Poetry · Chapter
First Known When Lost explained
The speaker reflects on a narrow copse that went unnoticed until it was cut down, revealing a small brook's source.
What happens
The speaker reflects on a narrow copse that went unnoticed until it was cut down, revealing a small brook's source. The loss brings a new awareness of what was always present but unseen.
Themes in this chapter
Memory and Time
The poem explores how absence triggers memory and recognition of what was overlooked.
Place and Belonging
The copse and brook are intimately tied to the landscape, their loss altering the sense of place.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The speaker who notices the copse only after it is gone.
Key passages
“I never had noticed it until ’Twas gone—the narrow copse Where now the woodman lops The last of the willows with his bill.”
I never saw the narrow grove until it was cut down; now the woodcutter is felling the last willows with his saw.
The speaker realizes the copse's existence only through its removal.
“Now the soil was bare as a bone, And black betwixt two meadows green, Though fresh-cut faggot ends Of hazel made some amends With a gleam as if flowers they had been.”
Now the ground is exposed and dark between the green fields, though the freshly cut hazel sticks offer a faint consolation, shining like flowers.
The cleared land is stark, but the cut wood retains a ghostly beauty.
“Strange it could have hidden so near! And now I see as I look That the small winding brook, A tributary’s tributary, rises there.”
How strange that it was hidden so close! Now I notice that the small winding stream, a minor branch of a larger brook, begins there.
The loss reveals the hidden source of the brook, deepening the speaker's awareness.