THE HARVEST

MOON
By Ted Hughes

Presented by
 "The Harvest Moon" appeared
in Season Songs (1975), a collection
Ted Hughes originally intended to

About write for children but ended up

gearing more toward adults. The

the poem's language is playful, almost

nursery rhyme-like, but the scene it
paints is alarming: a harvest moon
Poem (a full moon in the month of
September) that mysteriously
disturbs and fascinates people,
animals, and plants alike.
 • "The Harvest Moon" contains four stanzas of varying
length (eight, four, four, and three lines, respectively). It
doesn't follow a consistent meter; it's basically a
free verse poem, though it does contain some rhymes.
This style is typical of Hughes's work: his poems tend to
be strongly musical while avoiding neat, predictable

Form of structures.
• "The Harvest Moon," which was published in a volume
originally intended for children, also contains some

the qualities often found in children's verse, such as playful

rhymes and ear-pleasing (but not strict) rhythms.
Interestingly, rhyme starts to fade over the course of the

Poem
poem, even as the imagery grows increasingly ominous.
In both form and content, then, the poem becomes less
childlike—more grown-up and unsettling—as it goes on.
• Although the stanzas don't follow any traditional
structure, they do help organize the poem in a logical way.
The first stanza describes the moon's effect on earth, the
second its effect on people and trees, the third its effect
on animals, and the fourth its effect on fields and rivers.
 • Lines 1-5 introduce the poem's main image: the "harvest
moon" of the title. The harvest moon is the full moon that
The flame-red moon, occurs closest to the fall equinox, either in September or
October. Traditionally, it marks the transition from summer to
the harvest moon, autumn, which is also the harvest season in farming
communities.

Rolls along the hills, • At first, the poem portrays the moon playfully, using vivid
descriptions to evoke its dazzling presence in the twilight sky.
gently bouncing, This moon is "flame-red" and "vast"; it seems to move like a
huge "balloon," slowly "Roll[ing]" and "bouncing" along the hilly
horizon. As night falls, it rises: "takes off, and sinks upward / To
A vast balloon, lie on the bottom of the sky, like a gold doubloon."
A doubloon is an antique Spanish coin often associated with
pirates and seafaring tales, so this simile plays on the familiar
Till it takes off, and image of gold treasure sinking to the bottom of the sea.

sinks upward • The "balloon" metaphor transitions into the "doubloon" simile
within the space of a line, mirroring the rapid visual changes of
the moon itself. The moon is an ancient symbol of change.
To lie on the bottom And over the course of the poem, this harvest moon not
only marks a seasonal change but also
of the sky, like a mysteriously transforms the landscape below. It may even be a
gold doubloon. warning sign of disaster or doom.
• Though the loose, "bouncing" rhythms and gaudy rhymes
("moon"/"balloon"/"doubloon") of this first stanza sound like
lighthearted children's verse, the poem's imagery will grow
pretty disturbing by the end! An early hint of this shift comes in
the poem's ominous first adjective: "flame-red."
 • Line 6 announces that "The harvest moon has come." Technically,
this line is superfluous, since the opening lines have already
described the moon's arrival! But the announcement seems charged
with a grander significance, as if this moonrise isn't just a normal
night time occurrence but a fateful event.
• Lines 7-8 then present a pair of similes describing the moon's effect
on Earth. The moon goes "Booming softly through heaven, like a
The harvest moon has bassoon," and it seems to cause the earth to vibrate in response: to
"repl[y] all night, like a deep drum."
come, • Read as a fantastical description of natural events, this might mean
that the mutual gravitational effect of moon and earth is like the call-
and-response of instruments in an orchestra. Or it might suggest, by
Booming softly through a playful associative logic, that this giant moon's arrival seems to be
heaven, like a bassoon. accompanied by "Booming" sounds; think of a giant's entrance in a
fairy tale or a god's entrance in "heaven." Its grand appearance, in
turn, seems to resonate throughout the landscape below. (Notice
And the earth replies all how the alliteration of "Booming"/"bassoon" and "deep drum," as
well as the assonance in "Booming"/"bassoon," makes the
night, like a deep drum. language in these lines reverberate.)
• Alternatively, these weird similes might suggest that
something supernatural is happening. Maybe, in the world of the
poem, the moon really is accompanied by "Booming" that causes the
earth to shake! From here until the end, it's possible to read the
poem in two main ways: as a description of a seasonal change
that feels apocalyptic (because it ushers in the harvesting of plants,
the slaughter of farm animals, the barrenness of winter, etc.), or as
an allegorical description of some actual apocalypse.
 • (Stanza 2) Lines 9-12 describe the moon's effect on humans
So people can't and trees below.

sleep, • This giant harvest moon, which is figuratively if not literally

"Booming" through the sky, is so dazzling and strange that it
keeps people awake at night. Sleepless, they walk out into
the moonlight:
So they go out • The word "vigil" describes the act of keeping watch, praying,
where elms and or conducting some other quiet ritual throughout the night.
For example, nighttime sentries can keep a vigil
oak trees keep (stay vigilant), but so can mourners sitting with the recently
deceased. Here, the poem draws on all the connotations of
the word. Maybe these personified trees seem to watch
A kneeling vigil, expectantly for some momentous event; maybe they seem
to mourn a loss (such as the end of summer or, as in line 16,
in a religious "the end of the world"); or maybe they seem to pray. Their
"kneeling" (bending toward earth) and "religious hush"
hush. certainly evoke some kind of worshipful ceremony. In any
case, the sleepless "people" want to join their vigil—to head
outdoors and quietly experience this strange celestial event.

The harvest • After this image comes a repetition of line 6, only this time
with an exclamation mark at the end: "The harvest moon has
moon has come! come!" This is the one time the speaker's tone seems to
shift, as if their emotions are showing through. Maybe the
speaker, too, is awed, excited, and/or frightened by this
moon; they seem to be proclaiming its arrival like a herald or
prophet.
 • Whereas the previous stanza described how people and trees respond to
the harvest moon, lines 13-16 (Stanza 3) describe the reaction of animals.
And all the moonlit • It's possible that these animals are "petrified" (fear-stricken) simply
cows and all the because the moon is weirdly large and red. Notice, though, that these
are farm animals—specifically, "cows" and "sheep," two kinds of livestock
sheep that are often slaughtered for their meat. Since this killing traditionally
took place before the winter months, perhaps the animals' fear is literally
or symbolically linked to their own approaching demise. To them, the
Stare up at her winter slaughter might well represent "the end of the world"!

petrified, while she • And that's not the only eerie part of this stanza. In real life, due to a kind of
optical illusion, the rising moon can seem especially large when it's still
swells close to the horizon. The stanza might be describing that natural effect—
but it also seems to hint at a divine or supernatural transformation. It's not
normal for a moon to look so large that it "Fill[s] heaven," or seems to drift
Filling heaven, as if "Closer and closer" to earth! The word "heaven" and the "end of the
world" simile force the reader to wonder whether this really is some kind
red hot, and sailing of mythical or biblical Armageddon. The apocalyptic Book of Revelation, for
example, features a blood-red moon and fire raining from heaven; some
modern depictions of the apocalypse also feature a comet or other "red
Closer and closer hot" fireball hurtling toward earth. (Since the biblical apocalypse coincides
with Christ's Second Coming, the animals' staring might even allude to
like the end of the the Nativity scene—i.e., depictions of barnyard animals staring at Christ's
birth.)
world. • Finally, this is the first time the poem calls the moon "she"/"her" rather
than "it." Does this sudden personification suggest that the moon is
some kind of goddess? Or are these the female pronouns traditionally
assigned to ships, since the moon is now "sailing" through the sky?
However one reads this change, it's another sign that the moon is
dramatically transforming—and scaring the livestock in the process.
 • (Stanza 4) Lines 17-19 bring the poem to a dramatic conclusion, as the moon's
arrival prompts an intense response from the entire landscape.

• Building on the personification in previous stanzas, the wheat fields in this

farmland "Cry" out eagerly: "We are ripe, reap us!" This is actually an example
of anthropomorphism, as the non-human wheat is given human traits (the
power of speech). Even though the poem's atmosphere has become less
playful since the opening stanza, these human-like representations of the
animal/natural world continue to echo children's literature (fairy tales, fables,

Till the gold fields of stiff etc.).

wheat • Of all the elements in the poem, the wheat seems most in tune with, and
excited by, the harvest moon. After all, it's the thing that's supposed to be
harvested! Its "gold" color even aligns with the moon's reddish "gold" (line 5).
It's so "ripe" for cutting down that it seems to ask to be "reap[ed]." (If the
Cry `We are ripe, reap poem is read as an apocalyptic allegory, these word choices might allude to
us!' and the rivers the figure of the Grim Reaper and/or the "reap[ing]" of souls in the Book of
Revelation. The alliteration and consonance in "ripe," "reap," and "rivers"
dramatically accentuate the wheat's "Cry."

Sweat from the melting • Meanwhile, "rivers / Sweat from the melting hills," as if in fear, excitement, or
frenzy. In other words, the rivers flow down from the hills like trickles of sweat.
hills. Or perhaps the river water is evaporating in the heat (under the "red hot"
moon).

• Once again, these events could be read as either natural or supernatural.

Maybe the speaker is just hyperbolically describing a hot autumn in which
the wheat is ripe for the harvest. The hills might appear to be "melting"
(shrinking) because their tall, "stiff" wheat stalks are getting cut down. On the
other hand, this could be an Armageddon scenario, in which earthly life in
general is about to be "reaped" (killed) and the hills are "melting" in hellish
doomsday heat. There's a way to reconcile these two readings: for plants and
animals, the poem might be suggesting, the harvest before winter seems like
doomsday.
Task:
•How does Ted Hughes make
‘The Harvest Moon’ such a
powerful poem?
THaNk you