"Spring and Fall" Close Reading

                           "Spring and Fall" Close Reading

"Margaret are you grieving/ Over Goldengrove unleaving?"
We are introduced to a character, Margaret. The narrator is speaking to her. She is being asked if she's grieving, because of Goldengrove unleaving. That's a strange word, unleaving. What does it mean? It could be someone coming back, reversing their leaving, but why would someone be grieving over soemone coming back? The "grove" in "Goldengrove" means a small wood or group of trees, so maybe this is referring to actual leaves. Maybe the narrator is asking if she's upset that the trees are "unleaving", that they are losing all their leaves. The season is changing and the trees are dying. The poem is called "Spring and Fall", so it would make sense. 

"Leaves, like the things of man, you/ With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?"
So I notice that the order of the words is strange. The second question seems like it is worded backwards, with the "can you" in the back rather than the front. So perhaps this is written like this for artistic purposes and to create rhythm, but the order might actually be different from what we are reading. It could be saying, "Can you, with your fresh thoughts care for leaves, like the things of man?" Which could mean that the narrator is asking this Margaret if she can care about nature like she cares about things made by humanity. Maybe the narrator is being mocking, in making it seem like she's self-centered, only caring about things that are immediately before her, but are small compared to nature. It makes it seem to me like maybe this person, Margaret, is uncaring and the narrator is mocking her carelessness.


"Ah! as the heart grows older/ It will come to such sights colder"
So the words here are put into an order that makes sense. It says "heart grows older", which could mean a person aging or gaining more experience. I think, with the way the second line is worded, that perhaps this means that the heart will be less caring towards certain things as it grows older. I think it means that as you grow older, you get more used to certain things and you take them for granted. You stop caring about it. On the surface, it means that Margaret is uncaring towards nature and its changes, because she's so used to it. But, there is a deeper meaning. I think it is talking about love. I think Margaret is, like the leaves, falling. She is falling out of love, because she's just so used to it that she takes it for granted. I'm not sure about the tone here. It may be that the narrator is trying at fake sympathy, to again, be mocking. I think this line establishes a connection between the heart and the grove, because it talks about the heart growing colder. It makes us think back about the grove "unleaving", reminding us of fall and it growing cold because of the winter.  

"By and by, nor spare a sigh/ Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;"
So from the start, the two words "wanwood" and "leafmeal" catch my attention. What do they mean and what is the purpose of them? "Wan" means pale or weak. So, I'm guessing this line is talking about the dying trees in the grove. The second word seems more tricky. Meal is something you eat and leaf is a leaf. So, is this supposed to mean leaf food? A meal of leaves? And what does the narrator mean by "lie"? Do they mean that the grove is lying as in not telling the truth, or lying like laying down? The most likely explanation is the first one. So it is saying that although your grove, your heart, will lie to you, you will what? It connects back to the first line of Margaret being asked if she's grieving over the Goldengrove. If we establish that the grove represents her heart, then we can say that Margaret's heart is weak and pale, not red and full of life. Her weak heart lies to her, but about what?  

"And yet you will weep and know why."
I noticed that the will is italicized and it has an accent in the "i". I think it is emphasizing this word to show the narrator's utter confidence that what they say is true and will happen. The narrator is trying to fight Margaret on her denial that she will be upset. Going from the previous line, I think that the full statement is that although your weak heart lies to you about not feeling anything or not being upset, you will still cry and feel sad and you know why. She knows why, but do we? Why would she cry? Is she upset at losing her love? Or maybe she's upset at losing a chance? The narrator tells her that she will know why. The narrator tells her that this is something that will happen in the future and that they know what will happen. Their statements are very confident, like they already know what will happen. They sound maybe a bit bitter. Perhaps the author went through a similar experience and is now warning someone else of what will happen. It sounds like an older person talking to a younger or perhaps more naive person who hasn't gone through heartbreak before.  

"Now no matter, child, the name:/ Sorrow's springs are the same."
I noticed the strange word pattern of the first line, so I decided to rearrange it. I changed it to "Now no matter the name, child:" The use of the word "child" reinforces my belief that the author is talking down to someone younger than themselves. But the lines themselves basically say that no matter what you call it, sorrow begins the same. What does this mean? Whose name are we talking about? Perhaps the author is saying that no matter what you call love or the feeling she's feeling, sorrow begins the same way. The way that sorrow begins, no matter what the reason, is the same. The tone seems defeated to me. It sounds like the narrator doesn't care at this point. 

"Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed/ What heart heard of, ghost guessed:"
The wording in the first line is strange and the rhythm of it is strange as well, along with the strange accents. I think what these lines are talking about is that the mouth and mind cannot express what the heart feels. I think these lines are telling us that what the heart feels or "hears" cannot be fully explained by simply using words or your brain. But then, what does "ghost guessed" mean? A ghost is a phantom. They usually cannot be seen, but you could hear them. They are the left over souls of the bitter dead. It seems to fit into the supposed topic of the theme, which is death and rebirth. The end of something, but there is a continuation. 


"It is the blight man was born for,/ It is Margaret you mourn for."
I understand that it's saying that Margaret is sorry for herself. She doesn't care about anything else, but herself and even when she's upset, she is crying for herself. The first sentence says that "it" is the disease man was born for and I think this means that the speaker is saying that the purpose of man's existence is either to love or to be selfish. Perhaps man's purpose is to exist for himself?