Amaryllis at the Fair · Chapter
XXXIV explained
Amaryllis and Amadis escape to the Brook-Field meadow, where they sit together on a fallen oak trunk, lost in love.
What happens
Amaryllis and Amadis escape to the Brook-Field meadow, where they sit together on a fallen oak trunk, lost in love. The narrator reflects on the unfitness of their match—Amaryllis strong and full of life, Amadis weak and penniless—and contrasts their idyllic interlude with the practical, perfectionist world of Iden, whose meticulous gate-building symbolizes his timeless but impractical nature. The chapter ends by leaving the lovers in their 'Interlude in Heaven.'
Themes in this chapter
Nature and the Pastoral Ideal
The meadow, buttercups, kingfisher, and oak trunk create an idyllic natural setting for the lovers' interlude, contrasting with the sordidness of poverty.
Art, Ambition, and Failure
Iden's gate is described as a work of art, built for all time, yet his perfectionism is seen as folly by the world and leads to financial strain.
Social Class and Money
Amaryllis's poverty and Amadis's inability to earn highlight the economic constraints that make their love seem unfit, contrasting with the ideal of a wealthy hero.
The Passage of Time and Loss
The narrator notes that Iden's strong back is already stooping, and the world's 'petty threescore years and ten' slips away while he dreams of perfection.
Characters to notice
- Amaryllis Iden
Sits with Amadis in the meadow, full of poetic feeling and love, yet aware of her poverty and the unfitness of their match.
- Amadis Iden
Weak and unable to earn a shilling, he leans on the oak trunk, tormented by his uselessness, yet lost in love with Amaryllis.
- Mr. Iden
Described through his meticulous gate-building—a symbol of his perfectionist, timeless approach to life, which the neighborhood scorns as foolish.
- Mrs. Iden
Criticizes Iden's fuss over the gate and urges him to visit his father for financial gain.
- Bill Nye
Mentioned as the mower who would mutter at the lovers trampling the grass.
Key passages
“Nothing ever happens in the fitness of things. If only now he could have regained the health and strength of six short months ago—if only that, but you see, he had not even that.”
Things never turn out as they should. Amadis wishes he could recover his former health, but he hasn't even that hope.
Reflects the theme of the unfitness of their love and the cruelty of circumstance.
“Iden built for all time, and not for the little circumstance of the hour. His gate was meant to last for years, rain and shine, to endure any amount of usage, to be a work of Art in itself.”
Iden created things to endure forever, ignoring immediate practical concerns; his gate was a masterpiece meant to withstand any weather and use.
Highlights Iden's perfectionist, timeless approach as both his strength and his folly.
“Let us leave our lovers in the Interlude in Heaven. And as I must leave them (I trust but for a little while) I will leave them on the brown oak timber, sap-stain brown, in the sunshine and dancing shadow of summer, among the long grass and the wild flowers.”
We pause the story to let the lovers remain in their perfect moment, like a heavenly interlude, before returning to the troubles of life.
The narrator deliberately suspends the narrative to preserve the idyllic scene.