Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached out boots. Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills We trekked and picked until the cans were full Until the tinkling bottom had been covered With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's. We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre. But when the bath was filled we found a fur, A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache. The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour. I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not. |
ToneThe narrator provides a tone that is somewhat solemn and sad. He starts off hopeful but ends sad and let-down. Even though he knows the bad will come (last line), he always had hope. The words throughout the poem support the change of tone from the beginning to the end. In the beginning, positive words such as, "glossy," "sweet," and "lust" support the happy and hopeful tone in the beginning. However, as the poem goes on, the tone changes to sad and let-down. This is supported by words such as, "fungus," "stinking," "fermented," and "sour." The main supporting phrase of the sad tone near the end is "I always felt like crying." This change in tone emphasizes the narrator's contentment with innocent naivety at the beginning of the poem and his regrets and dissatisfaction in life at the end.
POint of viewThis poem is told through the first-person and second-person point of view. The first-person point of view allows the readers to put themselves in the narrators shoes and feel as if they could experience what the narrator is describing. The second-person point of view to provoke feelings from the reader.
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