Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


UNDER THE WOODS by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN THE OLD WOODS WERE YOUNG
Last Line: ON THIS SHED WALL.
Subject(s): FORESTS; WOODS;

When the old woods were young
The thrushes' ancestors
As sweetly sung
In the old years.

There was no garden here,
Apples nor mistletoe;
No children dear
Ran to and fro.

New then was this thatched cot,
But the keeper was old,
And he had not
Much lead or gold.

Most silent beech and yew:
As he went round about
The woods to view
Seldom he shot.

But now that he is gone
Out of most memories,
Still lingers on,
A stoat of his,

But one, shriveled and green,
And with no scent at all,
And barely seen
On this shed wall.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net