The Beech-Tree’s Petition
O leave this barren spot to me!Spare, woodman, spare the beechen treeThough bush or floweret never growMy dark unwarming shade below;Nor summer bird perfume the dewOf rosy blush, or yellow hue;Nor fruits of autumn, blossom-born,My green and glossy leaves adorn;Nor murmuring tribes from me deriveThe ambrosial amber of the hive;Yet leave this barren spot to me:Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree!
Thrice twenty summers I have seenThe sky grow bright, the forest green;And many a wintry wind have stoodIn bloomless, fruitless solitude,Since childhood in my pleasant bowerFirst spent its sweet and sportive hour.Since youthful lovers in my shadeTheir vows of truth and rapture made;And on my trunk’s surviving frameCarved many a long-forgotten name.Oh! by the sighs of gentle sound,First breathed upon this sacred ground,By all that Love has whispered here,Or Beauty heard with ravished ear;As Love’s own altar honour me:Spare woodman, spare the beechen tree!
Words in this poem
- woodman n.
- A forest officer appointed to take care of the king's woods; a forester. [Eng.]
- beechen a.
- Consisting, or made, of the wood or bark of the beech; belonging to the beech. [AS. b.]
- floweret n.
- A small flower; a floret.
- derive v. t.
- To turn the course of, as water; to divert and distribute into subordinate channels; to diffuse; to communicate; to transmit; -- followed by to, into, on, upon. [F. dériver, L. derivare; de- + rivus stream, brook. See Rival.]
- ambrosial a.
- Consisting of, or partaking of the nature of, ambrosia; delighting the taste or smell; delicious.
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- bloomless a.
- Without bloom or flowers. Shelley.
- fruitless a.
- Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- surviving a.
- Remaining alive; yet living or existing; as, surviving friends; surviving customs.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Beech-Tree’s Petition is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg ebook #59788; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Campbell, The Beech-Tree’s Petition, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/the-beech-tree-s-petition.html, id L24429.
Form and metre
The Beech-Tree’s Petition is 28 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEAA meA · treeA · growB · belowB · dewC · hueC · bornD · adornD · deriveE · hiveE · meA · treeA
- 2 AA--BBCCDDEEFFGG seenA · greenA · stood · solitude · bowerB · hourB · shadeC · madeC · frameD · nameD · soundE · groundE · hereF · earF · meG · treeG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O leave this barren spot to me! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Though bush or floweret never grow | 8 | ···/˘˘/· |
| My dark unwarming shade below; | 8 | ········ |
| Nor summer bird perfume the dew | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Of rosy blush, or yellow hue; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor fruits of autumn, blossom-born, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| My green and glossy leaves adorn; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Nor murmuring tribes from me derive | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The ambrosial amber of the hive; | 9 | ·˘/˘/˘··· |
| Yet leave this barren spot to me: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Thrice twenty summers I have seen | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The sky grow bright, the forest green; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And many a wintry wind have stood | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| In bloomless, fruitless solitude, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Since childhood in my pleasant bower | 9 | ·/···/˘/˘ |
| First spent its sweet and sportive hour. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Since youthful lovers in my shade | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Their vows of truth and rapture made; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And on my trunk’s surviving frame | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Carved many a long-forgotten name. | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| Oh! by the sighs of gentle sound, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| First breathed upon this sacred ground, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By all that Love has whispered here, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or Beauty heard with ravished ear; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As Love’s own altar honour me: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Spare woodman, spare the beechen tree! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.