The Poplar Field
by William Cowper

English poet. The simplicity of his work and his treatment of natural subjects was in marked contrast to the sophistication of the fashionable Pope; he was an important forerunner of the Romantics, and his unfinished poem 'Yardley Oak' was particularly admired by Wordsworth. Other notable poems include 'The Poplar Trees', 'The Journey of John Gilpin' and 'The Castaway', while The Task is his most ambitious work in verse. Olney Hymns (1779) contains his popular hymns 'God moves in a mysterious way' and 'Oh, for a closer walk with God'. His autobiographical Memoir was published in 1816, and his letters have been widely appreciated, providing an intimate picture of the man.

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The Poplar Field
by William Cowper

The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade
And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade:
The winds play no longer and sing in the leaves,
Nor Ouse on his bosom their image receives.

Twelve years have elapsed since I first took a view
Of my favourite field, and the bank where they grew,
And now in the grass behold they are laid,
And the tree is my seat that once lent me a shade.

The blackbird has fled to another retreat
Where the hazels afford him a screen from the heat;
And the scene where his melody charmed me before
Resounds with his sweet-flowing ditty no more.

My fugitive years are all hasting away,
And I must ere long lie as lowly as they,
With a turf on my breast and a stone at my head,
Ere another such grove shall arise in its stead.

'Tis a sight to engage me, if anything can,
To muse on the perishing pleasures of man;
Short-lived as we are, our enjoyments, I see,
Have a still shorter date, and die sooner than we.

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The Poplar Field by William Cowper