Question

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?
1- what is the implication of the line 'next to nothing for use'?
2- state any two things the poet says about the leaves.
3- how does the poet fail before the mountains?

Answer 1

1. The poet spends a long time gathering leaves that have fallen off the trees in Autumn. he spends a long time and plenty of energy in doing this work, but he has only lifeless, dry leaves an the end of the process. Whatever he has collected serves no purpose at all. That is why he says: 'next to nothing of use'.
2. a. The rustling of the leaves sounds like rabbit or deer that are running away.
b. The bags filled with leaves are quite light as the leaves are dry and voluminous with practically no weight.
3. The mountains mentioned by the poet are the mountains of leaves that he has gathered. As he tries to gather leaves from these mountains into the bags, leaves 'elude his embrace' and overflow everywhere.