Home Thoughts from Abroad

HOME THOUGHTS FROM ABROAD

Oh, to be in England,
Now that April’s there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf                                 5
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England - now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows -
Hark! where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge                               10
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray’s edge -
That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!                                                            15
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children’s dower,
- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Notes:
Devices:

Rhyme Scheme:

            Wrenched rhyme:

            Feminine rhyme:

            Identical Rhyme:

Rhythm (Foot) and Meter:

Imagery:

Romanticism:

Poetic Style and Genre:

Lyric Poetry:

Speaker:

Stanza:

Interpretation/Meaning:

1.       In lines 1-2, the speaker express the wish to be back in England.  What season is making him wish to return?

2.      The visual imagery in lines 3-7 concentrates on plant life.  What do the branches of the trees look like?

3.      In the first stanza, the speaker does not attempt to remember England himself; instead he imagines someone else waking up to see the England of the moment.  Why does this type of description demonstrate envy in the speaker?

4.      In the second stanza the spring advances.  What do lines 8-9 suggest the birds are doing?

5.      In lines 10-12 the imagery describes pear tree blossoms covering the clover.  How does the enjambment affect the meaning between lines 11-12?

6.      The thrush’s song is special.  Why does it sing each song “twice over?”

7.      Lines 16-18 concede that in the early morning things look grayish, wet and “rough.”  What will take care of this ugliness?

8.      The enjambment between lines 18 and 19 suggests that besides noon waking up, what else will awaken?

9.      In line 19, to what does the speaker compare the gaudy melon flower? 

10.  After seeing the images of these two things?  What does the comparison say about England and the real difference between where the speaker is currently living?