Autumnal Post-Harvest

The poem takes place in a rural, post-harvest environment. The fields have been cleared, with sheaves bound and piled at the roadside near sleeping oxen. This gives the setting a liminal and autumnal feel. The harvest is done, the fields empty, and a "toothed" (jagged or partial) moon demonstrates dusk and a change of seasons (7). Transitions between growth and rest, day and night, harvest and barrenness appear throughout the poem. The landscape is not just a static background. It actively assembles and participates in the ritual that transpires.

The Uncanny

The nocturnal and slightly off-kilter descriptions give the poem an uncanny edge. The very first line reads, "Even now this landscape is assembling," which imbues it with a sense of agency. The word "assembling" unsettles the expectation of static nature. The terrain forms before the reader's eyes, and the rural scenes of harvest and domesticity blend the...