کوثر

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

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.

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.

Form

This poem is in the form of rhymed couplets.

Meter

The meter of the poem is basically iambic tetrameter; that is it has four major stresses in each line with a pattern of unstressed/stressed syllables. For example, the second line fits the metric pattern.

Other lines do not exactly fit the stresses of the meter to offer variety and different emphases. The first line gives emphasis to the word loveliest with the stress on the first syllable followed by three unstressed syllables.

The fourth line (as well as lines 6 and 10 leaves off the first unstressed syllable to provide some variety in the rhythm of the piece.

Note however that the pattern of four stressed syllables per line is strictly adhered to.

The result of the meter is a pleasant pattern that adds a smooth flow and cohesion to the poem and words.

Type

This is a lyric poem expressing an emotion or idea produced through an observation of nature.

Rhyme

• The End Rhyme in this poem is all masculine or strong rhyme.
• Internal Rhyme such as alliteration and assonance is used.
• Alliteration is used – ex. woodland, wearing; seventy, springs, score.
• Some assonance is used – ex. threescore years; leaves me.

Imagery

The strongest image in the first stanza is that of early spring. Without using many figures of speech, Housman draws a picture of a countryside path lined with blossoming cherry trees. This image is a reference to youth and beginnings. The reference to white and Easter suggest naiveté and purity. The cherry tree represents the beauty of nature.

The second stanza uses a riddle-like method to tell us the speaker’s age. The first figure of speech here is a reference or allusion to the age allotted to man in the Bible – threescore years and ten- or seventy years. The reference to spring in line 7 is a synecdoche; spring here stands for a full year.

In the third stanza, Housman uses the synecdoche things in bloom to represent all of life and woodlands to represent the world. In the last line cherry hung with snow represents winter and the end of life just as hung with bloom in the first stanza represents spring and the beginning of life.

Period

This poem was written in 1896 as part of Housman’s book The Shropshire Lad at the end of the Victorian period and the beginning of the Modern. However, the poem is strongly reminiscent of the Romantic period in its natural imagery and optimism. This is often the case in works of later poets who draw on earlier periods for inspiration.

Paraphrase

The beautiful cherry tree stands out along the woodland path when it is blooming white in springtime. I’m twenty years old and can expect to live to be seventy. Since I only have about fifty years left in my life, I will look at nature’s beauty in all seasons.

theme and Meaning

Using the theme of the beauty of the natural world, the poet is expressing the view that we should seize every opportunity to experience life in all its beauty. Because of its lighthearted tone (especially notable because of the riddle-like second stanza), this is an optimistic poem despite a reference to the shortness of man’s tenure in the world