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Analysis and comments on The Reaper and the Flowers by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Comment 6 of 16, added on October 24th, 2004 at 12:12 PM.

I'm pretty sure that the "bearded grain" is just supposed to symbolize old
folks in comparison to the young "flowerets." I'm not sure though. But it
does make sense that the Reaper would be tired of only taking older people,
hence lines 5-6. And he also doesn't want to give them up (lines 7-8).

Kirsten from United States
Comment 5 of 16, added on October 12th, 2004 at 11:39 PM.

This poem, "The Reaper and the Flowers", gave me a different perspective
(once again) with which to view death. I interperted the poem to mean that
when beautiful people die they are "transplanted" to the glorious fields of
heaven where they once again thrive and grow even more beautiful. Mothers
look forward to seeing their "gardens" again once they die and go to
heaven. So the flowers are planted, but then where does that leave the
average "grain"? It's just harvested and stored away? Longfellow has left
me wondering.

Maybe I missed something in the first two stanzas, though I don't think so.

Beth from United States
Comment 4 of 16, added on October 12th, 2004 at 9:35 PM.

This is a very good poem. Once it mentions the mother in the last two
stanzas, I realized it meant the souls of children. The comparison of a
reaper in a field to the grim reaper himself in the world of men, taking
the lives of beautiful things... The poem gives good imagery.

Matt from United States
Comment 3 of 16, added on October 12th, 2004 at 9:32 AM.

This was a good poem by Longfellow. When I understood that the flowers
meant taking people's souls, I thought it was a good comparison.

Paul from United States
Comment 2 of 16, added on October 11th, 2004 at 10:19 PM.

I also thought that the comparison of the Grim reaper taking the flowers as
to his taking of souls was quite good. Though at first it was kind of hard
to see what Longfellow was talking about. I was going to say that putting
the Grim reaper in a field of flowers was totally unethical and the flowers
should have at least been wilting or dead.

David Murdoch from United States
Comment 1 of 16, added on September 22nd, 2004 at 5:14 PM.

I thoght the comparisn of the reaper and sickle taking the flower buds as
to souls of people is so great.It also reminds me of a poem I wrote myself
called STONE GARDEN..Although longfellow tends to be more lengthy than i
like in poetry this is a great piece by
him..............jerry...aka,,,wbpoet

jerry from United States

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Information about The Reaper and the Flowers

Poet: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poem: 4. The Reaper and the Flowers
Volume: Voices of the Night
Added: Feb 1 2004
Viewed: 7357 times
Poem of the Day: Jan 28 2003


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