Commentary on poem After The Flood :: English Literature

Commentary on poem After The Flood The poem â€Å"After The Flood† has a slow and steady tempo. The poet created it by not mentioning too many events at once, but slowly, and gives time for the observer to recall – â€Å"I remembered...† and gives his own opinion on the events – â€Å"It had not been a bad rise†¦Ã¢â‚¬  These give the readers a better understanding and a clearer picture on what is happening. As we read through the poem, we have an image of the observer, standing at the ruins of the park, observing carefully what is going on around and describing them in words what he sees and comparing them with the past condition – which was before the flood. The pace of the observer in observing is somewhat unified with the tempo of the poem, so the reader is like ‘following’ the observer and listening to him. After reading the poem, a calm and tense less image of the observer is created in our mind. Phrases like â€Å"The morning it was over†, shows that the observer is feeling calm and believes that everything is over and there is nothing more to worry about. â€Å"I walked†¦Ã¢â‚¬  shows the observer is worried of nothing and walked calmly to the Jersey side. â€Å"It had not been a bad rise† also shows that the observer doesn’t exaggerate on what he sees, but judges it fairly according to his own thoughts. â€Å"I felt I must surely†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ so familiar†, this sort of tell us that the poet is so unworried and have time to recall the past and being a little nostalgic. Line 17-24 shows us the observer comparing the condition of the river presently and during the flood, he is calm and carefully observing the situation and even the sounds around him. The river in this poem is described through comparisons or figures of speech. The observer thinks the river is amazing as its intensity has decreased considerably. The water is described as ‘swollen’; this gives us the image of the water flowing along the river in a rough motion and is forming little waves. It is disordered and dirty. Line 19-20 is a simile where the flowing river is compared to a beast that is sneaking around. It is referred as ‘beast’ as it had created a massive destruction to the place and has ruined everybody’s mood. Now, it is as if the ‘beast’ is tired and retreats slowly, so it is said to be sneaking around. Another role of the river in this poem is to show continuity of life. Though the place had been devastated and the