"Binsey Poplars" is Gerard Manley Hopkins's memorial for a row of riverside trees cut down in 1879. The poem's speaker—a voice for Hopkins himself—is appalled to discover that the "aspens" he loved have been unceremoniously "felled." This, he laments, is what happens whenever humanity meddles with nature. In treating the natural world as a mere resource, or even as something to "mend" rather than leave to its own devices, people are forever doing irreparable damage, "unselv[ing]" (or destroying the identity of) the places they exploit. Like much of Hopkins's poetry, "Binsey Poplars" wasn't published until years after his death: it first appeared in the posthumous collection Poems (1918).
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The Full Text of “Binsey Poplars”
felled 1879
1My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
2 Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
3 All felled, felled, are all felled;
4 Of a fresh and following folded rank
5 Not spared, not one
6 That dandled a sandalled
7 Shadow that swam or sank
8On meadow and river and wind-wandering weed-winding bank.
9 O if we but knew what we do
10 When we delve or hew—
11 Hack and rack the growing green!
12 Since country is so tender
13 To touch, her being só slender,
14 That, like this sleek and seeing ball
15 But a prick will make no eye at all,
16 Where we, even where we mean
17 To mend her we end her,
18 When we hew or delve:
19After-comers cannot guess the beauty been.
20 Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
21 Strokes of havoc únselve
22 The sweet especial scene,
23 Rural scene, a rural scene,
24 Sweet especial rural scene.
The Full Text of “Binsey Poplars”
felled 1879
1My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
2 Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
3 All felled, felled, are all felled;
4 Of a fresh and following folded rank
5 Not spared, not one
6 That dandled a sandalled
7 Shadow that swam or sank
8On meadow and river and wind-wandering weed-winding bank.
9 O if we but knew what we do
10 When we delve or hew—
11 Hack and rack the growing green!
12 Since country is so tender
13 To touch, her being só slender,
14 That, like this sleek and seeing ball
15 But a prick will make no eye at all,
16 Where we, even where we mean
17 To mend her we end her,
18 When we hew or delve:
19After-comers cannot guess the beauty been.
20 Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
21 Strokes of havoc únselve
22 The sweet especial scene,
23 Rural scene, a rural scene,
24 Sweet especial rural scene.
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“Binsey Poplars” Summary
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“Binsey Poplars” Themes
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Humanity's Abuse of Nature
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Binsey Poplars”
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Lines 1-3
My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
All felled, felled, are all felled; -
Lines 4-8
Of a fresh and following folded rank
Not spared, not one
That dandled a sandalled
Shadow that swam or sank
On meadow and river and wind-wandering weed-winding bank. -
Lines 10-12
O if we but knew what we do
When we delve or hew—
Hack and rack the growing green! -
Lines 13-20
Since country is so tender
To touch, her being só slender,
That, like this sleek and seeing ball
But a prick will make no eye at all,
Where we, even where we mean
To mend her we end her,
When we hew or delve:
After-comers cannot guess the beauty been. -
Lines 21-25
Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
Strokes of havoc únselve
The sweet especial scene,
Rural scene, a rural scene,
Sweet especial rural scene.
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“Binsey Poplars” Symbols
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The Poplars
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“Binsey Poplars” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Personification
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Simile
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Repetition
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Alliteration
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“Binsey Poplars” 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.
- Aspens
- Quelled
- Quenched
- Felled
- A fresh and following folded rank
- Dandled
- Delve
- Hew
- Rack
- Mend
- Unselve
- Especial
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Binsey Poplars”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Binsey Poplars” Speaker
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“Binsey Poplars” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Binsey Poplars”
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More “Binsey Poplars” Resources
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External Resources
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A Brief Biography — Visit the Poetry Foundation's website to learn more about Hopkins's life and work.
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The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.
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The Poem in Manuscript — Take a look at one of Hopkins's drafts of the poem in his own handwriting (and get a sense for how this poem developed and changed).
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Hopkins's Legacy — Find more Hopkins resources (and a community of ardent Hopkins-lovers) at the Official Gerard Manley Hopkins Website.
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A Hopkins Documentary — Watch a short documentary about Hopkins.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins
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