媛 初Come Up From The Fields, Father Analysis

Come Up From The Fields, Father Analysis《父亲，从田地里走上来吧》父亲，从田地里走上来吧，我们的彼得来信了，母亲，到前门来吧，这是你亲爱的儿子的来信。

看哪，这是秋天，看哪，在这里，树木变得更绿，更黄，更红，微风中叶子轻摇，使俄亥俄的村庄更凉爽，更香甜，在这里，熟透的苹果在果园悬挂，葡萄从架子上低垂，（你有没有闻到藤上葡萄的味道？你有没有闻到蜜蜂围绕的荞麦的味道？）看哪，还有那雨后的天空，平静而又透明，上面是奇妙的云霞，在天空下，宁静生动，美丽无穷，农田一片繁荣。

田里一片茂盛，然而现在听到了女儿的呼唤声，父亲从田里走过来。

母亲也走了过来，很快来到了前门。

她快步走来，不祥的感觉使她步履晃动，她来不及梳理她的头发，来不及把她的帽子整一整。

她迅速的拆开信封，哦，这封信不是我们儿子所写，虽然上面签了他的名，哦，一个陌生人替我们儿子写的信，这想法直击母亲的灵魂！眼前一片晃动，两眼不由发黑，她只看到了信的主要内容，破碎的句子说着——胸部被枪击中，骑兵遭遇战，送往医院，眼下虚弱，很快会好转。

现在只有一个人的身形，在俄亥俄所有兴旺的城市和农村，脸色苍白，头脑迟钝，身体虚弱，靠在大门的柱子边。

不要如此悲伤，亲爱的妈妈（刚刚成人的女儿呜咽着说出这句话，小妹妹们挤作一团，惊慌失措，不说一句话。

）你瞧，最亲爱的妈妈，信上说，彼得很快会好转。

哎呀，可怜的孩子，他永远也不会好转啦，（他也许不再需要好转，那么勇敢单纯的灵魂，）当他们站在我家门口的时候，他就已经死啦，唯一的儿子死啦。

然而母亲却需要好转，她瘦弱的身躯穿着黑色的衣，白天她茶饭不思，晚上她无法安睡，深夜她常常从哭泣中醒来，有着一个深切的企盼，哦，她希望能离开这里，不被人发现，静静的从生命中逃走，撤离，去跟随，去追寻，去跟她那已故的儿子在一起。

Summary: Written by Walt Whitman, "Come up from the Fields, Father" is a poem from volume eight of Leaves of Grass and was published in 1900. The poem is a narrative story, sharing the effects of a single war death on an Ohio family.The poem I am going to be studying is called Come up from the fields' father this poem is from volume eight of Leaves of Grass and was published in 1900. The poem is a narrative story, sharing the effects of a single war death on an Ohio family. The poem is written mostly in 3rd person.In the first stanza of this poem the mother and father are being called because they have received a letter from their dear son Pete.In the next few stanzas Whitman describes the rural area of Ohio where this farming family lives, the poet uses realistic imagery to show us how tranquil the farming area is. This calm effect is reinforced when he tells us"Leaves fluttering in the moderate winds"We are told again how "calm" the area is when Whitman describes the sky and the fields as being "all calm."Whitman then describes the sky as being "calm" and "transparent" he describes the clouds as being "wondrous" then he goes on to describe the grounds as being "calm" and "beautiful" Whitman continuously tells us about how peaceful and calm the area is, building up a tranquil atmosphere which will soon be shattered by what the family are about to find out. Whitman cleverly uses this contrast to create tension in the poem.This feeling of tranquillity is soon interrupted in stanza six when the mother of Pete runs as "fast as she can" to get to the doorway where the envelope is. Petes' mother shows nervous feelings and reactions to the getting the letter - "her steps trembling" and"She does not tarry to smooth her hair nor adjust her cap."The calmness has now turned into a sense of urgency as the mother quickly opens the letter. The first thing she notices is that it's not written in his hand writing, "Strange hand writes for our dear son"This is when the poet introduces to the readers the thought of there perhaps being something wrong. The mother knows there is something not right and becomesstricken, she wants to find out what has happened so quick that she only catches bits of the letter."Gun shot wound to the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital, at present low, but soon will be better"She becomes "sickly white in the face" and "very faint" the eldest daughter sees her mother crying and tries to console her"Grieve not so, dear mother... Pete will be better soon"Whitman uses pathos here to arouse a feeling or sorrow or sympathy for the mother. By explaining to us how hurt she is we can almost feel her pain.In stanza nine Whitman writes"Alas poor boy, he will never be better (nor may-be needs to be better, that brave and simple soul"This line tells us that the boy in question (Pete) is assumed as a perfect being with no imperfection."He will never be better"Suggests that he won't ever be a better person."Nor may-be needs to be better"Gives us the impression that he is seen as perfect.Whitman put a bitter twist to the peaceful poem by telling the readers that the only son was already dead while the mother stood in the doorway reading the letter in despair.The death of Pete doesn't only affect the mother, the family will now have to go without a labourer and the ripe and ready to be picked crops will probably go unpicked.The final lines show the aftermath of the letter, and how she suffers from the news of her sons' death.Whitman begins to use pathos again when he describes the devastating effect the death of Pete had on his mother. We are told she is "thin" because "by day her meals are untouched" and at night she doesn't sleep "often waking" she feels a "deep longing" to be with her son, and we are told she was to "escape" and "be with her dead son." The mother is quite obviously mourning over the death of her sons' brave and simple soul and dresses in black. She has a great feeling of depression hanging over her, she loved her son greatly and because he is now dead she feels as if she cannot go on without him and wants to withdraw from life.With his poem Come Up from the Fields Father, Whitman draws a picture of the emotional distress so many families experienced during the Civil War. This is probably quite similar to what he felt when he received theletter about his brother, George, saying that he had been wounded in battle. He left home to be with his brother in his time of need. While he was there, as a result of his caring and passionate nature, he soon went to work as a Civil War nurse. This poem most likely stems from his own personal experiences with the young soldiers he encountered throughout his work. He was constantly surrounded by death and devastation and held many young boys while they died in his arms. He probably also wrote many letters home to the families of the wounded and deceased. With this poem, he is trying to put into words the deepest pain and tragedy a single person, family, or country could ever experience.The poem describes a family receiving a letter that their son has been wounded. He places the setting in the autumn season where all of nature is reaching its prime of life just before the death of winter:Above all, lo, the sky so calm, so transparent after the rain, andwith wondrous clouds,Below too, all calm, all vital and beautiful, and the farmprospers well. (9-10)With this, Whitman depicts the unfairness of a young man having everything stripped away in the prime of his life. He wasn't even given the opportunity to reach his full potential before he was robbed of his future.Even though the letter says her son will soon recover, the mother senses that something is horribly wrong. The fact that the words were written in the hand of someone other than her son troubles her greatly. Since all the men have gone off to war, the only people at home are the women and young girls left in a vulnerable and empty state. Their livelihood depends upon men, and without their only son the family will struggle to survive. The poem conveys the sheer hopelessness of the mother's grief:Alas poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to bebetter, that brave and simple soul,)While they stand at home at the door he is dead already,The only son is dead. (29-31)Any hope they may have had for his survival is futile. Perhaps he was alive at the time the letter was written, but by the time it reaches their hands his life has come to an end. While the poem could have ended here, Whitman wanted his reader to feel and understand in some respect the sorrow of the mother and the deepest pain possible for a human being to experience:But the mother needs to be better,She with thin form presently drest in black,By day her meals untouch'd, then at night fitfully sleeping,often waking,In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deeplonging,O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escapeand withdraw,To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son. (32-37)Life no longer held as much meaning as before. The only thing she wanted was to be reunited with her son. A part of herself was now missing. She was incomplete with no possible way to become whole again. The loss was so deep and the pain so unbearable that she felt the only way to make it better would be to end her own life in order to be with him. Perhaps Whitman felt that it was important for Americans who had not been through the loss of their loved ones to know to a certain extent what others were going through in order to come together and support each other in the midst of the national crisis.。