a meaningless ant scrap between two rival ant colonies is termed as ‘fierce war [that] destroys the wandering tribes’. The ten wandering tribes of Israel in the Old Testament who faced war and displacement until they were able to find and settle the promised land. Regardless of your biblical knowledge, the drawing of parallels elevates conflicts we see as meaningless and mindless to the complex, rich and important developments of a civilisation like our own. 

After drawing us into these parallels Diaper highlights the key difference behind why ants are generally perceived as insignificant. While our history is recorded in all sorts of ways, the ants’ history and culture ‘no artful verse describes’, is ‘unsung’ and ‘the Muse her pain denies’ to the ants. What he means here is that their is no celebration in poetry or song of their great cultural acts, societal development or conflicts.

In the final line Diaper provides a short summation of why he has written this poem. Although you might think the adjective ‘prouder’ to describe mankind is a positive, the poet means this more in terms of arrogant, as in too proud or self absorbed to consider that anyone else might be worthy of merit. So ‘prouder men the little ant despise’ acts as a message stating that mankind thinks of itself as a remarkable and unique species. Luckily for us Diaper has shown us the light and the importance of recognising the wonder of other species in the world is best stated in the seventh line in this stance where ‘prudent Nature feeds her various young’. The personified spirit of Nature, which could be considered in the same terms as God, has not just created one special species, but provided a rich tapestry of complex life.