Yardley Oak Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPAQRS TUVWXYZA2B2C2D2QYYE2 YF2G2H2I2J2K2L2YYM2N 2YO2P2Q2TR2S2EYT2U2V 2YW2YX2YYYYHYAY2YYYZ 2A3YB3B2C3D3E3YF3Y2G 3G2YH3QI3J3K3M2L3M3Y YYN3I3YO3QP3GYYU2Q3Z 2R3YYYS3T3U3YYYV2V3Q 3W3YYYA2X3B2U2Y3YYMK 3Z3A4B4EY3QAYC4J2A4B 2YYYYB4A2D4YYYY3Z2E4

Survivor sole and hardly such of allA
That once lived here thy brethren at my birthB
Since which I number threescore winters pastC
A shattered veteran hollow trunked perhapsD
As now and with excoriate forks deformE
Relics of ages Could a mind imbuedF
With truth from heaven created thing adoreG
I might with reverence kneel and worship theeH
It seems idolatry with some excuseI
When our forefather Druids in their oaksJ
Imagined sanctity The conscience yetK
Unpurified by an authentic actL
Of amnesty the meed of blood divineM
Loved not the light but gloomy into gloomN
Of thickest shades like Adam after tasteO
Of fruit proscribed as to a refuge fledP
Thou wast a bauble once a cup and ballA
Which babes might play with and the thievish jayQ
Seeking her food with ease might have purloinedR
The auburn nut that held thee swallowing downS
Thy yet close folded latitude of boughsT
And all thine embryo vastness at a gulpU
But Fate thy growth decreed autumnal rainsV
Beneath thy parent tree mellowed the soilW
Designed thy cradle and a skipping dearX
With pointed hoof dibbling the glebe preparedY
The soft receptacle in which secureZ
Thy rudiments should sleep the winter throughA2
So Fancy dreams Disprove it if ye canB2
Ye reasoners broad awake whose busy searchC2
Of argument employed too oft amissD2
Sifts half the pleasures of short life awayQ
Thou fell'st mature and in the loamy clodY
Swelling with vegetative force instinctY
Did burst thine egg as theirs the fabled TwinsE2
Now stars two lobes protruding paired exactY
A leaf succeeded and another leafF2
And all the elements thy puny growthG2
Fostering propitious thou becamest a twigH2
Who lived when thou wast such Oh couldst thou speakI2
As in Dodona once thy kindred treesJ2
Oracular I would not curious askK2
The future best unknown but at thy mouthL2
Inquisitive the less ambiguous pastY
By thee I might correct erroneous oftY
The clock of history facts and eventsM2
Timing more punctual unrecorded factsN2
Recovering and misstated setting rightY
Desperate attempt till trees shall speak againO2
Time made thee what thou wast king of the woodsP2
And Time hath made thee what thou art a caveQ2
For owls to roost in Once thy spreading boughsT
O'erhung the champaign and the numerous flocksR2
That grazed it stood beneath that ample copeS2
Uncrowded yet safe sheltered from the stormE
No flock frequents thee now Thou hast outlivedY
Thy popularity and art becomeT2
Unless verse rescue thee awhile a thingU2
Forgotten as the foliage of thy youthV2
While thus through all the stages thou hast pushedY
Of treeship first a seedling hid in grassW2
Then twig then sapling and as century rolledY
Slow after century a giant bulkX2
Of girth enormous with moss cushioned rootY
Upheaved above the soil and sides embossedY
With prominent wens globose till at lastY
The rottenness which time is charged to inflictY
On other mighty ones found also theeH
What exhibitions various hath the worldY
Witnessed of mutability in allA
That we account most durable belowY2
Change is the diet on which all subsistY
Created changeable and change at lastY
Destroys them Skies uncertain now the heatY
Transmitting cloudless and the solar beamZ2
Now quenching in a boundless sea of cloudsA3
Calm and alternate storm moisture and droughtY
Invigorate by turns the springs of lifeB3
In all that live plant animal and manB2
And in conclusion mar them Nature's threadsC3
Fine passing thought e'en in her coarsest worksD3
Delight in agitation yet sustainE3
The force that agitates not unimpairedY
But worn by frequent impulse to the causeF3
Of their best tone their dissolution oweY2
Thought cannot spend itself comparing stillG3
The great and little of thy lot thy growthG2
From almost nullity into a stateY
Of matchless grandeur and declension thenceH3
Slow into such magnificent decayQ
Time was when settling on thy leaf a flyI3
Could shake thee to the root and time has beenJ3
When tempests could not At thy firmest ageK3
Thou hadst within thy bole solid contentsM2
That might have ribbed the sides and planked the deckL3
Of some flagged admiral and tortuous armsM3
The shipwright's darling treasure didst presentY
To the four quartered winds robust and boldY
Warped into tough knee timber many a loadY
But the axe spared thee In those thriftier daysN3
Oaks fell not hewn by thousands to supplyI3
The bottomless demands of contest wagedY
For senatorial honours Thus to TimeO3
The task was left to whittle thee awayQ
With his sly scythe whose ever nibbling edgeP3
Noiseless an atom and an atom moreG
Disjoining from the rest has unobservedY
Achieved a labour which had far and wideY
By man performed made all the forest ringU2
Embowelled now and of thy ancient selfQ3
Possessing nought but the scooped rind that seemZ2
An huge throat calling to the clouds for drinkR3
Which it would give in rivulets to thy rootY
Thou temptest none but rather much forbidd'stY
The feller's toil which thou couldst ill requiteY
Yet is thy root sincere sound as the rockS3
A quarry of stout spurs and knotted fangsT3
Which crooked into a thousand whimsies claspU3
The stubborn soil and hold thee still erectY
So stands a kingdom whose foundation yetY
Fails not in virtue and in wisdom laidY
Though all the superstructure by the toothV2
Pulverised of venality a shellV3
Stands now and semblance only of itselfQ3
Thine arms have left thee Winds have rent them offW3
Long since and rovers of the forest wildY
With bow and shaft have burnt them Some have leftY
A splintered stump bleached to a snowy whiteY
And some memorial none where once they grewA2
Yet life still lingers in thee and puts forthX3
Proof not contemptible of what she canB2
Even where death predominates The springU2
Finds thee not less alive to her sweet forceY3
Than yonder upstarts of the neighbouring woodY
So much thy juniors who their birth receivedY
Half a millennium since the date of thineM
But since although well qualified by ageK3
To teach no spirit dwells in thee nor voiceZ3
May be expected from thee seated hereA4
On thy distorted root with hearers noneB4
Or prompter save the scene I will performE
Myself the oracle and will discourseY3
In my own ear such matter as I mayQ
One man alone the father of us allA
Drew not his life from woman never gazedY
With mute unconsciousness of what he sawC4
On all around him learned not by degreesJ2
Nor owed articulation to his earA4
But moulded by his Maker into manB2
At once upstood intelligent surveyedY
All creatures with precision understoodY
Their purport uses properties assignedY
To each his name significant and filledY
With love and wisdom rendered back to HeavenB4
In praise harmonious the first air he drewA2
He was excused the penalties of dullD4
Minority No tutor charged his handY
With the thought tracing quill or tasked his mindY
With problems History not wanted yetY
Leaned on her elbow watching Time whose courseY3
Eventful should supply her with a themeZ2
E4

William Cowper



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about Yardley Oak poem by William Cowper


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 14 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

Popular Poets