|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
UNDER THE OAK, by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: You, if you were sensible
Last Line: What place have you in my histories?
Alternate Author Name(s): Lawrence, D. H.
Subject(s): Environment; Trees; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation
First Line: You, if you were sensible
Last Line: What place have you in my histories?
Alternate Author Name(s): Lawrence, D. H.
Subject(s): Environment; Trees; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation
YOU, if you were sensible,
When I tell you the stars flash signals, each one dreadful,
You would not turn and answer me
"The night is wonderful."
Even you, if you knew
How this darkness soaks me through and through, and infuses
Unholy fear in my vapour, you would pause to distinguish
What hurts, from what amuses.
For I tell you
Beneath this powerful tree, my whole soul's fluid
Oozes away from me as a sacrifice steam
At the knife of a Druid.
Again I tell you, I bleed, I am bound with withies,
My life runs out.
I tell you my blood runs out on the floor of this oak,
Gout upon gout.
Above me springs the blood-born mistletoe
In the shady smoke.
But who are you, twittering to and fro
Beneath the oak?
What thing better are you, what worse?
What have you to do with the mysteries
Of this ancient place, of my ancient curse?
What place have you in my histories?
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
BLACK NIKES by HARRYETTE MULLEN
ISLE OF MULL, SCOTLAND by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
SABBATH, 1985, VI by WENDELL BERRY
PLANTING TREES by WENDELL BERRY
THE OLD ELM TREE BY THE RIVER by WENDELL BERRY
A BABY ASLEEP AFTER PAIN by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE