The Hemlock Tree by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A speaker praises a hemlock's branches for staying green through summer and winter, then reproaches a maiden for loving the speaker in prosperity and leaving in adversity. The speaker compares her inconstancy to a nightingale that departs in autumn and a brook that dries in drought.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Nature Poetry · 205 words
First lines
O hemlock tree! O hemlock tree! how faithful are thy branches! / Green not alone in summer time, / But in the winter's frost and rime! / O hemlock tree! O hemlock tree! how faithful are thy branches!
O maiden fair! O maiden fair! how faithless is thy bosom! / To love me in prosperity, / And leave me in adversity! / O maiden fair! O maiden fair! how faithless is thy bosom!
The nightingale, the nightingale, thou tak'st for thine example! / So long as summer laughs she sings, / But in the autumn spreads her wings. / The nightingale, the nightingale, thou tak'st for thine example!
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The Hemlock Tree is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 205 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Hemlock Tree by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Repeated addresses to the tree and maiden express the speaker's personal reproach in four rhyming stanzas.
- Love Poetry — The speaker accuses a maiden of withdrawing her love when his prosperity gives way to adversity.
- Nature Poetry — Evergreen branches, a departing nightingale, and a brook drying in drought supply the comparisons for constancy and fickleness.
Tags
fidelity · abandonment · adversity · evergreen trees · seasonal change