# Aspens explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Edward Thomas.

## What happens

The poem reflects on the persistent whispering of aspens at a crossroads, contrasting their ceaseless sound with the now-silent human activities of the smithy and inn, and meditates on the inevitability of grief and the enduring nature of the trees.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nature and the Seasons

The aspens talk of rain and lose their leaves, embodying the seasonal cycle and the persistence of nature.

### Solitude and Reflection

The empty, silent smithy and inn, and the ghostly crossroads, evoke a mood of solitude and contemplative grief.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker observes the aspens and reflects on their ceaseless grieving, linking their nature to his own rhymes.

## Key lines

> The whisper of the aspens is not drowned, And over lightless pane and footless road, Empty as sky, with every other sound Not ceasing, calls their ghosts from their abode

The aspens' whispering persists despite all other noises, and in the deserted, dark village, it seems to summon the spirits of the past.

_Highlights the contrast between the living trees and the abandoned human spaces._

> Whatever wind blows, while they and I have leaves We cannot other than an aspen be That ceaselessly, unreasonably grieves, Or so men think who like a different tree.

No matter the circumstances, as long as we live, we are bound to our nature of constant, seemingly irrational sorrow—or at least that is how others perceive us.

_Connects the speaker's identity to the aspen's perpetual grieving._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_5_se/chapters/aspens
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_5_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_5_se/chapters