"Loveliest of Trees" is a poem by the British writer A. E. Housman, published in his popular first collection A Shropshire Lad (1896). The poem reflects on the fleeting beauty of nature as well as human mortality. The poem's speaker, a young man of 20, estimates that he's got only 50 more years to live—and thus only 50 more springs in which to see the glorious cherry tree in full bloom. The idea that a lifetime offers hardly enough "room" to take in all the beauty of the natural world doesn't make the speaker despair, however. Instead, the speaker resolves to seize the day and go for a walk in order to appreciate the wonders of the world while he still can.
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The Full Text of “Loveliest of Trees”
1Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
2Is hung with bloom along the bough,
3And stands about the woodland ride
4Wearing white for Eastertide.
5Now, of my threescore years and ten,
6Twenty will not come again,
7And take from seventy springs a score,
8It only leaves me fifty more.
9And since to look at things in bloom
10Fifty springs are little room,
11About the woodlands I will go
12To see the cherry hung with snow.
The Full Text of “Loveliest of Trees”
1Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
2Is hung with bloom along the bough,
3And stands about the woodland ride
4Wearing white for Eastertide.
5Now, of my threescore years and ten,
6Twenty will not come again,
7And take from seventy springs a score,
8It only leaves me fifty more.
9And since to look at things in bloom
10Fifty springs are little room,
11About the woodlands I will go
12To see the cherry hung with snow.
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“Loveliest of Trees” Summary
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“Loveliest of Trees” Themes
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The Fleeting Beauty of Life
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Loveliest of Trees”
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Lines 1-2
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough, -
Lines 3-4
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide. -
Lines 5-8
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more. -
Lines 9-12
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
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“Loveliest of Trees” Symbols
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The Cherry Tree
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“Loveliest of Trees” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Enjambment
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Imagery
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Personification
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“Loveliest of Trees” 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.
- The Cherry
- Hung with bloom
- Woodland ride
- Eastertide
- Threescore years and ten
- A score
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Loveliest of Trees”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Loveliest of Trees” Speaker
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“Loveliest of Trees” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Loveliest of Trees”
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More “Loveliest of Trees” Resources
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External Resources
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A Shropshire Lad — Check out the popular collection in which "Loveliest of Trees" was published.
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Housman's Life and Work — Learn more about Housman in this biography from the Poetry Foundation.
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The Invention of Love — Watch a clip from a play by Tom Stoppard, which imagines A. E. Housman visiting the classical underworld.
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to "Loveliest of Trees" read aloud by actor Arthur Darvill.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by A. E. Housman
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