"Amends" was written by the American poet Adrienne Rich. The poem describes a nighttime scene in which the moonlight glides across a landscape. It begins by gently moving over an uninhabited natural setting marked by pebbles, water, cliffs, and sand before moving past evidence of industrial society—train tracks, a deep quarry, and a crop-dusting plane. Eventually, the moonlight reaches people asleep in their trailers, seemingly unaware of the moon's beauty and presence. Through the subtle development of its imagery, the poem explores the rift between modern society and the natural world, while also implying that human existence is far more fragile than people might think. "Amends" was first published in Rich’s collection Dark Fields of the Republic: Poems 1991-1995.
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The Full Text of “Amends”
The Full Text of “Amends”
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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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