“Fern Hill” consists of six stanzas that are praising but then lamenting days the speaker spent at Fern Hill as a kid. The speaker is excited about running through the countryside. Throughout the poem he talks about how happy he was when he was younger, but also how oblivious he was that his youth/childhood was passing. At the end of the poem, the tone changes dramatically from joy to lamentation (the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping). What once was a carefree bliss for a, once young, speaker, turns to be a fleeting joy that he’ll never regain. • Six stanzas • Nine lines in each stanza • Structure is subtle and the flow relies on half rhymes (words that only have their final consonant sounds and no preceding vowel or consonant sounds in common), as well as internal rhymes. • Lack of structure is used to evoke and mimic the way one’s memory wanders and recalls the past in small pieces at a time. - “lilting” is an old style of Gaelic singing, but also refers to anything that is anything with cheerful or happy tone. - Personification as the house is the one expressing this happy tone. - Sets the mood for the rest of the poem. Apple bough = branch of a tree Now I was young and easy under the apple boughs About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green - Speaker was once young and carefree/happy. - Pastoral scenery mirrors the joy the speaker felt. - Sets the scene. - Tells us the night sky is full of stars. - Order of this line is odd (should be “The night starry above the dingle”). - Line structured this way because the speaker is as concerned with the sounds of words as he is with what he’s describing. - Quick lines with smooth flowing words is used to mirror the content, keeping the feeling cheery. Dingle = small valley - Speaker uses this word to keep the line quick and perky The night above the dingle starry, Time let me hail and climb Golden in the heydays of his eyes, - Personification of time as it appears time and the speaker are friends. - Time has ‘eyes’ adding to the personification. - It’s as if time is watching over the child, but is still happy to see the speaker being so carefree and cheery. - Even though time is depicted as a being happy, it will change like it’s meant to (“Heydays” of his eyes won’t last forever). - Variation of the fairytale phrase “Once upon a time: - Use of “below” makes it sound like something is buried under time (like what happens when someone dies or even like buried treasure. - “apple towns” connects with “apple boughs” And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves Trail with daisies and barley Down the rivers of the windfall light. - End of the first nine-line stanza there is a clear rhythm (very sing-songy). - Use of vowel rhymes (assonance) like “trees” and “leaves” – they don’t rhyme perfectly but the long “e” sound connects them. - Use of consonance in pairs like “rivers” and “windfall” – “v” in rivers and “f” in windfall connects the words together. - Vague Iambic meter (daDUM daDUM daDUM) which creates a sense of unity in the stanza (gives this poem with no poetic form, its own structure) - Much like the “grass was green” in stanza 1, the speaker is also green. – He is young, fresh and impressionable. - Just as he was “easy” in stanza 1, here he’s “carefree”. - Like the speaker was happy in line 2, the “yard” is happy (eg of pathetic fallacy). - Same as the house “lilting” in stanza 1, the speaker is “singing”. And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home, - Use of a lot of repetition creates unity between the stanzas. - Repetition of not only sound and rhythm, but also uses same ideas (youth, happiness, carefree, singing) - First hint that joyful youthfulness won’t last forever. In the sun that is young once only, Time let me play and be Golden in the mercy of his means, -Personification that makes the natural world seem closer to the speaker. - This is reinforced when “time” appears again. - Time seems merciful and is trying to let the child have as much fun as possible before the sun (and the speaker) grow old. - “Sabbath” enters and rings “in the pebbles of the holy streams”. - The speaker talks about the landscape with such deep respect because he deems it to be sacred. And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold, And the sabbath rang slowly In the pebbles of the holy streams - All the repeated syntax (word arrangement) is reinforced by the repeated imagery within stanza 2. - Greens, golds, rivers, star are used to create a dreamlike sense of this child’s pastoral world. - Stanza 2 deals with a lot of repetition of long “e’s”, the use of consonance in pairs, as well as, repeated use of alliteration and assonance. - Speaker continues to explain what its like being young at Fern Hill. - Repetition of the phrase “it was” creates a rhythm so the words are actually doing what they describe – growing more excited. - Speaker uses this phrase to describe the long, exciting day, as well as through the use of the long lines. All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air - Ending on “air” called enjambment. - “Air” is also something one’s life depends on. In this sense, the speaker is deeply connected with what gives him life, which makes him seem even more alive. - Repetition of “and” = anaphora (repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect) - Speaker uses “and” to build momentum and to stack the ideas of the pastoral imagery. And playing, lovely and watery And fire green as grass And nightly under the simple stars - Descriptions become dreamy instead of specific. - Words like “watery” works for different reasons. - End in a long “e” sounds which echoes in “lovely”, “green” and “nightly” - Imagery creates long flowing lines which represents the passing of time resulting in line 23 moving into nighttime. - These lines are the beginning of the end of the day for the speaker. - The look of the stanza has changed – the syntax, indentations of the lines have shifted.. - Imagery has turned dream-like and strange A I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away, All the moon long I heard, blessed among the stables, the nightjars Flying with the ricks, and the horses Flashing into the dark - The owls are “bearing the farm away” as if the landscape itself is leaving. - “all the moon long” means that all night long he heard birds (nightjars) that were “flying with the ricks” (ricks = hay). - It’s as if the farm is coming alive and walking away during the night – the landscape that brought so much freedom and joy, is beginning to leave. And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all - Day returns and the speaker continues to praise the beauty of the landscape, using a simile to describe the farm in the morning as “a wanderer white/with the dew”. - This simile also personifies the farm. Shining, it was Adam and maiden, The sky gathered again And the sun grew round that very day - Allusion = First man “Adam” and Eve “maiden” - Shows that the speaker thinks this farm is paradise – Garden of Eden - Looking back to mention of apples previously, makes one wonder if this is all going to come to an end. - Is the speaker doomed to be cast out the farm like Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden? - Continuation of religious imagery by saying that the farm is like God’s creation itself (“birth of simple light” = God’s creation. - To the speaker, the rising of the sun on the farm and the waking up of the horses is just like creation. - This shows how strongly he feels about how amazing the farm was when he was a child. So it must have been after the birth of the simple light In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm Out of the whinnying green stable On the fields of praise - Horses usually whinny but through saying the stable are whinnying, gives them life. - Previously alludes to the fact that the speaker praises Fern Hill but now he blatantly says that the fields and land is praiseworthy. - The speaker is repeating himself with the phrase “And honoured” (first saw it in line 6 so the speaker is echoing himself) - “gay house” is a pathetic fallacy And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long, - “new made clouds” emphasises the newness and happiness. - “heedless ways” shows that the child was carefree and not paying attention to what he had. - It seems he as paid attention to a lot but he’s admitting that he didn’t stop to appreciate where he was or how pleasant youth can be. In the sun born over and over, I ran my heedless ways My wishes raced through the house high hay - “raced” links with the rush of imagery and description in this poem, combined with its sing-songy rhythm and repetitive sound, and has given this poem a whole lot of forward momentum. - We finally see regret creeping through in these lines. - The speaker says he didn’t care to pay attention to the beauty and innocence back then and didn’t realises those days would be “so few” And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs Before the children green and golden Follow him out of grace - The idea of “time” is the thing to lead him to his “Eden” but earlier in the poem, “time” was like a guardian, looking after the speaker with the illusion of a lifetime of happiness. - But, like anticipated, “time” moved on and things changed. - “Grace” relates to religion as, in Christianity, grace is the love and mercy of God. - The use of religious imagery could read like a parallel of Adam and Eve’s story. - Speaker tells us that back then, when he was young and easy, he just didn’t care that time was going to take it away. - “by the shadow of my hand” is a contrast to everything previously mentioned which was bright and golden. - “by the shadow” is also a contrast to “lamb white” Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand In the moon that is always rising - The sun is no longer shining – “the moon that is always rising”. - The fact that the moon is always rising seems to suggest that this coming night, is going to last a long while, thanks to “time” Nor that riding to sleep I should hear him fly with the high fields - Just when he thought everything was perfect and going to last forever, “time” heads out and takes the “high fields” with him. - We have finally said goodbye to never-ending youth. - The speaker also didn’t recognise the things as they were leaving because he didn’t care when it was happening. - The beauty from stanza 5 has disappeared. - When the speaker wakes up, instead of “the farm, like a wanderer white/With the dew,” the farm has “forever fled from the childless land.” And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land. Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means, Time held me green and dying Though I sang in my chains like the sea. - “Oh” conveys the speakers wistfulness and regret making his nostalgia shine through. - The colour green, which once meant growth and youth, is now associated with death because while the speaker was young and green, he was “in my chains” – he was singing in them because he didn’t know any better (ignorance of youth)
