17 pages • 34 minutes read
Phillis LevinEnd of April
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Fragility of Nature
In “The End of April” the speaker observes the beauty and fragility of the natural world. In doing so, the speaker invokes the cyclical nature of the seasons and the ways in which the fragility and endurance of nature echo the memory and experience of human connections.
While spring is often associated with rebirth and renewal in the Western poetic tradition, the speaker instead emphasizes a scene that is permeated with the end of that cycle instead of its beginning. Instead of finding a robin’s egg that still contains a growing chick within, the speaker discovers the egg once it is already “broken” (Line 3). The speaker reflects that, “What had been there / is gone now” (Lines 22-23). Likewise, the cherry tree is not in its first springtime bloom, as the speaker is kneeling amidst “fallen blossoms” (Line 6) that the tree has already shed. The speaker’s descriptions of the tree and eggs as both beautiful and yet fragile invoke how nature is both a source of life and a scene of decay. The speaker connects these natural remnants of loss and fragility with the unknown “you” the speaker “had been thinking of” when they first found the egg (Line 4), implying that, just as nature is fragile, so too are human connections.
The speaker, however, also alludes to how nature and human connections can endure in surprising ways. The speaker describes the egg as a symbol of not just fragility, but power, as nature has created something that “didn’t seem real” (Line 10), and yet, as the speaker acknowledges, “nature will do such things / from time to time” (Lines 11-12). Nature’s ability to create things that seem unreal in their beauty and delicacy suggests strength beneath the apparent fragility. In a similar vein, despite the loss of the connection with the “you” the speaker is remembering, the speaker’s memory of, and feelings for, the unknown “you” remain powerful and vivid: The memory of what once was still “lives in [their] heart” (Line 21) and “periodically / it opens up its wings / tearing [them] apart” (Lines 22-24). The speaker thus suggests that, despite the ending or loss of the connection with the “you,” the speaker’s memory keeps something of their feelings for the “you” alive, inducing a strong emotional reaction that can still “tea[r] [them] apart” (Line 24) whenever the memories are called to mind.
Both the natural scene and the speaker’s emotional state therefore mirror one another: Just as the speaker is absorbed by how nature is both fragile and yet resilient, so too are the speaker’s feelings and memories of the unknown “you” still enduring in their “heart,” speaking of a connection that is severed but not yet forgotten.
The Experience of Loss
In “The End of April,” the speaker reflects on the experience of loss. The poem explores the bittersweet feelings occasioned by an unspecified, lost connection with another person, with the speaker’s encounter with the robin’s egg inspiring them to remember their past connection with deep emotion.
The speaker discovers an eggshell under a tree at “the end of April,” with the end of the season invoking the end of that former connection. The promise of spring and new beginnings has now given way to a more ambiguous experience of the season, with the “cherry tree” (Line 1) having dropped its “blossoms,” which are scattered upon “the grass” (Line 5). The dropped blossoms suggest the ending of early spring’s sense of blossoming and renewal, invoking a cycle of rebirth and loss. The speaker’s eye is then caught by the “delicate” (Line 8) eggshell, which is defined as “a robin’s egg” (Line 2), which immediately implies its bright blue color. Even though it has been “hollow[ed]” (Line 14) its “perfect shell” (Line 15) is still “glistening” (Line 14). As with the cherry tree’s blossoms, the empty shell speaks of loss.
Despite the beauty of the speaker’s surroundings, they describe the scene in elegiac terms. These words suggest loneliness and abandonment. The blooms have “fallen” (Line 6) from the tree and the eggshell is “broken” (Line 3), the remnant of it is now no more than a “blue scrap” (Line 7) of what was once whole. The eggshell has a “missing crown” (Line 16) and its interior is “hollow” (Line 14). The speaker states that “what had been there / is gone now” (Lines 19-20). These words suggest abandonment and brokenness, creating an atmosphere of loss and longing for what is no longer whole and complete.
The speaker describes the past relationship with the unknown “you” in terms that suggest it was, like the blossoms and the egg, also beautiful but not substantial. As the speaker puts it, “it didn’t seem real” (Line 10). Instead, it was “as light / as confetti” (Lines 8-9), and “a delicate toy” (Line 8). This suggests something easily blown away or broken. From the perspective of hindsight, they can now look “inside” (Line 13) the relationship as if it were the abandoned eggshell. Its “perfect” (Line 15) status is quickly amended, since the eggshell has a “missing crown” (Line 16), which would complete its shape. This alludes to the fact that the prior relationship was devoid of some crucial element or event.
Thanks to this broken piece, the speaker can now “look inside” (Line 18) the egg/relationship and see it as “hollow” (Line 14). In this way, the speaker uses the egg to contemplate the lost connection, grappling with how the connection failed to reach a more permanent state of fulfillment.
