Sometimes the summer heat comes in too early and there’s the threat of tornadoes. Or even other damaging winds. The hard times are over, but we should always be careful. Nevertheless, it’s a pleasant feeling when the warmth comes in to embrace a thawed out population. In this post, we will discuss another form of thaw, in Claude McKay’s poem “After the Winter.”
Analysis of “After the Winter”
The Seasons as Hardship and Bright Futures
Poet Claude McKay writes in “After the Winter” that after the coldest season has past, the warming one takes hold.
He states, “Some day, when trees have shed their leaves / and against the morning’s white / The shivering birds beneath the eaves / Have sheltered for the light / we’ll turn our faces southward, love, Toward the summer isle.”
Yet, the deeper metaphor here is that Claude McKay is viewing hardship through a parallel to seasons. The cold winter is equal to the hard work. The warm summer stands in contrast. McKay continues in his poem: “Where bamboos spire the shafted grove / And wide-mouthed orchids smile. / And we will seek the quiet hill / Where the towers the cotton tree.”
Life comes back to us in many ways and the flowers bloom. McKay tells it us that it’s time again to remark upon the “”laughing crystal rill” and the “droning bee.” Nature returns to us and is “rill,” no doubt close to “shrill” and pronounced. With hardship and the winter behind us, we can live a new life in the warmth of the new season.
Metaphor and Symbolism in “After Winter”
Considering this, poetry guides us with metaphor and symbolism. Masters of the craft can make reality bend. Blind love becomes venomous hate, songbirds become portentous harbingers, and blossoming trees become haunted abodes for ghastly spirits. Sometimes the reality is as simple as winter becoming spring. Those poems are just as lovely as the others.
I don’t know what McKay means exactly with this poem. But, I can guess. I like to think he isn’t just talking about spring coming again. Rather a new chance at life, as he builds a “cottage there” on the hill “beside an open glade.” Here, the cottage is adorned with “black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near / And ferns that never fade.” These are places we want live and can dream about in darkness. If you are looking for a new start–or if you just want some warmer weather–this is a good time of the year for a renewal of mind and spirit.
Works cited
McKay, Claude. “After the winter.” Poetry Foundation. Web.
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