Clare’s speaker returns to a memory of walking with a loved one through woods and fields, a time when nature itself seemed to affirm their bond. But that “happy now” is gone. Winter and autumn have crept between them, freezing the heart and blighting the boughs. As the stanzas repeat the phrase “Now is past,” the poem circles through loss: the hazel bough, wild strawberries, and green leaves have all decayed or disappeared. Even the places where they once gathered fruit are now unknown. In the final lines, we learn her name—Adelaide—and feel the stark absence of “true love.” The mood is deeply nostalgic and quietly devastating. Natural imagery doesn’t just mirror the speaker’s grief; it becomes the grief itself, as seasons separate what love once held together. The landscape is permanently altered, and so is he.
Now is Past — Summary
Now_ is past--the happynow When we together roved Beneath the wildwood's oak-tree bough And Nature said we loved. Winter's blast Thenow_ since then has crept between, And left us both apart. Winters that withered all the green Have froze the beating heart. Now is past.
Now_ is past since last we met Beneath the hazel bough; Before the evening sun was set Her shadow stretched below. Autumn's blast Has stained and blighted every bough; Wild strawberries like her lips Have left the mosses green below, Her bloom's upon the hips. Now is past.
Now_ is past, is changed agen, The woods and fields are painted new. Wild strawberries which both gathered then, None know now where they grew. The skys oercast. Wood strawberries faded from wood sides, Green leaves have all turned yellow; No Adelaide walks the wood rides, True love has no bed-fellow. Now is past.