A HEAVY spot the forest looks at first, To one grim shade condemn'd, and sandy thirst, Chequer'd with thorns, and thistles run to seed, Or plashy pools half-cover'd with green weed, About whose sides the swarming insects fry In the hot sun, a noisome company; But, entering more and more, they quit the sand At once, and strike upon a grassy land, From which the trees as from a carpet rise In knolls and clumps, in rich varieties. The knights are for a moment forced to rein Their horses in, which, feeling turf again, Thrill, and curvet, and long to be at large To scour the space, and give the winds a charge, Or pulling tight the bridles as they pass, Dip their warm mouths into the freshening grass: But soon in easy rank, from glade to glade, Proceed they, coasting underneath the shade; Some bearing to the cool their placid brows, Some looking upward through the glimmering Or peering into spots that inwardly Open green glooms, and half-prepared to see boughs, The lady cross it, that, as stories tell, Ran loud and torn before a knight of hell. Various the trees and passing foliage here, -- Wild pear, and oak, and dusky juniper, With briony between in trails of white, And ivy, and the suckle's streaky light, And moss, warm gleaming with a sudden mark, Like growths of sunshine left upon the bark; And still the pine, flat-topp'd, and dark, and tall, In lordly right predominant o'er all. Anon the sweet birds, like a sudden throng Of happy children, ring their tangled song From out the greener trees; and then a cloud Of cawing rooks breaks o'er them, gathering loud Like savages at ships; and then again Nothing is heard but their own stately train, Or ring-dove that repeats his pensive plea, Or startled gull up-screaming toward the sea. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BEFORE MARCHING, AND AFTER (IN MEMORIAM F.W.G.) by THOMAS HARDY IN THE VALLEY OF THE ELWY by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS EHEU, FUGACES! by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE BELLS AT MIDNIGHT by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH CHARACTERS: MR. AND MRS. EDWARDS by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THIRTEEN AT TABLE by PIERRE JEAN DE BERANGER CEDARS OF LEBANON AT WARWICK CASTLE by MATHILDE BLIND |