Set in rural
background, this poem deals with environment degradation in the modern world.
It is an outcome of people’s quest for material heaven. It is nostalgic in
tone. William Cowper feels like crying over the loss of favorite poplar field
because it was a place for him to pass hi leisure and was a source of joy in
the past. The loss of trees pokes his mind; he thinks that he too will die like
the poplar trees, and be buried with earth and stone. Such a day is very near.
Therefore, he concludes that human life is short and his pleasure is far
shorter.
Summary
The poplar trees on the bank of Ouse
River are cut down; the shade is all gone. The sound of the cool trees is heard
no more because the wind does not play with trees anymore; neither leaves sing
any songs. You cannot see the reflection of the trees on Ouse River water
either.
The speaker viewed the poplar trees
12 years ago. Then they were on the Ouse River bank. Now they are all laid on
the grass. The trees that provided him shade then are his seats now. He is
sitting on one of the felled trees.
With the felling of the trees,
blackbird has migrated to a hazel bush to take a shelter from heat. The bird
used to sing melodious song then. But it doesn’t sing any longer.
The gloomy sight of the field turns
the speaker to look at his own life span. He thinks his life is passing very
fast. He is sure he will die sooner like the poplar trees. He will be buried
with earth and stone before another group of trees grows in the same field.
The barren sight makes the speaker
meditate, over human pleasures. He concludes that human life is short, and
human enjoyments are far shorter.
Conclusion
The poem is written in the first
person because the ideas/feelings expressed in the poem are the poet’s personal
ideas/feelings. It is his experience. The poem is indirectly appeal for nature
conservation. When the components of nature like trees and birds get
disappeared we get no pleasures. Nor do we get oxygen to breathe in.
Environment becomes dirty which causes several diseases in us and the disease
in turn bring premature death to us. Therefore, the speaker seems to tell us to
conserve the nature (poplar trees) for our own conservation.
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