The Planting of the Apple-Tree
“The Planting of the Apple-Tree” has become a favourite for “ArbourDay” exercises. The planting of trees as against their destruction is avital point in our political and national welfare. William CullenBryant (1794-1878).
Come, let us plant the apple-tree.Cleave the tough greensward with the spade;Wide let its hollow bed be made;There gently lay the roots, and thereSift the dark mould with kindly care,And press it o’er them tenderly,As round the sleeping infant’s feetWe softly fold the cradle sheet;So plant we the apple-tree.
What plant we in this apple-tree?Buds, which the breath of summer daysShall lengthen into leafy sprays;Boughs where the thrush, with crimson breast,Shall haunt, and sing, and hide her nest;We plant, upon the sunny lea,A shadow for the noontide hour,A shelter from the summer shower,When we plant the apple-tree.
What plant we in this apple-tree?Sweets for a hundred flowery springs,To load the May wind’s restless wings,When, from the orchard row, he poursIts fragrance through our open doors;A world of blossoms for the bee,Flowers for the sick girl’s silent room,For the glad infant sprigs of bloom,We plant with the apple-tree.
What plant we in this apple-tree?Fruits that shall swell in sunny June,And redden in the August noon,And drop, when gentle airs come by,That fan the blue September sky,While children come, with cries of glee,And seek them where the fragrant grassBetrays their bed to those who pass,At the foot of the apple-tree.
And when, above this apple-tree,The winter stars are quivering bright,The winds go howling through the night,Girls, whose eyes o’erflow with mirth,Shall peel its fruit by cottage hearth,And guests in prouder homes shall see,Heaped with the grape of Cintra’s vine,And golden orange of the line,The fruit of the apple-tree.
The fruitage of this apple-tree,Winds and our flag of stripe and starShall bear to coasts that lie afar,Where men shall wonder at the view,And ask in what fair groves they grew;And sojourners beyond the seaShall think of childhood’s careless day,And long, long hours of summer play,In the shade of the apple-tree.
Each year shall give this apple-treeA broader flush of roseate bloom,A deeper maze of verdurous gloom,And loosen, when the frost-clouds lower,The crisp brown leaves in thicker shower.The years shall come and pass, but weShall hear no longer, where we lie,The summer’s songs, the autumn’s sigh,In the boughs of the apple-tree.
And time shall waste this apple-tree.Oh, when its aged branches throwThin shadows on the ground below,Shall fraud and force and iron willOppress the weak and helpless still!What shall the tasks of mercy be,Amid the toils, the strifes, the tearsOf those who live when length of yearsIs wasting this apple-tree?
“Who planted this old apple-tree?”The children of that distant dayThus to some aged man shall say;And, gazing on its mossy stem,The gray-haired man shall answer them:“A poet of the land was he,Born in the rude but good old times;’Tis said he made some quaint old rhymesOn planting the apple-tree.”
Words in this poem 16
- arbour n.
- A kind of latticework formed of, or covered with, vines, branches of trees, or other plants, for shade; a bower. Sir P. [OE. herber, herbere, properly a garden of herbs, F. herbier, fr. L. herbarium. See Herb, and cf. Herbarium.]
- greensward n.
- Turf green with grass.
- 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]
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
- 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,]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- fruitage n.
- Fruit, collectively; fruit, in general; fruitery. [F. fruitage.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- 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.]
- roseate a.
- Full of roses; rosy; as, roseate bowers. [Cf. L. roseus, rosatus, prepared from roses. See Roseal, Rose.]
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- verdurous a.
- Covered with verdure; clothed with the fresh green of vegetation; verdured; verdant; as, verdurous pastures.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Planting of the Apple-Tree is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, The Planting of the Apple-Tree, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-planting-of-the-apple-tree.html, id L25271.
Form and metre
The Planting of the Apple-Tree is 85 lines in 10 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBCCADDA, complete in 9 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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.
- 2 ABBCCADDA treeA · spadeB · madeB · thereC · careC · tenderlyA · feetD · sheetD · treeA
- 3 ABBCCADDA treeA · daysB · spraysB · breastC · nestC · leaA · hourD · showerD · treeA
- 4 ABBCCADDA treeA · springsB · wingsB · poursC · doorsC · beeA · roomD · bloomD · treeA
- 5 ABBCCADDA treeA · juneB · noonB · byC · skyC · gleeA · grassD · passD · treeA
- 6 ABBCCADDA treeA · brightB · nightB · mirthC · hearthC · seeA · vineD · lineD · treeA
- 7 ABBCCADDA treeA · starB · afarB · viewC · grewC · seaA · dayD · playD · treeA
- 8 ABBCCADDA treeA · bloomB · gloomB · lowerC · showerC · weA · lieD · sighD · treeA
- 9 ABBCCADDA treeA · throwB · belowB · willC · stillC · beA · tearsD · yearsD · treeA
- 10 ABBCCADDA treeA · dayB · sayB · stemC · themC · heA · timesD · rhymesD · treeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “The Planting of the Apple-Tree” has become a favourite for “Arbour | 18 | ·/˘··/˘··˘/·····/˘ |
| Day” exercises. The planting of trees as against their destruction is a | 19 | ·/˘·˘·/˘······˘/˘·· |
| vital point in our political and national welfare. William Cullen | 17 | /˘··/˘/˘·/˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Bryant (1794-1878). | 2 | /˘ |
| Come, let us plant the apple-tree. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Cleave the tough greensward with the spade; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Wide let its hollow bed be made; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| There gently lay the roots, and there | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sift the dark mould with kindly care, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And press it o’er them tenderly, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| As round the sleeping infant’s feet | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| We softly fold the cradle sheet; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| So plant we the apple-tree. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| What plant we in this apple-tree? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Buds, which the breath of summer days | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall lengthen into leafy sprays; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Boughs where the thrush, with crimson breast, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall haunt, and sing, and hide her nest; | 8 | ········ |
| We plant, upon the sunny lea, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A shadow for the noontide hour, | 9 | ·/···/˘/˘ |
| A shelter from the summer shower, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| When we plant the apple-tree. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| What plant we in this apple-tree? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sweets for a hundred flowery springs, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To load the May wind’s restless wings, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When, from the orchard row, he pours | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Its fragrance through our open doors; | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| A world of blossoms for the bee, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Flowers for the sick girl’s silent room, | 8 | /····/˘· |
| For the glad infant sprigs of bloom, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| We plant with the apple-tree. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| What plant we in this apple-tree? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Fruits that shall swell in sunny June, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And redden in the August noon, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And drop, when gentle airs come by, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That fan the blue September sky, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| While children come, with cries of glee, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And seek them where the fragrant grass | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Betrays their bed to those who pass, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| At the foot of the apple-tree. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And when, above this apple-tree, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The winter stars are quivering bright, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The winds go howling through the night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Girls, whose eyes o’erflow with mirth, | 7 | ······· |
| Shall peel its fruit by cottage hearth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And guests in prouder homes shall see, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Heaped with the grape of Cintra’s vine, | 8 | ········ |
| And golden orange of the line, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The fruit of the apple-tree. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The fruitage of this apple-tree, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Winds and our flag of stripe and star | 8 | ··/····· |
| Shall bear to coasts that lie afar, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Where men shall wonder at the view, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And ask in what fair groves they grew; | 8 | ········ |
| And sojourners beyond the sea | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Shall think of childhood’s careless day, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And long, long hours of summer play, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| In the shade of the apple-tree. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Each year shall give this apple-tree | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A broader flush of roseate bloom, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A deeper maze of verdurous gloom, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| And loosen, when the frost-clouds lower, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| The crisp brown leaves in thicker shower. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| The years shall come and pass, but we | 8 | ········ |
| Shall hear no longer, where we lie, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The summer’s songs, the autumn’s sigh, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In the boughs of the apple-tree. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And time shall waste this apple-tree. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Oh, when its aged branches throw | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thin shadows on the ground below, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Shall fraud and force and iron will | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Oppress the weak and helpless still! | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| What shall the tasks of mercy be, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Amid the toils, the strifes, the tears | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Of those who live when length of years | 8 | ········ |
| Is wasting this apple-tree? | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| “Who planted this old apple-tree?” | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The children of that distant day | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Thus to some aged man shall say; | 7 | ······· |
| And, gazing on its mossy stem, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The gray-haired man shall answer them: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| “A poet of the land was he, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Born in the rude but good old times; | 8 | ········ |
| ’Tis said he made some quaint old rhymes | 8 | ········ |
| On planting the apple-tree.” | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
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