Laurel · Bliss Carman · Later Poems

Trees

Bliss Carman (1861–1929) · 1921

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 22 lines · from Later Poems

In the Garden of Eden, planted by God,There were goodly trees in the springing sod,--

Trees of beauty and height and grace,To stand in splendor before His face.

Apple and hickory, ash and pear,Oak and beech and the tulip rare,

The trembling aspen, the noble pine,The sweeping elm by the river line;

Trees for the birds to build and sing,And the lilac tree for a joy in spring;

Trees to turn at the frosty callAnd carpet the ground for their Lord's footfall;

Trees for fruitage and fire and shade,Trees for the cunning builder's trade;

Wood for the bow, the spear, and the flail,The keel and the mast of the daring sail;

He made them of every grain and girthFor the use of man in the Garden of Earth.

Then lest the soul should not lift her eyesFrom the gift to the Giver of Paradise,

On the crown of a hill, for all to see,God planted a scarlet maple tree.

Words in this poem

eden n.: The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
goodly a.: Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
tulip n.: Any plant of the liliaceous genus Tulipa. Many varieties are cultivated for their beautiful, often variegated flowers. Tulip tree. [F. tulipe, OF. also tulipan, It. tulipano, tulipa, from Turk. tulbend, dulbend, literally, a turban, Per. dulband; -- so called from the resemblance of the form]
footfall n.: A setting down of the foot; a footstep; the sound of a footstep.
fruitage n.: Fruit, collectively; fruit, in general; fruitery. [F. fruitage.]
giver n.: One who gives; a donor; a bestower; a grantor; one who imparts or distributes.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Trees is in the public domain. This text is taken from Later Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #33417; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Bliss Carman, Trees, in Later Poems (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33417, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carman-later-poems/trees.html, id L10989.

Form and metre

Trees is 22 lines in 11 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 91% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.

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 AA god^A · sod^A
2 AA grace^A · face^A
3 AA pear^A · rare^A
4 AA pine^A · line^A
5 AA sing^A · spring^A
6 AA call^A · footfall^A
7 AA shade^A · trade^A
8 AA flail^A · sail^A
9 AA girth^A · earth^A
11 AA see^A · tree^A

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 pentameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
In the Garden of Eden, planted by God,	11	··/˘·/˘/˘··
There were goodly trees in the springing sod,--	10	··/˘···/˘·
Trees of beauty and height and grace,	8	··/˘····
To stand in splendor before His face.	9	···/˘····
Apple and hickory, ash and pear,	8	/˘·/˘···
Oak and beech and the tulip rare,	8	·····/˘·
The trembling aspen, the noble pine,	9	·/˘/˘·/˘·
The sweeping elm by the river line;	9	·/˘···/˘·
Trees for the birds to build and sing,	8	········
And the lilac tree for a joy in spring;	10	··/·······
Trees to turn at the frosty call	8	·····/˘·
And carpet the ground for their Lord's footfall;	10	·/˘·····/·
Trees for fruitage and fire and shade,	8	··/˘·/··
Trees for the cunning builder's trade;	8	···/˘/˘·
Wood for the bow, the spear, and the flail,	9	·········
The keel and the mast of the daring sail;	10	·······/˘·
He made them of every grain and girth	9	····/˘···
For the use of man in the Garden of Earth.	11	·······/˘··
Then lest the soul should not lift her eyes	9	·········
From the gift to the Giver of Paradise,	11	·····/˘·/˘·
On the crown of a hill, for all to see,	10	··········
God planted a scarlet maple tree.	9	·/˘·/˘/˘·

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.

More by Bliss Carman

Later Poems