Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Almanac" by Madeline DeFrees is a poignant exploration of the cycle of life and death, depicted through the lens of a garden transitioning from the vibrancy of life to the dormancy of winter. DeFrees uses the garden as a metaphor for existence, intertwining themes of decay, rebirth, and the inexorable passage of time. The poem is structured as a reflective journey through a garden at the end of its life cycle, invoking imagery that is both evocative and melancholic.

The poem opens with the speaker entering a "ravaged garden," immediately setting a tone of devastation and decline. The description of the garden as "ravaged" and likened to a "tattered cocoon of the season" suggests a place once full of life now in decay. The imagery of mud-caked shoes implies the presence of recent rain or the remnants of a season’s worth of growth and decay, contributing to the atmosphere of neglect and the end of a cycle. The speaker's focus on the remnants of the garden's produce—“the last anorexic string-bean, the bolting bitter lettuce, tomatoes defiantly green on the vine, and bony zucchini”—highlights the failure of these plants to reach their expected fruition, symbolizing the natural decline all living things must face.

The statement "None of us wants to go back to the worm-riddled earth we sprang from" captures a universal resistance to death and decay, reflecting a desire to cling to life despite the inevitability of returning to the earth. This resistance is not limited to humans but extends to the very plants in the garden, anthropomorphizing them to underscore their shared fate with the speaker.

The "lachrymose wind" that "grieves over the ground of our being" personifies the wind, imbuing it with a sense of sorrow for the passing of life. The imagery of "scarlet letters flutter[ing] in air from sumac and maple" alludes to the fall season, with leaves changing color before they fall, serving as messages or forewarnings of the end. The rhetorical question posed by the speaker, "And who, when scarlet letters flutter in air from sumac and maple, will be there to receive them?" suggests a contemplation on the act of witnessing and the transient nature of beauty and life itself.

The poem concludes with the speaker accepting the cyclical nature of life and death, represented through the imagery of frost and snow spreading "a weedy cover" and the "furrow's trace on the fallow bed where rain describes a river." These images convey a sense of closure and renewal, with the rain’s path likened to a river of oblivion, symbolizing the erasure of the past and the preparation for future growth. The final lines, "the waters of oblivion I follow crossing over," indicate the speaker's acknowledgment of and submission to the cycle of life, accepting the transition from life to death as a natural and inevitable journey.

Through "Almanac," DeFrees crafts a meditation on the transient beauty of life, the inevitability of decay, and the acceptance of death as part of the natural cycle. The garden, in its seasonal demise, serves as a powerful metaphor for human existence, encapsulating the bittersweet acknowledgment that all life must return to the earth from which it sprang. The poem’s vivid imagery, combined with its contemplative tone, invites readers to reflect on their own relationship with the cycles of life and death, making "Almanac" a resonant and deeply moving piece.

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