Overhead the Tree-Tops Meet

Robert Browning 1812 (Camberwell) – 1889 (Venice)



Overhead the tree-tops meet,
Flowers and grass spring 'neath one's feet;
There was nought above me, and nought below,
My childhood had not learned to know:
For what are the voices of birds
—Ay, and of beasts,—but words—our words,
Only so much more sweet?
The knowledge of that with my life begun!
But I had so near made out the sun,
And counted your stars, the Seven and One,
Like the fingers of my hand:
Nay, I could all but understand
Wherefore through heaven the white moon ranges,
And just when out of her soft fifty changes
No unfamiliar face might overlook me—
Suddenly God took me!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 24, 2023

33 sec read
121

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCADDDEEFFGG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 590
Words 110
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

Robert Browning

Robert Browning was the father of poet Robert Browning. more…

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