Cane: 3. November Cotton Flower Summary & Analysis

Like “Reapers,” this poem is highly formal. Its iambic pentameter and 14 lines suggest a sonnet, although it insists on a break with tradition in its use of rhymed couplets rather than the sonnet’s more stylized rhyme schemes. In this way, it contributes to Toomer’s attempt to help express a native, American artistic sensibility using American vernacular language and images. Thematically, the poem concerns the power of nature, specifically when it comes to agriculture. It suggests that, despite humanity’s achievements, as long as people rely on nature for food and other materials (such as the cotton grown in the American South), they will remain vulnerable to catastrophe. Yet, this vulnerability can also inform an appreciation of the natural world’s beauty.