The Full Text of “Amends”
The Full Text of “Amends”
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“Amends” Introduction
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“Amends” Summary
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“Amends” Themes
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Humanity and the Natural World
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-16
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The Fragility of Human Life
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-16
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Amends”
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Lines 1-3
Nights like this: on ...
... of the bark: -
Lines 4-5
on the ground, ...
... with the surf -
Lines 6-8
laying its cheek ...
... across the tracks -
Lines 9-10
as it unavailing ...
... the sand-and-gravel quarry -
Lines 11-12
as it leans ...
... the crop-dusting plane -
Lines 13-14
as it soaks ...
... tremulous with sleep -
Lines 15-16
as it dwells ...
... to make amends.
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“Amends” Symbols
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The Moon
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 4-16
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The Apple-Bough
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-3: “on the cold apple-bough / a white star, then another / exploding out of the bark:”
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“Amends” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Allusion
Where allusion appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Nights like this: ”
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Caesura
Where caesura appears in the poem:- Line 1: “this: on”
- Line 2: “star, then”
- Line 4: “ground, moonlight”
- Line 7: “ledge, as”
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Anaphora
Where anaphora appears in the poem:- Line 5: “as it,” “as it”
- Line 7: “as it,” “as it”
- Line 8: “as it”
- Line 9: “as it”
- Line 10: “of the”
- Line 11: “as it”
- Line 12: “of the”
- Line 13: “as it”
- Line 15: “as it”
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Parallelism
Where parallelism appears in the poem:- Line 5
- Line 7
- Line 8
- Lines 9-10
- Lines 11-12
- Lines 13-14
- Lines 15-16
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Juxtaposition
Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:- Lines 5-8
- Lines 9-16
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Imagery
Where imagery appears in the poem:- Line 1
- Lines 2-3
- Line 4
- Line 5
- Line 6
- Line 7
- Line 8
- Lines 9-10
- Lines 11-12
- Lines 13-14
- Line 15
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 2-3: “a white star, then another / exploding out of the bark:”
- Line 7: “as it flows up the cliffs,”
- Line 9: “as it unavailing pours”
- Lines 9-10: “the gash / of the sand-and-gravel quarry”
- Line 13: “as it soaks through cracks into the trailers”
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Personification
Where personification appears in the poem:- Line 4: “moonlight picking at small stones”
- Line 5: “as it picks at greater stones,”
- Line 6: “laying its cheek for moments on the sand”
- Line 7: “as it licks the broken ledge”
- Lines 11-12: “as it leans across the hangared fuselage / of the crop-dusting plane”
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Simile
Where simile appears in the poem:- Line 16: “as if to make amends.”
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Irony
Where irony appears in the poem:- Lines 1-16
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End-Stopped Line
Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:- Line 1: “apple-bough”
- Line 3: “bark:”
- Line 4: “stones”
- Line 5: “surf”
- Line 6: “sand”
- Line 7: “cliffs,”
- Line 8: “tracks”
- Line 10: “quarry”
- Line 12: “plane”
- Line 14: “sleep”
- Line 16: “amends.”
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 4: “small,” “stones”
- Line 5: “stones,” “surf”
- Line 6: “sand”
- Line 7: “licks,” “ledge,” “flows”
- Line 8: “flicks”
- Line 9: “gash”
- Line 10: “gravel”
- Line 13: “trailers”
- Line 14: “tremulous,” “sleep”
- Line 15: “sleepers”
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Consonance
Where consonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “cold apple”
- Line 3: “exploding,” “bark”
- Line 4: “small,” “stones”
- Line 5: “picks,” “stones,” “surf”
- Line 6: “cheek,” “sand”
- Line 7: “licks,” “broken,” “ledge,” “flows,” “cliffs”
- Line 8: “flicks,” “tracks”
- Line 9: “gash”
- Line 10: “sand-and,” “gravel,” “quarry”
- Line 11: “leans across,” “hangared fuselage”
- Line 12: “crop-dusting plane”
- Line 13: “soaks,” “cracks,” “trailers”
- Line 14: “tremulous,” “sleep”
- Line 15: “dwells upon,” “eyelids,” “sleepers”
- Line 16: “make amends”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Nights like”
- Line 5: “it picks”
- Line 7: “it licks,” “cliffs”
- Line 8: “it flicks,” “tracks”
- Line 9: “gash”
- Line 13: “cracks”
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“Amends” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Bough
- Ledge
- Flicks
- Unavailing
- Gash
- Quarry
- Hangared
- Fuselage
- Tremulous
- Amends
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(Location in poem: Line 1: “on the cold apple-bough”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Amends”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Amends” Speaker
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“Amends” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Amends”
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More “Amends” Resources
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External Resources
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Essay on Adrienne Rich’s Collected Poems — Read this article in the New Yorker to learn more about Rich’s development as a poet, and her work to constantly challenge her own metaphors.
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Audio of Adrienne Rich — Listen to Adrienne Rich read poems from Dark Fields of the Republic (the collection in which “Amends” was published).
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The Literary Trust of Adrienne Rich — Learn more about Adrienne Rich’s life and work, and read and listen to her poems, at this website run by the poet’s literary trust.
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More on Dark Fields of the Republic — Read this review of Dark Fields of the Republic in the Los Angeles Times to learn more about the collection in which “Amends” was first published.
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Biography of Adrienne Rich — Read about Adrienne Rich’s life, poetry, and critical responses to her work in this biographical article from the Poetry Foundation.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Adrienne Rich
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