Analysis of Binsey Poplars
Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844 (Stratford, London) – 1889 (Dublin)
My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
All felled, felled, are all felled;
Of a fresh and following folded rank
Not spared, not one
That swam or sank
On meadow and river and wind-wandering
weed-winding bank.
O if we but knew what we do
When we delve or hew-
Hack and rack the growing green!
Since country is so tender
To touch, her being so slender,
That, like this sleek and seeing ball
But a prick will make no eye at all,
Where we, even where we mean
To mend her we end her,
When we hew or delve:
After-comers cannot guess the beauty been.
Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
Strokes of havoc unselve
The sweet especial scene,
Rural scene, a rural scene,
Sweet especial rural scene.
Scheme | ABACBCXC DDEFFGGEFHXHHEEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110101 111010101 111111 1010100101 1111 1111 1101001100 1101 11111111 11111 1010101 1101110 11010110 11110101 101111111 1110111 110110 11111 10101010101 11110111 11101 010101 1010101 1010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 723 |
Words | 139 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 16 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 286 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 69 |
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Binsey Poplars" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15848/binsey-poplars>.
Discuss this Gerard Manley Hopkins 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