The Late Singer
The Late Singer - meaning Summary
Late for Spring Song
The poem presents a speaker who observes spring’s renewal—maples opening, sap rising, a moon over marshes—yet feels delayed in joining nature’s music. He insists he is "still a young man" but repeats that he is "late at my singing," comparing himself to a sparrow already at its cadenzas. The tone mixes yearning and self-reproach, suggesting a sense of missed timing and an inner reluctance or grief that hinders celebration.
Read Complete AnalysesHere it is spring again and I still a young man! I am late at my singing. The sparrow with the black rain on his breast has been at his cadenzas for two weeks past: What is it that is dragging at my heart? The grass by the back door is stiff with sap. The old maples are opening their branches of brown and yellow moth-flowers. A moon hangs in the blue in the early afternoons over the marshes. I am late at my singing.
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