Laurel · Aldous Huxley · The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems

Song of Poplars

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) · 1918

iambic pentameter · 30 lines · from The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems

Shepherd, to yon tall poplars tune your flute:Let them pierce, keenly, subtly shrill,The slow blue rumour of the hill;Let the grass cry with an anguish of evening gold,And the great sky be mute.

Then hearken how the poplar trees unfoldTheir buds, yet close and gummed and blind,In airy leafage of the mind,Rustling in silvery whispers the twin-hued scalesThat fade not nor grow old.

"Poplars and fountains and you cypress spiresSpringing in dark and rusty flame,Seek you aught that hath a name?Or say, say: Are you all an upward agonyOf undefined desires?

"Say, are you happy in the golden marchOf sunlight all across the day?Or do you watch the uncertain wayThat leads the withering moon on cloudy stairsOver the heaven's wide arch?

"Is it towards sorrow or towards joy you liftThe sharpness of your trembling spears?Or do you seek, through the grey tearsThat blur the sky, in the heart of the triumphing blue,A deeper, calmer rift?"

So; I have tuned my music to the trees,And there were voices, dim belowTheir shrillness, voices swelling slowIn the blue murmur of hills, and a golden cryAnd then vast silences.

Words in this poem

keenly adv.: In a keen manner.
subtly adv.: In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
rumour n.: A flying or popular report; the common talk; hence, public fame; notoriety. [F. rumeur, L. rumor; cf. rumificare, rumitare to rumor, Skr. ru to cry.]
leafage n.: Leaves, collectively; foliage.
aught n.: Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
withering a.: Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
triumphing a.: Having or celebrating a triumph; victorious; triumphant.
calmer n.: One who, or that which, makes calm.
shrillness n.: The quality or state of being shrill.

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

About this text

Song of Poplars is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #24364; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Aldous Huxley, Song of Poplars, in The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24364, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/huxley-defeat-of-youth/song-of-poplars.html, id L22008.

Form and metre

Song of Poplars is 30 lines in 6 stanzas of 5 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.

See 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 ABB-A flute^A · shrill^B · hill^B · gold · mute^A
2 ABB-A unfold^A · blind^B · mind^B · scales · old^A
3 -AA-- spires · flame^A · name^A · agony · desires
4 ABB-A march^A · day^B · way^B · stairs · arch^A
5 ABB-A lift^A · spears^B · tears^B · blue · rift^A
6 ABB-A trees^A · below^B · slow^B · cry · silences^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
Shepherd, to yon tall poplars tune your flute:	10	/˘···/˘···
Let them pierce, keenly, subtly shrill,	9	···/˘/˘˘·
The slow blue rumour of the hill;	8	····˘···
Let the grass cry with an anguish of evening gold,	12	······/˘·/˘·
And the great sky be mute.	6	······
Then hearken how the poplar trees unfold	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
Their buds, yet close and gummed and blind,	9	······˘··
In airy leafage of the mind,	8	·/˘/˘···
Rustling in silvery whispers the twin-hued scales	11	/˘·/˘/˘····
That fade not nor grow old.	6	······
"Poplars and fountains and you cypress spires	10	/˘·/˘··/˘·
Springing in dark and rusty flame,	8	/˘···/˘·
Seek you aught that hath a name?	7	·······
Or say, say: Are you all an upward agony	11	·······/˘/˘
Of undefined desires?	7	··˘/˘/˘
"Say, are you happy in the golden march	10	···/˘··/˘·
Of sunlight all across the day?	8	·/··˘/··
Or do you watch the uncertain way	9	·····˘/˘·
That leads the withering moon on cloudy stairs	10	···/˘··/˘·
Over the heaven's wide arch?	7	···/˘··
"Is it towards sorrow or towards joy you lift	10	···/˘·····
The sharpness of your trembling spears?	9	·/˘··/˘˘·
Or do you seek, through the grey tears	8	········
That blur the sky, in the heart of the triumphing blue,	12	·········/˘·
A deeper, calmer rift?"	6	·/˘/˘·
So; I have tuned my music to the trees,	10	·····/˘···
And there were voices, dim below	8	···/˘···
Their shrillness, voices swelling slow	8	·/˘/˘/˘·
In the blue murmur of hills, and a golden cry	12	···/˘····/˘·
And then vast silences.	6	···/˘˘

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.

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