“Loveliest of Trees” Summary

“Loveliest of Trees” Themes

• 

  The Fleeting Beauty of Life

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Loveliest of Trees”

• Lines 1-2

  Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
  Is hung with bloom along the bough,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  And stands about the woodland ride
  Wearing white for Eastertide.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Now, of my threescore years and ten,
  Twenty will not come again,
  And take from seventy springs a score,
  It only leaves me fifty more.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  And since to look at things in bloom
  Fifty springs are little room,
  About the woodlands I will go
  To see the cherry hung with snow.

  

  

  

  

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“Loveliest of Trees” Symbols

• 

  The Cherry Tree

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“Loveliest of Trees” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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“Loveliest of Trees” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• The Cherry
• Hung with bloom
• Woodland ride
• Eastertide
• Threescore years and ten
• A score

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Loveliest of Trees”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Loveliest of Trees” Speaker

“Loveliest of Trees” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Loveliest of Trees”

More “Loveliest of Trees” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Shropshire Lad — Check out the popular collection in which "Loveliest of Trees" was published.

  • Housman's Life and Work — Learn more about Housman in this biography from the Poetry Foundation. 

  • The Invention of Love — Watch a clip from a play by Tom Stoppard, which imagines A. E. Housman visiting the classical underworld. 

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to "Loveliest of Trees" read aloud by actor Arthur Darvill. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by A. E. Housman

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  • When I Was One-and-Twenty