Red May

A. Mary F. Robinson

1857 to 1944

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We are working on the musical arrangement of Red May by A. Mary F. Robinson and will be publishing it at:

11:00 EST on February 18, 2025.

Out of the window the trees in the Square
  Are covered with crimson May—
You, that were all of my love and my care,
   Have broken my heart to-day.

But though I have lost you and though I despair
   Till even the past looks gray—
Out of the window the trees in the Square
   Are covered with crimson May.

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A. Mary F. Robinson's Red May

A. Mary F. Robinson’s poem Red May is a brief yet poignant piece that juxtaposes the beauty of nature with personal heartache. Its use of imagery, repetition, and form conveys a speaker’s emotional conflict, contrasting the external vibrance of spring with internal desolation.

Red May is structured as a short lyric poem, unfolding across two quatrains. The poem’s tone is elegiac, reflecting on themes of lost love and despair. Robinson crafts a powerful tension between the external world’s beauty and the speaker’s inner sorrow. Through the symbolic use of the “crimson May” blossoms and a circular structure, Robinson implies that nature’s beauty is indifferent to human suffering.

The poem opens with an immediate image: “Out of the window the trees in the Square / Are covered with crimson May.” The visual of blooming trees, likely hawthorns (often referred to as “May” when in bloom), symbolizes the vibrancy and cyclical renewal of spring. However, this natural beauty stands in stark contrast to the speaker’s emotional state, established in the next two lines: “You, that were all of my love and my care, / Have broken my heart to-day.” These lines reveal a recent heartbreak, suggesting that a romantic partner, who once embodied the speaker’s affection and attention, has caused deep pain. This revelation disrupts the harmony of the natural scene, indicating that personal despair is isolating and that nature, in its ongoing beauty, is untouched by human suffering.

In the second stanza, Robinson intensifies the speaker's sense of loss. The line “But though I have lost you and though I despair” confirms that the separation is not only recent but also devastating. The word "despair" denotes an absence of hope, and the line “Till even the past looks gray” suggests that the pain has retrospectively tainted happier memories, casting a shadow over what once might have been cherished. This line powerfully articulates how intense grief can distort one’s perception of the past, making even joyful memories seem bleak and hollow.

Yet, despite this emotional turmoil, the poem returns to the initial image: “Out of the window the trees in the Square / Are covered with crimson May.” This repetition reinforces nature’s indifference to human emotions. The trees remain “covered with crimson May,” their beauty unchanged by the speaker’s sorrow. Here, Robinson might be suggesting a duality: while nature’s indifference can feel alienating, it also continues to offer beauty and stability in the face of personal upheaval. This constancy, however, provides little solace to the speaker, whose repeated focus on the scene outside the window may imply a kind of emotional entrapment—the speaker can observe beauty but cannot fully engage with or take comfort from it due to overwhelming grief.

In Red May, Robinson elegantly balances the themes of renewal and desolation. The natural world, symbolized by the blooming “crimson May” trees, serves as a counterpoint to human sorrow, reflecting both the indifference of nature to personal grief and the painful persistence of beauty amid despair. The circular structure, where the first and last lines mirror each other, emphasizes the inescapability of the speaker’s sorrow, suggesting that, for the heartbroken, beauty in the world may simply reinforce the weight of their loss.