Burning the Stubble by Stallworthy, Summary, Analysis and Themes

Howie Stallworthy is a 20th-century English critic and poet. He remained acting president at Wolfson College, Oxford thrice the time. Stallworthy was a professor at Oxford from 1992 to 2000. Basically he was born in 1935.

"Stubble Burning" is a poem by Jon Stallworthy that explores the cyclical nature of life and the process of renewal. The poem reflects on the idea that destruction is necessary for growth and the creation of new life.

Composition of the Poem

The poem can be divided into three stanzas. There are different rhyming schemes in each stanza. The analysis of each stanza is as under.

First Stanza

"Another harvest gathered in

Worse than the last; only a bin

of rotten grain for all our trouble.

But there is a time for the plough,

a time for harvesting, and now

a time for burning the stubble."

In the first stanza, the speaker reflects on the recent harvest, which was disappointing and yielded only a small amount of rotten grain. However, despite this setback, the speaker recognizes that there is a time for everything, including ploughing, harvesting, and burning the stubble.

 

Second Stanza

"Flames snap at the wind, and it

etches the eye with a bitter

mirage of summer. Returning

I looked for the dip in the ground,

the nest, the unfurled poppy; found

nothing but stubble burning."

The second stanza describes the burning of the stubble, with the flames dancing in the wind and creating a "bitter mirage of summer." The speaker returns to the field and looks for signs of new life, such as a nest or a poppy, but finds only the charred remains of the stubble.

Third Stanza

"And charred ground hardening towards frost.

Fire before ice; and the ground must

be ploughed after burning the stubble,

The ground must be broken again.

There can be no new grain

Without, first, burning the stubble."

The third stanza emphasizes the cyclical nature of life, with the fire preceding the frost and the ground needing to be ploughed again in order to prepare it for new growth. The speaker emphasizes that there can be no new grain without first burning the stubble, symbolizing the idea that destruction and renewal are intertwined.

The themes of the poem include the cyclical nature of life, the importance of destruction for renewal, and the idea that growth and change can come from destruction. The poem also touches on the themes of hope and resilience, as the speaker recognizes that even though the harvest was disappointing, there is still a chance for new growth and renewal in the future.