Amends by Adrienne Rich

Amends by Adrienne Rich
‘Amends’ by Adrienne Rich is a four stanza poem that is separated into sets of four lines.
While Rich has chosen not to utilize a rhyme scheme in this piece, she has made use of other
poetic techniques. For instance, she has chosen to repeat the short phrase, “as if” a number of
times throughout the poem. These two words begin eight of the poem’s 24 lines.
Additionally, Rich has chosen to use very little punctuation in the piece. In fact, the entire
poem is comprised of one long, drawn-out phrase that runs from the first word to the last
without a period. She made this choice in an effort to mimic the movements of the moonlight
that features so prominently in ‘Amends.’ It moves steadily over the earth, just as the reader
will move steadily through the poem without any punctuation to halt one’s progress.
Summary of Amends
‘Amends’ by Adrienne Rich describes the purity of moonlight as it passes over, and soaks
into, the face of the earth.
The speaker begins by describing the purity of the moon’s light and how on certain nights it
is more meaningful than others. The night of this poem’s telling is one such night. The light
emerges from behind an apple tree, crosses the ocean, pauses for a moment on the sand of the
shore, relishing in the solidity of the earth, and then begins to climb.
The moonlight moves up a cliff face and then comes into contact with humanity. It is forced
to travel through gash-like “quarries” and across the vast piles of waste humankind has
discarded. It finally reaches the population of the earth and rests of the eyelids of all the
sleepers, hoping to “amend” the actions of humanity. The purity of light is being wielded as a
weapon for the good of the earth.
Structure and Form of Amends

‘Amends’ by Adrienne Rich consists of four-line stanzas. There are a total of four stanzas in
the poem. Though there are a few rhyming lines, it is a free verse poem. In the second stanza,
the last two lines contain an imperfect rhyme. Likewise, the rhyme scheme follows in the last
two lines of the third stanza. In the last stanza, “trailers” and “sleepers” rhyme together.
However, the evenness of the lines in the poem, suggests the tone of calmness and the mood
of passivity.
The poem is written in anapestic meter. It means that each foot of the poem consists of three
syllables and the stress falls on the last syllable. Such a metrical structure of the line reflects
the calmness of the night. It also suggests the swift but dim movement of the moonlight.
Literary Devices in Amends
In ‘Amends’ by Adrienne Rich, the first literary device which appears on the surface is
personification. The poet personifies the moon investing it with the idea of “picking at small
stones”. Another major literary device present in the poem is enjambment. There are certain
lines in the poem which begins with the word “as”. Those lines contain a poetic device
named anaphora. In the third stanza of the poem, there is a metaphor. The “gash of the sand-
and-gravel quarry” is portrayed as a wound in the ground.
In the last stanza, the poet uses another metaphor to compare the moonlight with water or a
liquid. The poet thinks that the moonlight “soaks through cracks into the trailers”. There is an
alliteration in the phrase, “trailers tremulous”. Here the “t” sound gets repeated. As the
repeating sound is a consonant, it also comes under the category of consonance. The tone of
the last two lines of this stanza presents another literary device to the readers. It is a pathetic
fallacy.
Historical Context of Amends

‘Amends’ by Adrienne Rich first came into print in the year 1995. In the history of literature,
it was a period of postmodern writings. The theme of the poem also revolves around the ideas
of postmodernism. The way Rich presents her work seems to be an attempt to define an
underlying loss. It also represents the condition of the environment in the current scenario.
Analysis of Amends
Stanza One
Nights like this: on the cold apple-bough

(…)
on the ground, moonlight picking at small stones
The poem begins with the speaker stating that there are certain nights of the year, or perhaps
certain nights scattered throughout time, where light has a certain property. It holds an
increased amount of meaning in these instances.
It is on one of these nights that the speaker begins ‘Amends.’ The first and second lines state
that the light on a “Night like this” seems to “explode” out of a “cold apple-bough.” The light
emanates from this very specific place. It is likely that Rich chose the boughs of an apple tree
as the apparent source of the light for its literary and religious significance. The tree bore
forth knowledge, and now it is shining a light upon the world.
The light is not appearing from anywhere but is actually shining from the moon, through the
branches of the tree. It just looks as if it is coming from the “bark,” when in reality it comes
from a force far greater. It moves from the tree to the “ground” and across the landscape
“picking” its way over “small stones.” This is just the start for the moonlight, it has a long
journey ahead as it moves across the surface of the earth.
Stanza Two
as it picks at greater stones as it rises with the surf

(…)
as it flicks across the tracks
The second stanza picks up right where the first left off with the first of the “as it” phrases.
Due to the fact that this poem is one sentence, the reader will not come to the end of the
phrase until the final line. Many of these lines seem to hang in space without a conclusion,
this was done on purpose so that it will seem as though there is no end or beginning. One line
runs into another.
The moonlight is moving over the small and “greater stones,” and begins to “rise with the
surf.” Now a reader will understand that the light has started below the horizon, in the place
that the apple tree resides, and has now begun to touch the ocean waves.
The light has made its way to the shore, and like a human being, “lays[s] its cheek…on the
sand.” It only pauses briefly, but it still takes a moment to feel the solidity of the earth and the
texture of the sand.
From here it moves up a cliff face that abuts the coast. The texture of this feature is less
pleasing than the small grains of the sand. The cliff is “broken” and there a “ledges” the light
must overcome. It does so easily, and “flows up the cliffs,” to the “tracks.” This is the first
moment of true human presence that the poet has allowed entering into the story. She made
this choice to show the purity of the world without humankind, thereby increasing the coming
contrast.
Stanza Three
as it unavailing pours into gash

(…)
of the crop dusting plane
In the third stanza, the poet confronts the impact of humankind on the face of the earth. The
moonlight has moved away from the purity of the previous watery landscape to a new one
that has been cut up and added to by humanity.
The light is now pouring “unavailing” into a “gash.” It is clear from this word choice that the
“quarry” to which it refers is not natural. It is a blemish, or “gash,” upon the landscape. The
quarry is made of, and filled with, “sand-and-gravel” it has been tuned to that purpose.
Next, the light moves on to the “hangared fuselage.” This refers to the body of a crop-dusting
airplane that has been discarded, or stored, in a “hangar.” The location is most likely less of a
hangar, and more of a trash dump for ancient pieces of equipment.
Stanza Four
as it soaks through cracks into trailers

(…)
as if to make amends.
In the final section of the poem, the light reaches its last narrated location. Up until this point,
it was more like the light was moving over surfaces rather than penetrating them. Now, the
light is “soak[ing]” into the “cracks” of “trailers.” The pure and untouched light of the moon
is entering into the dirty, contaminated lives of human beings who are “tremulous with
sleep.”
These people are shaking or shivering in their sleep, they are filled with their own lives and
histories. The moonlight pauses on the “eyelids of the sleepers.” These “sleepers” are all of
humankind. All people have played a part in changing the face of the earth and are receiving
equal treatment from the light of the moon. There, the light “dwells.”
In the last line of the poem all of the “as it” statements come to a conclusion. The light has
been moving across the face of the earth in an attempt to heal, or “as if to make amends.” The
purity of the moon is hoping, through its sheer beauty and presence, to fix what humanity has
done to the planet.
The damage refers to the structures built, the harm done to the environment, or even the sheer
waste that has accumulated. It also refers to the mental and spiritual state of humanity itself.
Perhaps, the moon will be able to change something that has so far been ingrained in the
minds of humankind, the need to dominate, control, and consume. This is what needs to be
amended most of all.

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Amends by Adrienne Rich

Structure and Form of Amends

Historical Context of Amends

Nights like this: on the cold apple-bough

as it picks at greater stones as it rises with the surf

as it unavailing pours into gash

as it soaks through cracks into trailers

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