Irony in Spring

In these biting, ironic lines, the narrator explores “death” both physically and mentally. The narrator finds death “not only under ground” but also “in the brains of men,” suggesting a metaphorical death of human intellect. This indictment is fitting in a poem that exhibits the use of reason over common modes of thought.

In an ironic turn, the narrator twists an often-praised feature of spring—the sunny weather—into an annoyance. The “sun on my neck” reads as discomfort. The specification of “my neck” brings the reader into the narrator’s physical experience. The narrator questions the conventional “beauty” of April by returning to her immediate experience.