Binsey Poplars Analysis

Binsey Poplars is a poem written by Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1879. In the poem, which was inspired by the felling of poplars in Binsey, in the Oxford countryside, the speaker laments the loss of the trees. The poem is divided into three stanzas of eight, seven and nine lines of variable length. The metric pattern is irregular and inconsistent. Although there is no consistent rhyme scheme, the rhyme arrangement is meaningful and revealing in terms of connection between lines and words. In the first stanza, the speaker expresses regret and sorrow over the cutting down of a row of poplars. He goes on to condemn the brutality of damaging the fragile nature in the second stanza. Finally, in the third stanza, the speaker reflects on the future consequences of the

To begin with, the variation in rhythm reflects the dramatic change of tone in the first stanza. The first two lines are pentameters: the first line is a trochaic pentameter and the second line is a regular iambic pentameter. The regular rhythm in the first two lines corresponds to a serene description of the poplars which the speaker affectionately considers his own: ‘my aspens dear’ (l. 1). The paced rhythm is also related to the content described. The intertwined branches of the trees are offering a cage-like protection from the ‘leaping sun’ (l. 2). Similarly to the personified image of an intense sun being filtered through the moving leafy branches of the trees, the rhythm is leaping towards a more somber one. From the third line onwards (l. 3-7, 9-24), the lines are shorter and also echo the activity described in the poem: the aspens are ‘all felled’ (l. 2). In the same way as the trees they describe, the lines are cut short and there is a frequent use of enjambment. Moreover, most syllables in line 3 are