Aftermath

Aftermath
BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

When the summer fields are mown, A
When the birds are fledged and flown, A
And the dry leaves strew the path; B
With the falling of thesnow, A
With the cawing of the crow, A
Once again the fields we mow A
And gather in the aftermath. B

Not the sweet, new grass with flowers C
Is this harvesting of ours; C
Not the uplandclover bloom; D
But the rowen mixed with weeds, C
Tangled tufts from marsh and meads, C
Where the poppy drops its seeds C
In the silence and the gloom. D


Grammar:

This poemhighlights the importance of nature and its reflection inhuman behavior, we can see through the recurrent use of natural images such as flowers, the fields. Snow, grass, birds, weeds and its relation to thefeeling of loneliness that runs through the poem and that is preceded by a tragic moment suggesting in the title of the poem: “aftermath”

Lexical:

throughout the poem is perceived an atmosphereof sadness, which is reflected by certain symbols such as snow, with its white color suggests a cold atmosphere; the dry leaves, dead leaves lying on the floor that were no longer green and representhope, the cawing of the crow who is the element that somehow announces the tragic element and consequences come after it.

Phonology:

The poem has seven syllables in each line; it has a regularpoetic meter (heptameter) with a pattern of little feet. The rhyme scheme is (aabaab) in the first stanza and in the second is (ccdcccd).





Intertextuality:

Somehow we can findconnections with the poems of Frost, in the sense that he understands man as a limited being, normally by fate; as well as it does Henry Wadsworth in relating the consequences of unfortunate event. Also wecan compare the role of nature in their poems. Particularly this poem has many similarities with “Desert places” by Robert Frost, as the poem over natural resources are used as symbols of human...