Before+a+Funeral

//Lots of natural imagery. In the first stanza natural imagery contrast against he later imagery of inanomate objects, such as his clothes and book illustrates. The change in this imagery represents the loss of nature. During the description of nature, Edmond uses lots of personification, 'a sharp rapcious wind snatches the brilliant booty of the leaves', this personification emphasises life, contrasting against the ideas of death throughout the poem - that of nature symbolising her child's death. -Izzy//

The poem portrays the natural cycle of life and death. It takes place during autumn, connecting to the seasonal/ cyclical path of nature. "The great bright leaves have fallen", bright symbolizes the life that was, the life that existed in summer. It seems as though his objects and posessions are the only things unwilling to let go or acept his death: "still ready and alert, it seems, for understanding" they are waiting to be explained to why this has happened. But Edmond emphasizes that the path of nature will run its course, you cannot stop death: "I have put away your life" - acceptance and willingness to move on. But the poem is not just about the death, cold, autumn, winter part of nature; one can, in a way see the whole season in it. "And yet the cold will come"; symbolizing the arrival of winter and the season associated with death. If we follow the cyclical idea and go back to the top "the great bright leaves" now symbolizes, spring and summer, new life, regeneration, and hope. The poem itself is a cycle of the four seasons. - Theon.

The line: "In your room, alone," show her grief and the feeling of loss. The separation of "alone" from the rest of the sentence by commas demonstrates that it is unnatural for her to be in the room without the person. She only begins to realize that the person has passed away and is gone. This is also shown by the listing of the everyday goods and clothes that have not changed after the death. It seemed like they were not ready for the death which mirrors the Poem's mind. -Lorenz This poem I think is about the realisation of death and understanding the cycle of life itself which in itself includes death. The poem does not begin in first person but carries on in first person about half way through satnze one. The poem seems to be rooted from experience and past life and speaks of a journey in the realisation onf life and its cycle. - Lu'isa

I believe that this poem is about death and coming to terms with it. There is also a link between the nature of death and nature surrounding it, as shown by the timing of the poem. throughout the poem the poet is attempting to come to terms of the death although with some difficulty as shown by the reference to machines and the unemotional feeling of it. The poet is experiencing the death of a close one throughout the autumn and as winter draws near, it seems that she realizes that death is a natural part of life and that it is absolute and will always happen, it is through this that she finally comes to term with death. But although even if death does come it does not mean that the person is still gone forever, the passed one is still alive within herself with all the fond memories that they share, this is shown by the line "They knot, and hold" - David

I think that the 'great bright leaves' are a metaphor for Rachel her daughter, 'fallen' or dead. The 'beggared cherry trees' are the author and her husband and the interesting vocabulary choice made here in 'beggared' represents that some of the richness of thier lives has gone, that thier lives will not hld as much value now that one of their daughters is dead. The 'season' in this metaphor stands for whatever has killed Rachel, and, if the author was religious, could also possibly God, as an ulitmate force. - Abby

Right from the word go the writer makes the link between seasons and the different feelings/actions associated with them. "The great bright leaves" which may represent the lost daughter of the author or some other form of life "have fallen" and died. The first stanza talks about how the writer is unable to let go of the person that has died. This is revealed through the final line of the first stanza "not ready for the queer neglect of death". The line is referring to the everyday objects in the room (which Edmond often talks about in her poetry) but these objects refer to her and her family (I think). Her way of dealing with the destress is to hold on to those objects that used to be a part of her loved one's life. The 2nd stanza confirms this theory with the line "work will help they tell me". The line "your room is now nothing but things" make me think that perhaps, through reliving these events in the form of the poem, Edmond has stumbled across the idea that the material world is not as important as the living world. without people, without life, materials mean very little at all. This particular idea, that material meands little without life, established a link (a vague link) between this poem and "We". The lack of emotion shown in the end of the book is similar to the lack of emotion that she seems to have now. All she is left with now are the posessions of something/someone that was once alive... Just as D-503 has the posession of a body without a mind or a soul, all he is is a material. A little far-fetched possibly but I think that the idea that the material world is nothing without life is certainly touched upon.

The idea of seasons is again mentioned as it is in the "autumng garden" that the leaves are falling. The wing is "sharp" and "raspacious" both of which have negative connotations which isn't surprising as the poem is talking about death. The leaves are being stripped from the tree and are dying, just as the child has been stripped from the family. The line "brilliant booty of the leaves" confuses me, I am unsure whether this is referring to the child being a treasure to the family or not...

Finally, the last two lines talk of the writer unable to let go of the child (holding onto posessions etc) just as the tree forms knots as it brings it's branches in closer and the last line is referring to winter being on its way, when she will face the truth and shock will give way to the tree becoming completely bare and grief taking over.

One could also say that the leaves represent all the different aspects of the child who has been lost-as each leaf falls another part of the child is gone to the author... maybe

//James Gardner//

Trees have branches and branches grow leaves, this supports the idea that the the parents are indeed represented by the trees (thus Abby's idea of beggared cherry trees) and the leaves are indeed a representation of Edmond's child Rachel. The quote "sharp rapacious wind snatches the brilliant booty of the leaves". I think that the 'sharp rapacious wind' is actually a representation of a spirit or a higher being (God), and 'brilliant booty' describes the richness the daughter brought into the Edmond's lives. The following line"the blackened branches grown", refer to the parents and family's state of mind and grief, as their hearts are 'blackened'. The line after that "they knot, and hold" describe the family's strength in holding on with their lives as the loss of their daughter has impacted them in such a negative way. But despite their efforts, the line "and yet the cold will come" indicates that the worst has yet to come. Just as autumn is before winter, the child's death will lead to a period of great despair, or in this case a funeral, where all family and friends are in great pain and grief.

-Winstan

The poem portrays a mother (Edmond) who loses her daughter and her struggles to move on. Edmond uses the slightly cliche metaphor of autumn leaves to represent death. The lines 'In your room, alone, I fold and hide away" and "not ready for the queer neglect of death" make clear that the narrator who symbolises Edmond is unable to believe that he daughter really is dead. The narrator says she makes herself "mechanically useful" in an attempt to distract herself from thinking about her daughter but, as shown in the last line - "They knot and hold. And yet the cold will come", she knows she will never be able to completely let go. Mike

In the first stanza it is as if Edmond won't move on the death and seems as though she was not prepared for the loss of the child (Rachael). "bright leaves have fallen" - implies perhaps the "end" of ones life as other students have noted, Edmond uses the leaves to symbolize the child's life. Stanza 2 is however different, this stanza implies that the mother has accepted the loss the child and has moved on from the troubles, "your room is now __nothing__" - further implies the fact that she has moved on the death, unlike in Stanza one where she was loathing over the possessions in the room. As Theon stated - Acceptance and Willingness to move on.//- Sahib//

Cherry trees have been picked out particular to trees in general, because cherry trees are known for being both beautiful, but also because cherries are only ripe for a very short period of time, symbolising the short period we have which is our lives. How ever, it was a beautiful life, like a cherry blossom. Contrasting to the mess and the 'absurd unnecessary things' scattered around the room. What the person was is in complete contrast to what he has left beind. What is left behind metaphorically, is the 'brilliant booty' of the leaves, which contrasts the summer flowers of the cherry tree to the dead leaves of autumn, taking place before the winter. - Jacob

This poem is about a mother struggling to deal with the death of her daughter-represented by autumn leaves (death). The poem is written almost in what appears to be over a period of time? Or a cycle showing how humans deal with grief... the first stanza almost appears to be 'premature death' going into the second stanza where she seems to move on... 'I make preparations for some possible impossible journey no one will ever take; work will help they tell me..' -Chelsea