In "Come Up from the Fields Father," Whitman presents a rich description of nature. He talks about the fields of Ohio, with buckwheat that the bees enjoy. The trees are green, yellow and red and a slight wind moves them. We also see apple orchards, grapes, a calm sky and beautiful clouds. However, the rest of the scene is one of sadness and despair. The son of the family has been killed in the war. The rich and vivid images of nature contribute to creating a contrast between the beautiful environment and the horrors of the war.
In "There Will Come Soft Rains," the imagery is reversed. Instead of showing how war interrupts the natural environment, Teasdale shows how nature can reclaim the environment from war. Therefore, she shows the same contrast, but she uses a different direction. In the poem, she describes how nature will eventually reclaim a battlefield, and everything that was sad and destructive will become beautiful once more.
