https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52451/on-summer
For those in rural areas that rely on agricultural cultivation for both their subsistence and livelihoods, the scorching heat during the seasonal transition from summer to autumn can cause exhaustion as final efforts of the farming season are made. While laborers toil, thunder booms above, sun rays beam down, children play, fields thrive, livestock seek shade, birds sing, and insects buzz. All living things experience the oppressive, thick heat of late summer, yet assuredly, most all persevere and celebrate their survival through another season. In George Moses Horton’s 1865 poem On Summer, the speaker expresses a nuanced, naturalistic outlook on the late summer season by exploring a range of living elements’ contribution to the persona of summer, revealing that though a year’s labor may feel tireless, one may take satisfaction and gratitude in the rewards their work yields.
As summer comes to a close, fields in rural areas become ripe for harvest, and fragile living things begin to feel summer’s imposing presence. In Horton’s On Summer, the speaker promptly establishes the setting in “Esteville”, a small farming town in rural North Carolina where George Moses Horton was enslaved on a tobacco plantation before buying his freedom (1). The author’s choice in diction to use Esteville as the initial word of the poem makes abundantly clear that the entirety of the poem reflects summer as Horton himself experienced it, as Esteville summers were the only summers he knew for most of his life. Due to Horton’s diction in the beginning of the poem, a tone of nostalgia thickly coats the remainder of the poem, as the author continues to write somewhat fondly about summers he has experienced first hand. In the second stanza, Horton introduces an allusion to “perspiring Cancer”, alluding to the astrological sign of Cancer that is in season during the month of July (5). The author then personifies Cancer as “roar[ing] terrific from on high”, displaying the almighty power that spiritual forces have over earthly dwellings (6). Both the allusion and personification of the Cancer sign suggests that greater powers beyond human control dictate the flow of seasons on earth, therefore the cyclicity of them is inevitable. Summer’s oppressive heat and foreboding, thunderous storms are unavoidable, thus every living being must fall in line and find their role within the fiery season. In the following lines, Horton foreshadows the structure of the rest of the poem, introducing the poem’s motif of spotlighting “timid creatures” and how they contribute to summer’s persona within Horton’s observations (7). Horton writes that such timid creatures fear the personified roaring of Cancer, “whose voice (…) from which they strive with awe to fly” (8). The author frequently uses diction relating to flight and freedom within the poem; one may draw the conclusion that the oppressive summertime heat Horton describes is an extended metaphor for the oppression he experienced during his enslavement, and as a metaphor for enslaved people such as himself, Horton personifies small creatures struggling to survive under summer’s heat as desiring to fly away and seek freedom. The reader must first understand Horton’s background in order to piece together this metaphor, however, much of his audience at the poem’s date of publication were likely well-educated, wealthy, and white: a demographic that were most likely unaware of Horton’s origin. With the knowledge that his audience was the privileged few within a mass system of oppression, whereas Horton himself existed far lower on the hierarchy, it becomes clear to the modern reader that On Summer’s extended metaphor functions as a secret message about the desire for escape from unavoidable oppression hidden within a seemingly lighthearted poem about late summer. Through Horton’s use of literary techniques such as tone, allusions, and extended metaphors, he was able to craft a digestible lamentation concerning enslaved people’s desire for liberty disguised as a nostalgic nature poem. By introducing the summertime rural setting as living creatures themselves experience it, Horton initiates On Summer’s structural message that though hard work must be contributed by every being in order to survive heat-laden hardship, self-gratification is the pot of gold at the end of the post-summer-storm rainbow.
The late summer season’s eminent harvest occurs cyclically without fail each year, and though it may come with unendurable heat, each living being must find their role within the collaborative summer ecosystem in order to survive. In an abstract fashion, Horton audibly illustrates harvest season’s cause for celebration by way of sound devices within the third through ninth stanzas. In the third stanza, Horton writes of a “night-hawk [venturing] from his cell” and “start[ing] his note in evening air” (9-10). In the following stanza, the speaker commands “noisy insect[s]” to “start thy drum”, “Philomela” to “sound in front the nightly strain”, and the “bee” to “[begin] her ceaseless hum” (9-17). Most all the sound devices in these lines are accompanied by the words start or begin, suggesting the initiation of sound. The quick succession of mentions of different creatures is reminiscent of the lineup of a parade, and the speaker’s commands for each creature to begin making noise are similar to a conductor’s directions when guiding a symphony. Each creature being called to join together in making their own unique sounds creates harmonic, celebratory imagery; Horton suggests that all living things work together in harmony, and such collaboration is to be celebrated. The poem’s overall tone of satisfaction with completed efforts can be summed up by the fifth stanza that illustrates the aforementioned “bee [beginning] her ceaseless hum” (17). The speaker describes the action of the bee “[storing] her comb” as a “sweet exertion” and a “delight”, showing that the bee takes pride and joy in the everyday labor she engages in for survival. The bee is also described as being successful in her work, as the speaker denotes her “rising stock supplies” (20). Though her efforts cause her to exert significant energy, the bee is self-gratified by her ability to provide for herself. Along with the bee, all the other creatures within the poem are described as taking satisfaction in their labor, suggesting that though annual work may feel tireless, one may be gratified by the rewards that their work yields. Sprinkled throughout the central stanzas of the poem, there are four instances of slant rhymes that break the poem’s rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD. These slant rhymes include “air” and “fear”, “hum” and “comb”, “head” and “shade”, and “flood” and “rod”. The infrequency of these slant rhymes within the poem’s structure cause a mood of slight unease, yet an overall feeling of consistency and assuredness is backed by the poem’s general rhyme scheme trend. This feeling of mild unease within overwhelming consistency applies to how living things feel under summer’s heated burden; though the heat and humidity can cause slight discomfort, summer’s guaranteed annual rhythm grants everything a feeling of continuity. Through George Moses Horton’s use of sound devices, joyful diction, and slant rhymes, he reveals that gratitude and fulfillment that accompanies reaping what one sows is cause for celebration and enjoyment.
In a seemingly chaotic and unpredictable world, the coming and going of the seasons is at times the only guarantee living beings can cling to, therefore one must be grateful for such sure things. In the final three stanzas of On Summer, Horton concludes the poem with descriptions of nature’s benefactions to be reaped during the harvest season ahead. When illustrating the “pomacious orchards” that line Esteville, the author ends the line with “now expand” without punctuation to accompany the final word of the line (37). Every other line in the poem ends with either a comma, semi-colon, or period, causing this enjambed line to be a strange occurrence within the poem’s structure. Horton’s use of enjambment and diction go hand in hand in this line; in order to further display that the apple orchards are expanding, Horton wrote the line to expand into the following line. Diving further into structure, On Summer is constructed of twelve quatrains, each written in iambic tetrameter. Such ultra-rigid structure is often employed by poets when awarding high praise to the subject matter they are writing about. Therefore, it is made clear by Horton’s use of structure that he values and respects the summer season to a high degree. Twelve is a significant number when writing about time as well, as there are twelve months in a year; more significantly to the poem itself, there are twelve weeks that make up the three months of summer. On Summer’s rigid structure not only bestows great dignity upon the season of summer itself, but also symbolizes the passage of time and its inevitability. Such attuned, highly organized structure may also suggest the organization of all living things within the summertime ecosystem, all of which share the celebration of survival through another season.
