Part of Dillard's struggle in her observation of the natural world is how much violence she seems to encounter. How does she relate this to the Hebrew altar?

In the Hebrew religion, the altar corners were actually capped with horns. When the ancient Hebrews sacrificed an animal to their god, they would tie the animal to the horns and also pour blood into the horns from the slain beast. Dillard is most likely concerned with the Hebrew sacrifice that involved the horns of the altar. Much of what Dillard ponders and struggles with during her observations in nature is the gruesome, violence of nature. She may see this bloody violence of the natural world as a symbolic sacrifice, thus the connection to the horns of the altar in the ancient Hebrew religion.