Analysis of To a Fallen Elm
John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)
Old Elm that murmured in our chimney top
The sweetest anthem autumn ever made
And into mellow whispering calms would drop
When showers fell on thy many coloured shade
And when dark tempests mimic thunder made
While darkness came as it would strangle light
With the black tempest of a winter night
That rocked thee like a cradle to thy root
How did I love to hear the winds upbraid
Thy strength without while all within was mute
It seasoned comfort to our hearts desire
We felt thy kind protection like a friend
And pitched our chairs up closer to the fire
Enjoying comforts that was was never penned
Old favourite tree thoust seen times changes lower
But change till now did never come to thee
For time beheld thee as his sacred dower
And nature claimed thee her domestic tree
Storms came and shook thee with aliving power
Yet stedfast to thy home thy roots hath been
Summers of thirst parched round thy homely bower
Till earth grew iron - still thy leaves was green
The children sought thee in thy summer shade
And made their play house rings of sticks and stone
The mavis sang and felt himself alone
While in they leaves his early nest was made
And I did feel his happiness mine own
Nought heeding that our friendship was betrayed
Friend not inanimate- tho stocks and stones
There are and many cloathed in flesh and bones
Thou ownd a lnaguage by which hearts are stirred
Deeper than by the attribute of words
Thine spoke a feeling known in every tongue
Language of pity and the force of wrong
What cant assumes what hypocrites may dare
Speaks home to truth and shows it what they are
I see a picture that thy fate displays
And learn a lesson from thy destiny
Self interest saw thee stand in freedoms ways
So thy old shadow must a tyrant be
Thoust heard the knave abusing those in power
Bawl freedom loud and then oppress the free
Thoust sheltered hypocrites in many an hour
That when in power would never shelter thee
Thoust heard the knave supply his canting powers
With wrongs illusions when he wanted friends
That bawled for shelter when he lived in showers
And when clouds vanished made thy shade ammends
With axe at root he felled thee to the ground
And barked of freedom - O I hate that sound
It grows the cant terms of enslaving tools
To wrong another by the name of right
It grows a liscence with oer bearing fools
To cheat plain honesty by force of might
Thus came enclosure- ruin was her guide
But freedoms clapping hands enjoyed the sight
Tho comforts cottage soon was thrust aside
And workhouse prisons raised upon the scite
Een natures dwelling far away from men
The common heath became the spoilers prey
The rabbit had not where to make his den
And labours only cow was drove away
No matter- wrong was right and right was wrong
And freedoms brawl was sanction to the song
Such was thy ruin music making Elm
The rights of freedom was to injure thine
As thou wert served so would they overwhelm
In freedoms name the little so would they over whelm
And these are knaves that brawl for better laws
And cant of tyranny in stronger powers
Who glut their vile unsatiated maws
And freedoms birthright from the weak devours
Scheme | ABABBCCDBDEFEF EGXGEXEXBHHBHB IIXXXJXX KGKGEGEGLXLIMM NCNCOCOBPQPQJJ RXRRXLIL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110010101 0101010101 00110100111 11011110101 011110101 1101111101 1011010101 1111010111 111111011 1101110111 110101101010 1111010101 011011101010 01010111101 1111111010 1111110111 111111101 0101100101 110111110 111111111 10111111010 1111011111 0101101101 0111111101 0101010101 1011110111 0111110011 11011010101 1101001101 1101010101 110111111 101101011 11010101001 1011000111 110111011 1111011111 1101011101 0101011100 1101110101 111110101 11010101010 1101010101 11010010110 11010110101 1101011110 1101011101 11110111010 011101111 1111111101 0111011111 11011111 1101010111 110111101 1111001111 1101010101 1101010101 1101011101 011010101 1101010111 0101010101 0101111111 011011101 1101110111 0101110101 1111010101 0111011101 111111101 0101010111101 0111111101 01110001010 111111 0101101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 3,067 |
Words | 575 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14, 8, 14, 14, 8 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 426 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 96 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 28, 2023
- 2:52 min read
- 138 Views
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"To a Fallen Elm" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22351/to-a-fallen-elm>.
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