Alone in the woods, the speaker meets an old man who asks him to come and see a grave he has dug for Amaryllis. The man’s voice is so full of grief that the speaker follows, then stands looking at the buried body of an ancient woman, thin and wasted. The name Amaryllis suggests youth and pastoral beauty, so the shock is that she has become this frail, aged figure. Outside the forest, the speaker hears the loud, cheerful noises of modern life—commerce, progress, trumpets. But those sounds only deepen his loneliness. He is moved not by the world’s energy but by the quiet, private fact that Amaryllis grew old and died. The mood is elegiac and still, setting personal loss against a noisy, indifferent world.
Amaryllis — Summary
Once, when I wandered in the woods alone, An old man tottered up to me and said, "Come, friend, and see the grave that I have made For Amaryllis." There was in the tone Of his complaint such quaver and such moan That I took pity on him and obeyed, And long stood looking where his hands had laid An ancient woman, shrunk to skin and bone. Far out beyond the forest I could hear The calling of loud progress, and the bold Incessant scream of commerce ringing clear; But though the trumpets of the world were glad, It made me lonely and it made me sad To think that Amaryllis had grown old.