Analysis of The Boy by the Birch Tree
John M. Broadhead 1989 (California)
Do you see? Can you see where the boy sits alone
By the birch tree, my son of six years and a day.
Every morning he sits there on top of that stone;
I come out to chop wood as I watch him at play.
Yes, there he is, old man, up yonder.
And yet I wonder; only six?
Of course he must be older.
Is not his eye now sharp and bright,
His muscles thick, his mind so keen,
His manner ever bolder?
You are fooled by the shadows of falling birch leaves.
Let the sun rise a moment more then you will see:
He is sickly and small, and his chest often heaves.
He will never hold axe or chop firewood like me.
It was the light! (But he is right:
The lad is cold and lean.)
But come now and explain to me –
The boy was six when last I came –
What does this marvel mean?
For these seventeen years I have come every morn
To the birch where I work and I watch him at play.
But his age does remain – for him time has not worn
All these seventeen years – but six years and a day.
Come now with me, (tis worse than they said!)
Come join me in my carriage.
The boy you see is but a shade,
A memory of your marriage.
Does the shadow obscure him so you cannot see?
He is there! On the stone at the right of the tree.
He will leave at high noon, then a new guest for me
On the stone at the left side his mother will be.
You have forgotten your own life.
The boy is dead these sixteen years
And buried is your wife.
Have a care how you speak, let your words be but mild.
- Look there under the tree, the good mother is near -
I live only to ponder my wife and our child.
And a man who says other should live in my fear!
(He is more dangerous than they said –
What madness have I fed?)
You insult me in words uttered not to my face!
I know now that you came in no wise as a friend.
I have shown you goodwill, but you've mocked at my grace.
Now the firewood is done, so let this be your end.
Lay down the axe, old man! -
There’s a new guest to join you, dear wife by the tree.
When the sun sets more guests come; I watch them with joy.
For they came here to take me – but fearing they’d flee,
I have given them welcome, like you and our boy.
Scheme | ABAB CXCDEC FGFG DEGXE HBHB IJXJ GGGG KXK LMLM II NONO X GPGP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111101101 101111111001 1001011111111 111111111111 111111110 01110101 1111110 11111101 11011111 1101010 11110111011 101101011111 111001011101 111011111011 11011111 011101 11100111 01111111 111101 1110111111001 101111011111 111101111111 111011111001 111111111 1110110 01111101 01001110 10101111101 111101101101 111111101111 101101111011 11010111 01111011 010111 101111111111 111001011011 1110110110101 001111011011 111100111 110111 101101101111 111111011101 111111111111 101011111111 110111 101111111101 101111111111 111111111011 1110110110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,240 |
Words | 501 |
Sentences | 37 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 6, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 4, 2, 4, 1, 4 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 122 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
About this poem
A poem meant to be read in two alternating voices, each represented by a different meter. This is a dialogue.
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Written on August 26, 2012
Submitted by JohnsMusings on June 11, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:30 min read
- 19 Views
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"The Boy by the Birch Tree" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/129781/the-boy-by-the-birch-tree>.
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