When the summer fields are mown,
When the birds are fledged and flown,
And the dry leaves strew the path;
With the falling of the snow,
With the cawing of the crow,
Once again the fields we mow
And gather in the aftermath.
Not the sweet, new grass with flowers
Is this harvesting of ours;
Not the upland clover bloom;
But the rowen mixed with weeds,
Tangled tufts from marsh and meads,
Where the poppy drops its seeds
In the silence and the gloom.
Notes
The lyrical form of this poem is aabcccb.
1. "This poem, placed last in the book, gave title to the volume published in 1873, which contained the third part of Tales of a Wayside Inn and the third flight of Birds of Passage. The completion of the Tales on his sixty-sixth birthday may have given rise to this poem." (Editor, p. 81.)
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The poem was about the Modoc war 1872-1873
From guest the Man (contact)
This poem was about the modoc war. It was the present time war for when Longfellow was writing his poem. Aftermath is about war and is about the Modoc war. This war was a bloody battle that raged for a year in south west of the US. The poem makes a little more sense when you look at it for this war -
this poem
From guest sami (contact)
I think this poem is not about the good stuff you see, but the bad things that come after the good -
No, this poem is about a certain lady.
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This poem is about four dogs who join the circuis.
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I think this poem is about war. I think this poem is about the transition into the seasons. I think this poem is about death. I think this poem is about anything you want it to be about.
It is also about butterflys. Good luck beth on this poem. Had fun the other day. But i'm sure you won't have fun understanding this poem. you didn't know what i'm thinking but now you know. byebye. -
I don't really understand this poem, but the name aftermath is not what you think. In this poem it means second crop, so I think it is about the seasons and his feelings more than war or death.
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Aftermath is a poem about summer and winter is about his feelings in his life.
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confucious say \" what?\"
I honestly don't have a clue about what this is about. It could be about war or about the cycle of life which makes more sense to me i just know that for my 10th grade english class we have critique this what-not and analyze so please help and a smart people please type in a good summary in ebonics or spanish or mandarin or in lingo of words with less thatn six letters. -
good stuff
The poem Aftermath by Longfellow is about the consequences of war. Longfellow wrote this poem in a very dreary, cryptic tone. The tone suits the poem because it has to do with death and isolation which is caused by wars.
The Tone of this poem is a very spooky, lonely, and sad tone. Longfellow uses a lot of “o” words in this poem which elongate the sounds of the words like gloom, bloom, crow and snow. The elongation of these words caused you to read slower and therefore increases that lonely, cryptic factor of this poem. The “o” words Longfellow uses also add another affect to the poem they make words very deep and low sounding. Those deep and low sounds add to the feeling of death and isolation.
Henry Longfellow’s Aftermath is statement about the affects of war. Longfellow uses symbolism and metaphors to convey his thoughts about war. “When the summer fields are mown,” represents going to war and mowing our people down. The summer fields represent life which is green and lush then someone or something has come and destroyed that life.“…Dry leaves strew the path;” is a statement that symbolizes the death of the soldiers in war. The dry leaves symbolize the soldiers that have fallen and have begun to decay. “With the falling of the snow, with the crawing of the crow” The crows and winter also represent the death and decay which had begun to set in earlier. Winter is the symbolism of death in its purest form because it comes and kills life. The crows represent decay because they assist in the process of decomposition. Longfellow uses the word “aftermath” at the end of the first paragraph, this word also happens to be the name of the poem. Aftermath means a consequence of a great event. The great event was war and consequence as we saw was death.
In the next Paragraph Longfellow makes clear that the effects of all this war is irreparable damage. “Not the sweet, new grass with flowers in this harvesting of ours” is a statement which means that after this war the life will not be like it used to. The war will not make a beautiful thing or improve life. Longfellow then goes on to say what you will get instead of the sweet flowers. “..The towen mixed with weeds, tangled turfs from marsh and meads”, this statement means that after war you will be left with destruction, chaos and death. “Where the poppy drops its seeds in the silence and the gloom” is statement about isolation. The poppy is all alone stranded in this swamp. The poppy itself represented riches as it was something of a commodity in Longfellow’s day. The poppy dropping it seed all one is the idea that you will have your riches or ends from war but there will be nothing else around you to grow.
In conclusion Henry Longfellow’s “Aftermath” is poem about the consequences of war. This is evidenced by the symbolism Longfellow used throughout his poem such as the leaves, crows, winter etc. The consequences of war as decided by Longfellow are death and decay. The death and decay caused by war are so great Longfellow proposes that what we destroy may not ever be able to grow back again.
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This is a poem about war and its consequences. Hence the name: Aftermath.
I really don't think I need to explain the metaphor of summer fields being mown and dry leaves (corpses) scattered all over.
It's pretty obvious, to me at least. We mow the fields, and then come the crows and the winter (death and decay) sets in.
The last part of the poem states that things are never better after a war, only worse. And next time the harvest is not as pretty and pleasant as it was before "the mowing".
The entry about poppy seeds seems intriguing. But I think it has something to do with the Opium wars. But I have my doubts..
This is all my opinion, at least.
It might very well be about the cycle of life/death. -
pretty good
I think that this poem is about death and recollection. The poppy was a symbol that pre-Raphaellite painters used to signify death and the transition to afterlife (cf Rossetti, Beata beatrix etc) - contemporaneously with the writing of this poem in the late 19th century. I think that is easy to fall into the trap of seing the seasonal changes metaphorically, they are so often used this way that they have entered poetic vocaublary (even in Hollywood - cf Requiem for a Dream). I think in this poem they are just used to add a sense of elegy. One of the central issues in this poem - it seems to me - is the meaning of the harvest, and the nature of its aftermath. It's not particularly clear, but I like the idea that it's about recollection, what can be gathered about the past from memory, how can the harvest be reconstructed from its aftermath. I also like the image of the poppy dropping its seeds (in the marsh and meads). It speaks to me of isolation and contemplation. The poppy is not necessarily to be found in the locations that the author has specified, in England they're commonly found on the margins of fields being used for agriculture (they're ruderals - fond of disturbed earth). How often does one see a poppy drop it's seeds? I think it's a particularly cryptic event especially inconspicuous in the locations that the author specifies. I think this symbol of isolation at death reminds us of a concept the Romans, and particularly Marcus Aurelius were known to espouse, the idea that self-justification and self-knowledge are more important than the futile search for acclaim, respect and justification from others; we must live life for ourselves (in modern parlance - 'keep it real'), for if we live our lives for others will they also do the dying for us? -
I love Longfellow
i think he is talking about the fact that life moves on. It talks in detail about the changing of seasons...etcetc. But i think its about moving on. -
i think longfellow is talking about the changes of seasons as a metophor of how life is given to us and then we fade and die! the seasons changing is us changing from life to death and you can't come back from the gloom and silence>
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im not sure what longellow was trying to say in this poem, im very cofused
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I agree completly with Tina. I think it speaks so well in these few short lines that anymore would have become burdensome. I,personaly, love it just the way it is.
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^ I strongly disagree. I think if he had wanted to put more into this he certainly would have. This speaks volumes in so few lines, thus making this an amazing piece...
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i think that longfellow could have put a lot more into this.
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