End of April

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1995

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“The End of April,” is a 24-line lyric poem, divided into eight stanzas of three lines, or tercets. As a lyric, while it employs narrative elements such as character and setting, the poem concentrates on the speaker’s emotional state and observation. The poem is written in contemporary language and does not employ rhyme. Its lines, however, are of mostly of equal length and employ purposeful sound techniques that help create flow. This allows for a feeling of tension to emerge.

The poem also employs the technique of a distanced-remembering first person narration that allows for a movement from memory, “thinking of you” (Line 4), into an observation of the current discovery of the eggshell, back into the effects of the past upon the present, in which the beloved is “now gone / and lives in [the speaker’s] heart” (Lines 20-21). This allows for a sense of movement to pervade the poem without the speaker physically moving.

Setting

Levin uses juxtaposition between the spring setting of “The End of April” and the sense of loss the speaker is feeling to illustrate The Fragility of Nature and to explore the speaker’s emotional experience of memory and loss. Since it is the end of April, most “cherry tree[s]” (Line 1) have just reached the apex of their blooming and have begun losing their pink and white petals. The most famous cherry trees in the United States are in Washington, DC, but they grow throughout the northern US, particularly in New York and Maryland, where the poet has resided.

The robin is one of the most common birds in the United States and its arrival is often called “the first sign of spring” after colder winter weather. The brilliant blue of a “robin’s egg” (Line 2) and the speaker’s “kneeling in the grass” (Line 5) suggest a time of renewal and rebirth in the midst of a natural setting. This grounds the poem in a specific place while enriching the contrast in the poem between the vibrant landscape and the dark feeling of pain and loss the speaker experiences.

Moving From Euphonic Sound to Cacophony

“The End of April” features significant interplay between the use of euphonic, or pleasing phrasing/sounds, to cacophony, or harsh sounds. When the speaker is speaking of the beauty and rarity of the eggshell, euphonic phrasing predominates, with lots of “l,” “n” and “m” sounds. The speaker is “kneeling in the grass / among fallen blossoms” (Lines 5-6). Afterward, the sound of “d” and “t,” which are harsher and indicate a feeling of the passage of time as in a ticking of a clock, or doomed fate, is increased. Comparing the egg to something “as light / as confetti” (Lines 8-9) the speaker then notes, “It didn’t seem real, / but nature will do such things / from time to time” (Lines 10-12). This shifting between soft and hard sounds culminates in the end image where the “v” and “w” suggest the soft unfolding of wings, while the harsher “r” enhances the idea of ripping open. The speaker notes what might have been: