The Long Green Lanes of England
OH! the long green lanes of England!They be very far away,And it’s there that I’d be walking,’Mid the hawthorn and the may.
Where the trees are all in blossom,And the mating birds they singFit to bust their little bodies,Out of joy because it’s Spring.
I’d be courting of my true love,She’d be in her Sunday best,With my arm around her shoulderAnd her head upon my breast.
For the new land it’s a fine land,Where a man can get a start;But there’s that about the old landThat will grip his very heart:
For he’ll mind him o’ the cowslips,Coming up all fresh and newIn the fields of early mornings,Where the grass is white with dew.
Oh! it’s money, money, money,“Go and try to earn a bit;”And “America’s the countryFor the lad as doesn’t quit.”
Seems that folks go mad on money,Well, I’ll have enough some day,But the long green lanes of EnglandThey be Oh! so far away!
Words in this poem
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Long Green Lanes of England is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #50591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Radclyffe Hall, The Long Green Lanes of England, in Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #50591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hall-three-counties/the-long-green-lanes-of-england.html, id L22659.
Form and metre
The Long Green Lanes of England is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 -A-A england · awayA · walking · mayA
- 2 -A-A blossom · singA · bodies · springA
- 3 -A-A love · bestA · shoulder · breastA
- 4 ABAB landA · startB · landA · heartB
- 5 -A-A cowslips · newA · mornings · dewA
- 6 -A-A money · bitA · country · quitA
- 7 -A-A money · dayA · england · awayA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| OH! the long green lanes of England! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| They be very far away, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| And it’s there that I’d be walking, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| ’Mid the hawthorn and the may. | 7 | ··/···· |
| Where the trees are all in blossom, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the mating birds they sing | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Fit to bust their little bodies, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Out of joy because it’s Spring. | 7 | ······· |
| I’d be courting of my true love, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| She’d be in her Sunday best, | 7 | ····/·· |
| With my arm around her shoulder | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And her head upon my breast. | 7 | ······· |
| For the new land it’s a fine land, | 8 | ········ |
| Where a man can get a start; | 7 | ······· |
| But there’s that about the old land | 8 | ········ |
| That will grip his very heart: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For he’ll mind him o’ the cowslips, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Coming up all fresh and new | 7 | /˘····· |
| In the fields of early mornings, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Where the grass is white with dew. | 7 | ······· |
| Oh! it’s money, money, money, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| “Go and try to earn a bit;” | 7 | ······· |
| And “America’s the country | 8 | ·˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| For the lad as doesn’t quit.” | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Seems that folks go mad on money, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Well, I’ll have enough some day, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| But the long green lanes of England | 8 | ······/˘ |
| They be Oh! so far away! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
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.