Walt Whitman

Start Free Trial

Student Question

In "Come Up From the Fields Father," how do the family members sense the letter's bad news?

Quick answer:

The family, particularly the mother, senses the letter's bad news through a premonition. The poem describes her as having an ominous feeling, prompting her to hurry with trembling steps without pausing to adjust her appearance. This instinctive reaction suggests a deeper intuition or maternal bond that alerts her to the impending tragedy concerning her son, Pete, even though the poem provides no explicit external indication of the letter's contents.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

We are never actually told how it is that the family, and the mother in particular, knows that the letter contains bad news. What we are told is that the mother has a strange premonition that the letter will tell her something terrible. Perhaps this premonition can be explained by the intense love that she has for her son, the dead Pete, and the unfathomable bond that exists between mother and child. Note what the poem tells us about her instinct and intuition:

Fast as she can she hurries, something ominous,
her steps trembling,
She does not tarry to smooth her hair nor
adjust her cap.

There is no indication, from what we are told in the poem, that would lead us to suspect that the letter contains bad news. There is just the mother's instinctive reaction to having received this letter that points towards some kind of deeper intuition or premonition.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial