The Bloom by Herbert Trench (1901)
In "The Bloom," Herbert Trench pictures old, gnarled, moss-covered trees whose low arms are covered in frail white blossom that falls like snow. The trees call themselves matrons, bent by years yet gifted with a virgin's beauty, and they contrast themselves with whispering leaves of other trees.
By Herbert Trench · First published 1901 · Genre: Nature poetry, Pastoral poetry, Lyric poetry · 218 words
First lines
Who are these ancients, gnarl'd and moss'd and weigh'd / This way and that, under the sluggard blue / And shine of morning -- these whose arms are laid / Low to the grasses and the sheets of dew -- / These bowers ruggëd within and thickly knit / But feather'd over with a roseate white / So frail that the breeze's touch dismantles it / And brings from cradled nurseries in flight -- / Snow-soft -- the petals down / In shadows green to drown?
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Genres
- Nature poetry — The poem's subject is trees in bloom, with blossom, leaves, grass, dew and morning light rendered in close sensory detail.
- Pastoral poetry — The rural setting of the croft, the bowers and the grasses idealises country life and its natural cycles.
- Lyric poetry — A brief, musical, personal voice speaks in song-like stanzas with rhythmic and rhyming patterns suited to feeling rather than narrative.
- Allegorical poetry — The trees are personified as ancient matrons, so their aging and blossoming stand for a moral about grace in old age.
Tags
poetry · nature poetry · ancient trees · old age · blossom · falling petals · snow imagery · personification · matrons · beauty in old age · virginal beauty · morning light
What this Textopian page supports
The Bloom is listed on Textopian as a poem by Herbert Trench, dated 1901 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Herbert Trench
- Date: 1901 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Nature poetry, Pastoral poetry, Lyric poetry, Allegorical poetry, Descriptive poetry
- Length: 218 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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