‘Apples’ by Gillian Clarke is a poem filled with lush sensory details that immerse you in the intimate beauty of an apple harvest.
The central topic of Clarke's poem is harvesting, the very activity that the speaker narrates for the reader throughout the poem. Seeing solely through the senses of this apple harvester, we are given a focused, vibrant, and intimate glimpse into one person's interaction with nature as both a pleasure and utility. Illustrating with both detail and profound emotion the satisfaction that follows "such a hard harvest," as well as the devotion they have toward savoring and utilizing that harvest.
They fill with heat, dewfall, a night of rain.
In a week they have reddened, the seed gone black
in each star-heart. Soft thud of fruit
in the deepening heat of the day
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80/100
‘Harvest and Consecration’ melds the spiritual and seasonal, exploring the sacred at harvest’s end and winter’s introspective turn.
Elizabeth Jennings' 'Harvest and Consecration' conflates the end of the harvest season with a kind of religious experience which is typical of Jennings, who was a devout Catholic all her life. She presents this time of year to possess a form of deep, spiritual power which she imbues in the natural imagery of the poem.
After the heaped piles and the corn sheaves waiting
To be collected, gathered into barns,
After all fruits have burst their skins, the sating
Season cools and turns,
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75/100
‘Hurrahing in Harvest’ celebrates finding Christ in nature’s beauty, expressing ecstatic joy and spiritual union.
Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem establishes a link between the cyclical pattern of the harvest season and the existence of Jesus Christ, whose resurrection functions as a moment of spiritual renewal for all living people. The poet depicts the presence of Christ in the natural sights of the world.
Summer ends now; now, barbarous in beauty, the stooks rise
Around; up above, what wind-walks! What lovely behaviour
Of silk-sack clouds! has wilder, wilful-wavier
Meal-drift moulded ever and melted across skies?
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74/100
Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’ narrates the tale of the cursed Lady entrapped in a tower on the island of Shalott, who meets a tragic end.
The reapers harvesting in fields adds to the rural ambiance, grounding the poem in a pastoral setting. This imagery also contributes to its folkloric elements, as reapers overhear the Lady's song. Moreover, the reapers' harvesting by hand symbolizes older, simpler ways of life amidst the growing mechanism and industrialization of the Victorian era. Thus, harvesting symbolizes the pre-industrial simple life, which now seems like a gone mythical era to Victorians as they implicitly long for it.
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
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72/100
Through ‘The Indian Hunter,’ H. W. Longfellow tells a story rarely told in his time: the story of land thefts and injustices for the Native American people.
'The Indian Hunter' draws parallels between the experience of a hunter, who must risk lots for very little reward, and the farmer, whose work is less dangerous but more constant. The latter of these is shown to be the more comfortable as, in spite of his long hours during late summer, he is able to reap the rewards of a successful harvest come the autumn.
When the summer harvest was gathered in,
And the sheaf of the gleaner grew white and thin,
And the ploughshare was in its furrow left,
Where the stubble land had been lately cleft,
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70/100
Celebrating the beauty of diligence, Marge Piercy’s ‘To be of use’ draws powerful metaphors between humans and enduring animals.
‘To Be of Use’ uses harvesting as a metaphor for meaningful labor and cooperation. The line “who go into the fields to harvest” suggests the importance of working together to achieve a collective goal. The poem highlights the physical and symbolic act of gathering what is necessary for survival. Although harvesting is not central, it’s woven into the larger narrative of purposeful work and perseverance, making it a strong but secondary topic.
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
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68/100
‘To Autumn’ stands as one of Keats’ most image-rich and skillful odes, offering a sumptuous description of the fall season.
Much of the poem focuses on the time of harvest. Keats describes fruit that is heavy on the trees, flowers that bloom late, and grain that is partly gathered. There are scenes with apple trees, hazelnuts, cider making, and even a granary floor. These details make the idea of gathering crops central to the poem. Keats is not just showing autumn as a season but as a time when the land gives back what it has grown.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
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65/100
‘The Corn-Stalk Fiddle’ is a poem which celebrates rural African American culture in the years following the end of slavery. It acknowledges the hard work while also celebrating the freedom of expression.
This poem takes place at harvest time. The poem describes the way that the crop is taken in and how someone would go among the corn-stalks that are left behind and search for something suitable to make a fiddle from. This then leads to the people celebrating later on. The celebration comes from the success of the harvest as well as from the community.
When the corn’s all cut and the bright stalks shine
Like the burnished spears of a field of gold;
When the field-mice rich on the nubbins dine,
And the frost comes white and the wind blows cold;
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63/100
‘Reapers’ by Jean Toomer is a thoughtful poem about oppression. It is depicted through a very poetic and memorable metaphor depicting field workers and a mower.
This poem focuses entirely on the process of harvesting, making it the most accurate and direct topic match. The reapers are sharpening their blades and moving through the field in a steady rhythm. Even the title, Reapers, makes this action central. What makes this version of harvesting stand out is how it lacks any joy or celebration. It becomes cold and mechanical, stripping the task of any feeling and instead turning it into something unsettling.
Black reapers with the sound of steel on stones
Are sharpening scythes. I see them place the hones
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62/100
A farmer’s eerie encounter with a warlock-hireling during Lammas harvest unfolds in Ian Duhig’s award-winning ‘The Lammas Hireling’.
This poem begins during the Lammas harvest, a time when farmers gather wheat and often need extra help. The hireling is brought in to assist with this seasonal work. The success of the cattle and farm is linked to his arrival, which adds to the sense that something is out of the ordinary. The setting is grounded in agricultural life, and the natural cycle of harvest provides the background for the eerie and unexpected events that follow.
After the fair, I’d still a light heart
and a heavy purse, he struck so cheap.
And cattle doted on him: in his time
mine only dropped heifers, fat as cream.
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57/100
‘To Autumn’ by William Blake is a simple, evocative poem about the joys, colors, and emotions of the autumn season.
Autumn is a time of gathering and enjoying the rewards of nature, and Blake captures this perfectly. The poem focuses on fruit being full and ready to be enjoyed, showing that the season is about abundance rather than loss. This idea of harvesting represents a time of fulfillment, where everything has reached its peak, and people can take in the beauty and richness of what nature has given them.
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou mayst rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
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33/100
‘John Barleycorn: A Ballad’ by Robert Burns unfolds nature’s sacrifice in vivid verses, celebrating whisky’s birth and Scotland’s cultural heritage.
The poem subtly addresses harvesting through the symbolic narrative of John Barleycorn. The stages of ploughing, cutting, and eventual consumption encapsulate the essence of harvesting. Barley's sacrifice becomes a metaphor for the culmination of efforts, capturing the cyclical and ritualistic nature of harvesting, both in agriculture and in the rich tapestry of cultural traditions celebrated in the poem.
There was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.
