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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
KNOTTED OAKS, by CAROLINE PARKER SMITH
First Line: How bare the knotted oak against the sky
Last Line: For souls, like knotted oaks, must fight their way.
Subject(s): Sonnet (as Literary Form)
First Line: How bare the knotted oak against the sky
Last Line: For souls, like knotted oaks, must fight their way.
Subject(s): Sonnet (as Literary Form)
How bare the knotted oak against the sky
That towers above the falling field-stone wall—
Hundreds of years it took to grow so tall!
And every autumn strident starlings fly
Among its ancient boughs. Their piercing cry
Scatters shrill echoes o'er the reddening fall
Until this jargon surely must appal
The bravest heart. Bleak winter time is nigh.
Oak boughs, now etched on skies of slated gray,
Are fretted by a cold November wind;
And dry leaves whisper. Apprehensive mind
Grows conscious of the outcome of each day
(Since nature takes its toll of all mankind)
For souls, like knotted oaks, must fight their way.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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WAS THAT REALLY A SONNET? by ANSELM HOLLO
RETICENT SONNET by ANNE CARSON
SONNET: OF THREE GIRLS AND OF THEIR TALK by GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO
WHAT THE SONNET IS by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON
ON A MAGAZINE SONNET by RUSSELL HILLARD LOINES
THE HOUSE OF LIFE: THE SONNET (INTRODUCTION) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI
GRANTCHESTER by CAROLINE PARKER SMITH