Analyzing of Aftermath by Henry Longfellow - Essay Example

Aftermath by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow The value of poetry is expressed through its ability to deliver certain mood, feelings and expressions in a short form. Unlike prose, where long passages serve as a jigsaw pieces for the whole picture, poetry empowers every word to mean more than it is written in the dictionary. Aftermath written by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow is a short poem which consists of only 14 lines but it manages to impress the reader with its vivid imagery. This essay will focus on the analysis of Aftermath with the purpose to find out what impact key words have on poetry interpretation. In order to understand the poem properly, one needs to pay attention to its key words. According to Elizabeth Bishop, every word in poetry matters. The need for close poetry reading reading is conditioned by the value of each meaning for the general picture (Bishop). Since there are not many words in each poem, one needs to have a clear understanding of every word used by poets in their woks. Aftermath by Longfellow consists of only two stanzas; the word choices are very accurate and clear. The title is crucial in this case so it is necessary to define what aftermath means and research the etymology of this word. In the Online Etymology Dictionary, it is stated that the origin of the word aftermath dates back to 1520-s. It meant “a second crop of grass grown after the first had been harvested ” and consisted of two parts after + an Old English word mæð that was defines as cutting grass (“Aftermath”). The figurative meaning of this word appeared later in 1650-s. Contrary to this original meaning, now aftermath is defines as “the consequences of significant unpleasant event” in the Oxford Dictionary. Obviously, Longfellow uses both meanings to intensify the overall impression after reading the poem and give readers a hint about its content. The first line of the poem underpins the etymology of the word aftermath, “When the summer fields are mown” (Longfellow). In the next line Longfellow moves to a short description of the next season, “When the birds are fledged and flown” (Longfellow). The word fledged means that birds have already grown up and their wings are ready to fly long distances. With the next line “And the dry leaves strew the path” readers understand that the poet talks about autumn when nature fades out and birds fly away to warmer places (Longfellow). The transformation of nature is continued further in the next lines where the fields covered with snow continue the cycle of lead to new grass and its mowing. Overall, every line signifies a new season; all four season form a cycle that is going to repeat again and again. Two final lines of the first stanza “Once again the fields we mow // And gather in the aftermath” again emphasize the repeating nature of life (Longfellow). Since Romanticists often use nature to render either life realities of philosophical thoughts, this particular case hints that life is a cycle full of transformations. At the same time, the word aftermath with its negative connotation hints that the cycle of life is not smooth. The second stanza of the poem signifies the beginning of a new spring in this year cycle. However, everything is not that ideal. The field that is used to be covered with sweet grass, clover and flowers turn into “the rowen mixed in weeds” (Longfellow). The season remains beautiful as it is, but it is not the same. There is the consequence that cannot be washed away by time. There is a change that does not lead to the better as it brings “silence” and “gloom” to the pastoral settings (Longfellow). The second stanza shows the picture of destruction; the second crop of the grass cannot be the same as the first one. It consists of the rests and leftovers of nature. Figuratively, this second picture is the consequence of the first crop portrayed in the first stanza. Rhythm and melody of the poem play a great role in its interpretation. The rhyming scheme for the poem is a a b c c c b. Easy and natural rhymes make the poem beautiful and very lyrical at the same time. 7-line stanzas with asymmetric rhyming add complexity to the way the poem sounds. At the same time rhyming makes the poem flow smoothly. Every stanza contains only one sentence broken into rhythmic parts. It means that every stanza presents one complete idea and readers have to understand it clearly. The first stanza constitutes the cycle of nature and presents its seasons while the second stanza focuses on irreversible changes that occur in nature. Longfellow does no only use poetic form to make his poem exceptionally lyrical and emotional. Alliteration is used in this poem too; the line “Tangled tufts from marsh and meads” presents repetitive initial sounds t and m (Longfellow). T is more harsh compared to sonorant m. In this line that constitute a great sound effect as they sound opposite to each other and make readers feel tension and relief while reading one line. This example shows that even certain sounds or their repetition throughout the text can produce certain effect on the overall meaning of the text. Longfellow is famous for his moral tone in poetry. The last stanza in his poems is usually dedicated to a moral message or conclusion send for readers as some food for thought. This poem is quite different because there is no obvious morality in it. However, if one looks closer to the content of the poem, thy will notice that the word aftermath is morally charged. As it was mentioned above, aftermath is the consequence of tragedy. In the literal context of the poem, this aftermath is rendered by the change in nature. In this poem nature has a bigger meaning. It is presented as the metaphor of life and any dramatic change in nature is the change in life accordingly. There are may ways to interpret the poem according to this statement. For instance, wars take away lives of many people; whole generation disappear and there is no one to replace them. One year they live their homes and die somewhere on the battlefields. They never come back and their families do not become the same again just like the fields described by Longfellow. The other way to interpret the poem is to look at the human destructive impact on nature. People mow fields and there is no guarantee that flora will stay the same. People cut woods and nature needs much time to grow new forests to replace wastelands. Anthropomorphic changes in climate in nature are horrible and people live in the aftermath of their own misdeeds. The power of poetry interpretation is in its endless nature. Someone will see only nature transformation in Longfellows Aftermath while others will investigate hints into the universally destructive relationship between humanity and nature. Longfellow does not leave hints about the true meaning of the poem leaving readers the choice to understand what they think to be right. Interpretation cannot be right or wrong; it is always subjective. The etymology of the word aftermath is a good starting point for interpretation of this poem and it might lead to different conclusions. This word is the key to understanding the whole poem. To sum up, Aftermath by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow is a beautiful poem with a deep meaning that needs to be discovered by each reader individually. There are many ways to understand the poem, but this task becomes easier if to look up the key words in the dictionary. A deeper look at the word stimulates the better understanding of poetry. The original meaning of the word aftermath perfectly fits to the content of the poem where mowing fields is a common activity. However, the other meaning of the word transforms the poem into the metaphor and empowers it to make people think about their actions and consequences they have to face. Works Cited “Aftermath”. Online Etymology Dictionary. 2015. Web. February 23,2015. “Aftermath”. Oxford Dictionaries. 2015. Web. February 23, 2015. Bishop, Elizabeth. “The Value of a Dictionary”. In Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia, eds.Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Longman Publishing Group, 2012. p. 532 Longfellow, Henry Wordsworth. “Aftermath”. In Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia, eds.Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Longman Publishing Group, 2012. p. 533 Read More