Analysis of The Tree: An Old Man's Story
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
Its roots are bristling in the air
Like some mad Earth-god's spiny hair;
The loud south-wester's swell and yell
Smote it at midnight, and it fell.
Thus ends the tree
Where Some One sat with me.
Its boughs, which none but darers trod,
A child may step on from the sod,
And twigs that earliest met the dawn
Are lit the last upon the lawn.
Cart off the tree
Beneath whose trunk sat we!
Yes, there we sat: she cooed content,
And bats ringed round, and daylight went;
The gnarl, our seat, is wrenched and sunk,
Prone that queer pocket in the trunk
Where lay the key
To her pale mystery.
"Years back, within this pocket-hole
I found, my Love, a hurried scrawl
Meant not for me," at length said I;
"I glanced thereat, and let it lie:
The words were three -
'Beloved, I agree.'
"Who placed it here; to what request
It gave assent, I never guessed.
Some prayer of some hot heart, no doubt,
To some coy maiden hereabout,
Just as, maybe,
With you, Sweet Heart, and me."
She waited, till with quickened breath
She spoke, as one who banisheth
Reserves that lovecraft heeds so well,
To ease some mighty wish to tell:
"'Twas I," said she,
"Who wrote thus clinchingly.
"My lover's wife--aye, wife!--knew nought
Of what we felt, and bore, and thought . . .
He'd said: 'I wed with thee or die:
She stands between, 'tis true. But why?
Do thou agree,
And--she shalt cease to be.'
"How I held back, how love supreme
Involved me madly in his scheme
Why should I say? . . . I wrote assent
(You found it hid) to his intent . . .
She--DIED . . . But he
Came not to wed with me.
"O shrink not, Love!--Had these eyes seen
But once thine own, such had not been!
But we were strangers . . . Thus the plot
Cleared passion's path.--Why came he not
To wed with me? . . .
He wived the gibbet-tree."
- Under that oak of heretofore
Sat Sweetheart mine with me no more:
By many a Fiord, and Strom, and Fleuve
Have I since wandered . . . Soon, for love,
Distraught went she -
'Twas said for love of me.
Scheme | AABBCC DDEECC FFGGCC XXHHCC IIJJCC KKBBCB DXHHCC LLFFCC XXMMCC NNOOCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (25%) Etheree (25%) |
Metre | 111100001 11111101 0111101 1111011 1101 111111 1111111 01111101 011100101 11010101 1101 011111 11111110 0111011 011011101 11110001 1101 101100 11011101 11110101 11111111 1110111 0101 01101 11111101 11011101 11111111 1111010 1110 111101 11011101 111111 0111111 11110111 1111 1111 11011111 11110101 11111111 11011111 1101 011111 11111101 01110011 11111101 11111101 1111 111111 11111111 11111111 11010101 1111111 1111 11011 1011101 1111111 110010101 11110111 0111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,064 |
Words | 381 |
Sentences | 43 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 145 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 12, 2023
- 1:54 min read
- 89 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Tree: An Old Man's Story" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36579/the-tree%3A-an-old-man%27s-story>.
Discuss this Thomas Hardy poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In