Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SYLVAN FAIRY, by THOMAS HOOD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SYLVAN FAIRY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Then next a merry woodsman, clad in green
Last Line: "spare us our lives for the green dryad's sake."
Subject(s): Fairies; Elves


THEN next a merry woodsman, clad in green,
Stept vanward from his mates, that idly stood
Each at his proper ease, as they had been
Nursed in the liberty of old Sherwood,
And wore the livery of Robin Hood,
Who wont in forest shades to dine and sup, --
So came this chief right frankly, and made good
His haunch against his axe, and thus spoke up,
Doffing his cap, which was an acorn's cup: --

"We be small foresters and gay, who tend
On trees, and all their furniture of green,
Training the young boughs airily to bend,
And show blue snatches of the sky between: --
Or knit more close intricacies, to screen
Birds' crafty dwellings as may hide them best,
But most the timid blackbird's -- she, that seen,
Will bear black poisonous berries to her nest,
Lest man should cage the darlings of her breast.

"We bend each tree in proper attitude,
And founting willows train in silvery falls;
We frame all shady roofs and arches rude,
And verdant aisles leading to Dryad's halls,
Or deep recesses where the echo calls; --
We shape all plumy trees against the sky,
And carve tall elms' Corinthian capitals, --
When sometimes, as our tiny hatchets ply,
Men say, the tapping woodpecker is nigh.

"Sometimes we scoop the squirrel's hollow cell,
And sometimes carve quaint letters on trees' rind,
That haply some lone musing wight may spell
Dainty Aminta, -- Gentle Rosalind, --
Or chastest Laura, -- sweetly call'd to mind
In sylvan solitudes, ere he lies down; --
And sometimes we enrich gray stems, with twined
And fragrant ivy, -- or rich moss, whose brown
Burns into gold as the warm sun goes down.

"And, lastly, for mirth's sake and Christmas cheer,
We bear the seedling berries, for increase,
To graft the Druid oaks, from year to year,
Careful that misletoe may never cease; --
Wherefore, if thou dost prize the shady peace
Of sombre forests, or to see light break
Through sylvan cloisters, and in spring release
Thy spirit amongst leaves from careful ake,
Spare us our lives for the green Dryad's sake."





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