The Elm Tree. - A Dream In The Woods. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AB CDEEDFD GHIHJH KLMNOL PQRQSSQ TUVVUWU XDFDCD YEZEA2E B2EC2ED2E E2F2DDF2G2F2 EPH2PI2J2 DK2L2K2M2K2 HGN2GWG N2O2P2O2F2O2 Q2ER2ES2E DT2DT2U2T2 EV2W2V2YV2 F2X2F2F2X2F2X2 Y2Z2V2Z2Y2Z2 Y2A3Y2A3F2F2A3 F2B3F2B3F2B3 Y2Y2C3Y2CY2 HD3F2D3E3E3D3 N2Y2F2Y2F2Y2 XEF3EHE G3HE3HH3H EEU2EY2Y2E F2Y2Y2Y2HY2 I3 Y2J3Y2J3F2J3 B3K3L3K3HK3 F2Y2M3Y2N3Y2 F2Y2F2Y2YY2 O3Y2EY2F2F2Y2 P3B3HB3HB3 F2Y2Q3R3Y2YY2 S3F2Y2F2Y2F2 F2T3HT3HT3 EMHME3E3M C3U3V3U3Y2Y2U3 W3Y2Y2Y2HY2 F2X3V2X3V3X3 F2HF2HY2H Y3EHEB3E F2HY2HF2H F2S3F2S3F2S3 YF2F2F2Y2F2 Y2V2Y2V2Z3V2 GA4V2A4HHA4 Y3HF2HY2H B4Y2HY2C4Y2 D4HL3HF2H F2E4Y2E4L2E4 V2EF2EEE F2Y2Y2Y2HY2 I3 J3EHEV2E A3F2HF2Y2F2 Y2RL2RY2Y2R Y2F2HF2L2F2 RRF4Y2F4Y2F4 I2R2Y2H3F2H3 EEY2EF2E Y2A2F2A2P3A2 E4B3F2B3D2D2B3 EY2F2Y2F2Y2 Y2HF2HG4H Y2A4F2A4A3A4 RF2Z3F2MF2 QEB3B3EEE V2T2V2H4I4J4 L3HK4HN2H Y2F2L4F2F2F2 Y2L3K4L3T3L3 P3A4M4M4N4B3A4 F2HMHF2H J3F3MF3GF3 HY2EY2HY2 F2L4HL4HL4 HY2QY2E3Y2 EMEMY2M EY2Y2Y2HY2

And this our life exempt from public haunt	A
Finds tongues in trees As You Like It	B
	-
	-
'Twas in a shady Avenue	C
Where lofty Elms abound	D
And from a Tree	E
There came to me	E
A sad and solemn sound	D
That sometimes murmur'd overhead	F
And sometimes underground	D
	-
Amongst the leaves it seem'd to sigh	G
Amid the boughs to moan	H
It mutter'd in the stem and then	I
The roots took up the tone	H
As if beneath the dewy grass	J
The dead began to groan	H
	-
No breeze there was to stir the leaves	K
No bolts that tempests launch	L
To rend the trunk or rugged bark	M
No gale to bend the branch	N
No quake of earth to heave the roots	O
That stood so stiff and staunch	L
	-
No bird was preening up aloft	P
To rustle with its wing	Q
No squirrel in its sport or fear	R
From bough to bough to spring	Q
The solid bole	S
Had ne'er a hole	S
To hide a living thing	Q
	-
No scooping hollow cell to lodge	T
A furtive beast or fowl	U
The martin bat	V
Or forest cat	V
That nightly loves to prowl	U
Nor ivy nooks so apt to shroud	W
The moping snoring owl	U
	-
But still the sound was in my ear	X
A sad and solemn sound	D
That sometimes murmur'd overhead	F
And sometimes underground	D
'Twas in a shady Avenue	C
Where lofty Elms abound	D
	-
Oh hath the Dryad still a tongue	Y
In this ungenial clime	E
Have Sylvan Spirits still a voice	Z
As in the classic prime	E
To make the forest voluble	A2
As in the olden time	E
	-
The olden time is dead and gone	B2
Its years have fill'd their sum	E
And e'en in Greece her native Greece	C2
The Sylvan Nymph is dumb	E
From ash and beech and aged oak	D2
No classic whispers come	E
	-
From Poplar Pine and drooping Birch	E2
And fragrant Linden Trees	F2
No living sound	D
E'er hovers round	D
Unless the vagrant breeze	F2
The music of the merry bird	G2
Or hum of busy bees	F2
	-
But busy bees forsake the Elm	E
That bears no bloom aloft	P
The Finch was in the hawthorn bush	H2
The Blackbird in the croft	P
And among the firs the brooding Dove	I2
That else might murmur soft	J2
	-
Yet still I heard that solemn sound	D
And sad it was to boot	K2
From ev'ry overhanging bough	L2
And each minuter shoot	K2
From rugged trunk and mossy rind	M2
And from the twisted root	K2
	-
From these a melancholy moan	H
From those a dreary sigh	G
As if the boughs were wintry bare	N2
And wild winds sweeping by	G
Whereas the smallest fleecy cloud	W
Was steadfast in the sky	G
	-
No sign or touch of stirring air	N2
Could either sense observe	O2
The zephyr had not breath enough	P2
The thistle down to swerve	O2
Or force the filmy gossamers	F2
To take another curve	O2
	-
In still and silent slumber hush'd	Q2
All Nature seem'd to be	E
From heaven above or earth beneath	R2
No whisper came to me	E
Except the solemn sound and sad	S2
From that MYSTERIOUS TREE	E
	-
A hollow hollow hollow sound	D
As is that dreamy roar	T2
When distant billows boil and bound	D
Along a shingly shore	T2
But the ocean brim was far aloof	U2
A hundred miles or more	T2
	-
No murmur of the gusty sea	E
No tumult of the beach	V2
However they may foam and fret	W2
The bounded sense could reach	V2
Methought the trees in mystic tongue	Y
Were talking each to each	V2
	-
Mayhap rehearsing ancient tales	F2
Of greenwood love or guilt	X2
Of whisper'd vows	F2
Beneath their boughs	F2
Or blood obscurely spilt	X2
Or of that near hand Mansion House	F2
A royal Tudor built	X2
	-
Perchance of booty won or shared	Y2
Beneath the starry cope	Z2
Or where the suicidal wretch	V2
Hung up the fatal rope	Z2
Or Beauty kept an evil tryste	Y2
Insnared by Love and Hope	Z2
	-
Of graves perchance untimely scoop'd	Y2
At midnight dark and dank	A3
And what is underneath the sod	Y2
Whereon the grass is rank	A3
Of old intrigues	F2
And privy leagues	F2
Tradition leaves in blank	A3
	-
Of traitor lips that mutter'd plots	F2
Of Kin who fought and fell	B3
God knows the undiscovered schemes	F2
The arts and acts of Hell	B3
Perform'd long generations since	F2
If trees had tongues to tell	B3
	-
With wary eyes and ears alert	Y2
As one who walks afraid	Y2
I wander'd down the dappled path	C3
Of mingled light and shade	Y2
How sweetly gleam'd that arch of blue	C
Beyond the green arcade	Y2
	-
How cheerily shone the glimpse of Heav'n	H
Beyond that verdant aisle	D3
All overarch'd with lofty elms	F2
That quench'd the light the while	D3
As dim and chill	E3
As serves to fill	E3
Some old Cathedral pile	D3
	-
And many a gnarl d trunk was there	N2
That ages long had stood	Y2
Till Time had wrought them into shapes	F2
Like Pan's fantastic brood	Y2
Or still more foul and hideous forms	F2
That Pagans carve in wood	Y2
	-
A crouching Satyr lurking here	X
And there a Goblin grim	E
As staring full of demon life	F3
As Gothic sculptor's whim	E
A marvel it had scarcely been	H
To hear a voice from him	E
	-
Some whisper from that horrid mouth	G3
Of strange unearthly tone	H
Or wild infernal laugh to chill	E3
One's marrow in the bone	H
But no it grins like rigid Death	H3
And silent as a stone	H
	-
As silent as its fellows be	E
For all is mute with them	E
The branch that climbs the leafy roof	U2
The rough and mossy stem	E
The crooked root	Y2
And tender shoot	Y2
Where hangs the dewy gem	E
	-
One mystic Tree alone there is	F2
Of sad and solemn sound	Y2
That sometimes murmurs overhead	Y2
And sometimes underground	Y2
In all that shady Avenue	H
Where lofty Elms abound	Y2
	-
	-
PART II	I3
	-
The Scene is changed No green Arcade	Y2
No Trees all ranged a row	J3
But scatter'd like a beaten host	Y2
Dispersing to and fro	J3
With here and there a sylvan corse	F2
That fell before the foe	J3
	-
The Foe that down in yonder dell	B3
Pursues his daily toil	K3
As witness many a prostrate trunk	L3
Bereft of leafy spoil	K3
Hard by its wooden stump whereon	H
The adder loves to coil	K3
	-
Alone he works his ringing blows	F2
Have banish'd bird and beast	Y2
The Hind and Fawn have canter'd off	M3
A hundred yards at least	Y2
And on the maple's lofty top	N3
The linnet's song has ceased	Y2
	-
No eye his labor overlooks	F2
Or when he takes his rest	Y2
Except the timid thrush that peeps	F2
Above her secret nest	Y2
Forbid by love to leave the young	Y
Beneath her speckled breast	Y2
	-
The Woodman's heart is in his work	O3
His axe is sharp and good	Y2
With sturdy arm and steady aim	E
He smites the gaping wood	Y2
From distant rocks	F2
His lusty knocks	F2
Re echo many a rood	Y2
	-
His axe is keen his arm is strong	P3
The muscles serve him well	B3
His years have reach'd an extra span	H
The number none can tell	B3
But still his lifelong task has been	H
The Timber Tree to fell	B3
	-
Through Summer's parching sultriness	F2
And Winter's freezing cold	Y2
From sapling youth	Q3
To virile growth	R3
And Age's rigid mould	Y2
His energetic axe hath rung	Y
Within that Forest old	Y2
	-
Aloft upon his poising steel	S3
The vivid sunbeams glance	F2
About his head and round his feet	Y2
The forest shadows dance	F2
And bounding from his russet coat	Y2
The acorn drops askance	F2
	-
His face is like a Druid's face	F2
With wrinkles furrow'd deep	T3
And tann'd by scorching suns as brown	H
As corn that's ripe to reap	T3
But the hair on brow and cheek and chin	H
Is white as wool of sheep	T3
	-
His frame is like a giant's frame	E
His legs are long and stark	M
His arms like limbs of knotted yew	H
His hands like rugged bark	M
So he felleth still	E3
With right good will	E3
As if to build an Ark	M
	-
Oh well within His fatal path	C3
The fearful Tree might quake	U3
Through every fibre twig and leaf	V3
With aspen tremor shake	U3
Through trunk and root	Y2
And branch and shoot	Y2
A low complaining make	U3
	-
Oh well to Him the Tree might breathe	W3
A sad and solemn sound	Y2
A sigh that murmur'd overhead	Y2
And groans from underground	Y2
As in that shady Avenue	H
Where lofty Elms abound	Y2
	-
But calm and mute the Maple stands	F2
The Plane the Ash the Fir	X3
The Elm the Beech the drooping Birch	V2
Without the least demur	X3
And e'en the Aspen's hoary leaf	V3
Makes no unusual stir	X3
	-
The Pines those old gigantic Pines	F2
That writhe recalling soon	H
The famous Human Group that writhes	F2
With Snakes in wild festoon	H
In ramous wrestlings interlaced	Y2
A Forest Laocoon	H
	-
Like Titans of primeval girth	Y3
By tortures overcome	E
Their brown enormous limbs they twine	H
Bedew'd with tears of gum	E
Fierce agonies that ought to yell	B3
But like the marble dumb	E
	-
Nay yonder blasted Elm that stands	F2
So like a man of sin	H
Who frantic flings his arms abroad	Y2
To feel the Worm within	H
For all that gesture so intense	F2
It makes no sort of din	H
	-
An universal silence reigns	F2
In rugged bark or peel	S3
Except that very trunk which rings	F2
Beneath the biting steel	S3
Meanwhile the Woodman plies his axe	F2
With unrelenting zeal	S3
	-
No rustic song is on his tongue	Y
No whistle on his lips	F2
But with a quiet thoughtfulness	F2
His trusty tool he grips	F2
And stroke on stroke keeps hacking out	Y2
The bright and flying chips	F2
	-
Stroke after stroke with frequent dint	Y2
He spreads the fatal gash	V2
Till lo the remnant fibres rend	Y2
With harsh and sudden crash	V2
And on the dull resounding turf	Z3
The jarring branches lash	V2
	-
Oh now the Forest Trees may sigh	G
The Ash the Poplar tall	A4
The Elm the Beech the drooping Birch	V2
The Aspens one and all	A4
With solemn groan	H
And hollow moan	H
Lament a comrade's fall	A4
	-
A goodly Elm of noble girth	Y3
That thrice the human span	H
While on their variegated course	F2
The constant Seasons ran	H
Through gale and hail and fiery bolt	Y2
Had stood erect as Man	H
	-
But now like mortal Man himself	B4
Struck down by hand of God	Y2
Or heathen Idol tumbled prone	H
Beneath th' Eternal's nod	Y2
In all its giant bulk and length	C4
It lies along the sod	Y2
	-
Ay now the Forest Trees may grieve	D4
And make a common moan	H
Around that patriarchal trunk	L3
So newly overthrown	H
And with a murmur recognize	F2
A doom to be their own	H
	-
The Echo sleeps the idle axe	F2
A disregarded tool	E4
Lies crushing with its passive weight	Y2
The toad's reputed stool	E4
The Woodman wipes his dewy brow	L2
Within the shadows cool	E4
	-
No Zephyr stirs the ear may catch	V2
The smallest insect hum	E
But on the disappointed sense	F2
No mystic whispers come	E
No tone of sylvan sympathy	E
The Forest Trees are dumb	E
	-
No leafy noise nor inward voice	F2
No sad and solemn sound	Y2
That sometimes murmurs overhead	Y2
And sometimes underground	Y2
As in that shady Avenue	H
Where lofty Elms abound	Y2
	-
	-
PART III	I3
	-
The deed is done the Tree is low	J3
That stood so long and firm	E
The Woodman and his axe are gone	H
His toil has found its term	E
And where he wrought the speckled Thrush	V2
Securely hunts the worm	E
	-
The Cony from the sandy bank	A3
Has run a rapid race	F2
Through thistle bent and tangled fern	H
To seek the open space	F2
And on its haunches sits erect	Y2
To clean its furry face	F2
	-
The dappled Fawn is close at hand	Y2
The Hind is browsing near	R
And on the Larch's lowest bough	L2
The Ousel whistles clear	R
But checks the note	Y2
Within its throat	Y2
As choked with sudden fear	R
	-
With sudden fear her wormy quest	Y2
The Thrush abruptly quits	F2
Through thistle bent and tangled fern	H
The startled Cony flits	F2
And on the Larch's lowest bough	L2
No more the Ousel sits	F2
	-
With sudden fear	R
The dappled Deer	R
Effect a swift escape	F4
But well might bolder creatures start	Y2
And fly or stand agape	F4
With rising hair and curdled blood	Y2
To see so grim a Shape	F4
	-
The very sky turns pale above	I2
The earth grows dark beneath	R2
The human Terror thrills with cold	Y2
And draws a shorter breath	H3
An universal panic owns	F2
The dread approach of DEATH	H3
	-
With silent pace as shadows come	E
And dark as shadows be	E
The grisly Phantom takes his stand	Y2
Beside the fallen Tree	E
And scans it with his gloomy eyes	F2
And laughs with horrid glee	E
	-
A dreary laugh and desolate	Y2
Where mirth is void and null	A2
As hollow as its echo sounds	F2
Within the hollow skull	A2
Whoever laid this tree along	P3
His hatchet was not dull	A2
	-
The human arm and human tool	E4
Have done their duty well	B3
But after sound of ringing axe	F2
Must sound the ringing knell	B3
When Elm or Oak	D2
Have felt the stroke	D2
My turn it is to fell	B3
	-
No passive unregarded tree	E
A senseless thing of wood	Y2
Wherein the sluggish sap ascends	F2
To swell the vernal bud	Y2
But conscious moving breathing trunks	F2
That throb with living blood	Y2
	-
No forest Monarch yearly clad	Y2
In mantle green or brown	H
That unrecorded lives and falls	F2
By hand of rustic clown	H
But Kings who don the purple robe	G4
And wear the jewell'd crown	H
	-
Ah little recks the Royal mind	Y2
Within his Banquet Hall	A4
While tapers shine and Music breathes	F2
And Beauty leads the Ball	A4
He little recks the oaken plank	A3
Shall be his palace wall	A4
	-
Ah little dreams the haughty Peer	R
The while his Falcon flies	F2
Or on the blood bedabbled turf	Z3
The antler'd quarry dies	F2
That in his own ancestral Park	M
The narrow dwelling lies	F2
	-
But haughty Peer and mighty King	Q
One doom shall overwhelm	E
The oaken cell	B3
Shall lodge him well	B3
Whose sceptre ruled a realm	E
While he who never knew a home	E
Shall find it in the Elm	E
	-
The tatter'd lean dejected wretch	V2
Who begs from door to door	T2
And dies within the cressy ditch	V2
Or on the barren moor	H4
The friendly Elm shall lodge and clothe	I4
That houseless man and poor	J4
	-
Yea this recumbent rugged trunk	L3
That lies so long and prone	H
With many a fallen acorn cup	K4
And mast and furry cone	H
This rugged trunk shall hold its share	N2
Of mortal flesh and bone	H
	-
A Miser hoarding heaps of gold	Y2
But pale with ague fears	F2
A Wife lamenting love's decay	L4
With secret cruel tears	F2
Distilling bitter bitter drops	F2
From sweets of former years	F2
	-
A Man within whose gloomy mind	Y2
Offence had deeply sunk	L3
Who out of fierce Revenge's cup	K4
Hath madly darkly drunk	L3
Grief Avarice and Hate shall sleep	T3
Within this very trunk	L3
	-
This massy trunk that lies along	P3
And many more must fall	A4
For the very knave	M4
Who digs the grave	M4
The man who spreads the pall	N4
And he who tolls the funeral bell	B3
The Elm shall have them all	A4
	-
The tall abounding Elm that grows	F2
In hedgerows up and down	H
In field and forest copse and park	M
And in the peopled town	H
With colonies of noisy rooks	F2
That nestle on its crown	H
	-
And well th' abounding Elm may grow	J3
In field and hedge so rife	F3
In forest copse and wooded park	M
And 'mid the city's strife	F3
For every hour that passes by	G
Shall end a human life	F3
	-
The Phantom ends the shade is gone	H
The sky is clear and bright	Y2
On turf and moss and fallen Tree	E
There glows a ruddy light	Y2
And bounding through the golden fern	H
The Rabbit comes to bite	Y2
	-
The Thrush's mate beside her sits	F2
And pipes a merry lay	L4
The Dove is in the evergreen	H
And on the Larch's spray	L4
The Fly bird flutters up and down	H
To catch its tiny prey	L4
	-
The gentle Hind and dappled Fawn	H
Are coming up the glade	Y2
Each harmless furr'd and feather'd thing	Q
Is glad and not afraid	Y2
But on my sadden'd spirit still	E3
The Shadow leaves a shade	Y2
	-
A secret vague prophetic gloom	E
As though by certain mark	M
I knew the fore appointed Tree	E
Within whose rugged bark	M
This warm and living frame shall find	Y2
Its narrow house and dark	M
	-
That mystic Tree which breathed to me	E
A sad and solemn sound	Y2
That sometimes murmur'd overhead	Y2
And sometimes underground	Y2
Within that shady Avenue	H
Where lofty Elms abound	Y2

Thomas Hood

Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation

<< Etching Moralised. To A Noble Lady. Poem A Serenade. Poem>>

Write your comment about The Elm Tree. - A Dream In The Woods. poem by Thomas Hood

Best Poems of Thomas Hood

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 56 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Wonderful Women
by Umaru Kanneh Boima
Freedom To Scratch In Peace
by Olute Aete
Happy New Year
by Felix Menda
Human Beings
by Dana Graslie
Lust
by Wisdom Greatness
An Isolated Tree's Song
by Sayeed Abubakar
A Strange Boy
by Sayeed Abubakar
O Soil
by Sayeed Abubakar
No War, No War-monger
by Sayeed Abubakar
Night's Town
by Sayeed Abubakar

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2414 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)