A Tree Song (A.D. 1200)
Of all the trees that grow so fair,Old England to adorn,Greater are none beneath the Sun,Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs(All of a Midsummer morn)!Surely we sing no little thing,In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
Oak of the Clay lived many a dayOr ever AEneas began;Ash of the Loam was a lady at homeWhen Brut was an outlaw man.Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town(From which was London born);Witness hereby the ancientryOf Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
Yew that is old in churchyard mould,He breedeth a mighty bow;Alder for shoes do wise men choose,And beech for cups also.But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,And your shoes are clean outworn,Back ye must speed for all that ye need,To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
Ellum she hateth mankind, and waitethTill every gust be laid,To drop a limb on the head of himThat anyway trusts her shade:But whether a lad be sober or sad,Or mellow with ale from the horn,He will take no wrong when he lieth along'Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,Or he would call it a sin;But--we have been out in the woods all night,A-conjuring Summer in!
And we bring you news by word of mouth--Good news for cattle and corn--Now is the Sun come up from the South,With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs(All of a Midsummer morn)!England shall bide till Judgment Tide,By Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
Words in this poem
- midsummer n.
- The middle of summer. Shak. Midsummer daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. [AS. midsumor.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- brut v. i.
- To browse. Evelyn. [F. brouter, OF. brouster. See Browse, n.]
- hereby adv.
- By means of this.
- ancientry n.
- Antiquity; what is ancient.
- churchyard n.
- The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- alder a.
- Of all; -- used in composition; as, alderbest, best of all, alderwisest, wisest of all. [From ealra, alra, gen. pl. of AS. eal. The d is excrescent.]
- anyway adv.
- Anywise; at all. Tennyson. Southey.
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Tree Song (A.D. 1200) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs from Books, Project Gutenberg ebook #15529; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rudyard Kipling, A Tree Song (A.D. 1200), in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/a-tree-song-a-d-1200.html, id L20286.
Form and metre
A Tree Song (A.D. 1200) is 44 lines in 7 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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 -A-A-A-A fair · adornA · sun · thornA · sirs · mornA · thing · thornA
- 2 -A-A-B-B day · beganA · home · manA · town · bornB · ancientry · thornB
- 3 -----A-A mould · bow · choose · also · spilled · outwornA · need · thornA
- 4 -A-A-B-B waiteth · laidA · him · shadeA · sad · hornB · along · thornB
- 5 ABAB plightA · sinB · nightA · inB
- 6 ABAB mouthA · cornB · southA · thornB
- 7 -A-A sirs · mornA · tide · thornA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Of all the trees that grow so fair, | 8 | ········ |
| Old England to adorn, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Greater are none beneath the Sun, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn. | 6 | ······ |
| Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs | 8 | ········ |
| (All of a Midsummer morn)! | 7 | ···//˘· |
| Surely we sing no little thing, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! | 6 | ······ |
| Oak of the Clay lived many a day | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Or ever AEneas began; | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Ash of the Loam was a lady at home | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| When Brut was an outlaw man. | 7 | ····/·· |
| Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town | 8 | ········ |
| (From which was London born); | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Witness hereby the ancientry | 8 | /˘˘/·/˘˘ |
| Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! | 6 | ······ |
| Yew that is old in churchyard mould, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| He breedeth a mighty bow; | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Alder for shoes do wise men choose, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And beech for cups also. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled, | 10 | ·········· |
| And your shoes are clean outworn, | 7 | ······· |
| Back ye must speed for all that ye need, | 9 | ········· |
| To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! | 6 | ······ |
| Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth | 10 | ·····//·/˘ |
| Till every gust be laid, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| To drop a limb on the head of him | 9 | ········· |
| That anyway trusts her shade: | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But whether a lad be sober or sad, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Or mellow with ale from the horn, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He will take no wrong when he lieth along | 10 | ········˘/ |
| 'Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight, | 8 | ······/· |
| Or he would call it a sin; | 7 | ······· |
| But--we have been out in the woods all night, | 10 | ·········· |
| A-conjuring Summer in! | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| And we bring you news by word of mouth-- | 9 | ········· |
| Good news for cattle and corn-- | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Now is the Sun come up from the South, | 9 | ········· |
| With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! | 6 | ······ |
| Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs | 8 | ········ |
| (All of a Midsummer morn)! | 7 | ···//˘· |
| England shall bide till Judgment Tide, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| By Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! | 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.