“Afterwards” Summary

“Afterwards” Themes

• 

  Death and Remembrance

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  The Value of Observing Nature

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Afterwards”

• Lines 1-4

  When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay,
  And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,
  Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say,
  "He was a man who used to notice such things"?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  If it be in the dusk when, like an eyelid's soundless blink,
  The dewfall-hawk comes crossing the shades to alight
  Upon the wind-warped upland thorn, a gazer may think,
  "To him this must have been a familiar sight."

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  If I pass during some nocturnal blackness, mothy and warm,
  When the hedgehog travels furtively over the lawn,
  One may say, "He strove that such innocent creatures should come to no harm,
  But he could do little for them; and now he is gone."

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  If, when hearing that I have been stilled at last, they stand at the door,
  Watching the full-starred heavens that winter sees,
  Will this thought rise on those who will meet my face no more,
  "He was one who had an eye for such mysteries"?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom,
  And a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings,
  Till they rise again, as they were a new bell's boom,
  "He hears it not now, but used to notice such things?"

  

  

  

  

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“Afterwards” Symbols

• 

  The Leaves

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“Afterwards” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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“Afterwards” 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.

• Postern
• Tremulous
• Delicate-filmed
• New-spun silk
• Dewfall-hawk
• Alight
• Wind-warped
• Upland thorn
• Mothy
• Furtively
• Strove
• Stilled
• Full-starred heavens
• Bell of quittance
• Outrollings

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Afterwards”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Afterwards” Speaker

“Afterwards” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Afterwards”

More “Afterwards” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Biography of Thomas Hardy — Read more about the poet and novelist's life and career in this Poetry Foundation article.   

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of "Afterwards."

  • An Introduction to the Victorian Era — Learn more about the Victorian era, in which Hardy lived most of his life, and which continued to influence his poetry into old age. 

  • An Introduction to Modernism — Learn more about the Modernist movement, which encompassed Hardy's later years and shaped his poetry as well.

  • The Thomas Hardy Society — An organization devoted to the appreciation and understanding of Hardy's work.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Thomas Hardy

  • A Broken Appointment

  • At an Inn

  • At Castle Boterel

  • A Wife in London

  • Channel Firing

  • Drummer Hodge

  • Hap

  • He Never Expected Much

  • Neutral Tones

  • The Convergence of the Twain

  • The Darkling Thrush

  • The Man He Killed

  • The Oxen

  • The Ruined Maid

  • The Voice

  • Where the Picnic Was