Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE OAK OF OUR FATHERS, by ROBERT SOUTHEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE OAK OF OUR FATHERS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Alas for the oak of our fathers, that stood
Last Line: In its beauty, the glory and pride of the wood!
Subject(s): Death; Ivy; Lament; Oak Trees; Parasites; Dead, The


ALAS for the oak of our fathers that stood
In its beauty, the glory and pride of the wood!

It grew and it flourish'd for many an age,
And many a tempest wreak'd on it its rage,
But when its strong branches were bent with the blast,
It struck its roots deeper and flourish'd more fast.

Its head tower'd high, and its branches spread round,
For its roots were struck deep, and its heart it was sound;
The bees o'er its honey-dew'd foliage play'd,
And the beasts of the forest fed under its shade.

The oak of our fathers to freedom was dear,
Its leaves were her crown, and its wood was her spear.
Alas for the oak of our fathers that stood
In its beauty, the glory and pride of the wood!

There crept up an ivy and clung round the trunk,
It struck in its mouths and its juices it drunk;
The branches grew sickly, deprived of their food,
And the oak was no longer the pride of the wood.

The foresters saw and they gather'd around,
Its roots still were fast, and its heart still was sound
They lopt off the boughs that so beautiful spread,
But the ivy they spared on its vitals that fed.

No longer the bees o'er its honey-dews play'd,
Nor the beasts of the forest fed under its shade;
Lopt and mangled the trunk in its ruin is seen,
A monument now what its beauty has been.

The oak has received its incurable wound;
They have loosened the roots, though the heart may be sound;
What the travellers at distance green-flourishing see,
Are the leaves of the ivy that ruined the tree.

Alas for the oak of our fathers that stood
In its beauty, the glory and pride of the wood!





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