Poetry · Chapter
The Hollow Wood explained
The poem describes a hollow wood where a goldfinch flits above the thistle-tops, birds swim like fish below, and the trees are kept evergreen by lichen, ivy, and moss, with some trees half-flayed and dying.
What happens
The poem describes a hollow wood where a goldfinch flits above the thistle-tops, birds swim like fish below, and the trees are kept evergreen by lichen, ivy, and moss, with some trees half-flayed and dying.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and the Seasons
The hollow wood is depicted with vivid natural imagery of goldfinches, thistles, lichen, ivy, and moss, highlighting the cycle of life and decay.
The Cycle of Life and Death
The contrast between the lively goldfinch and the half-flayed, dying trees underscores the coexistence of vitality and decay in the wood.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Out in the sun the goldfinch flits / Along the thistle-tops, flits and twits / Above the hollow wood”
In the sunlight, a goldfinch moves quickly among the thistle tops, chirping as it flies over the hollow wood.
Sets the scene with the goldfinch's activity above the wood.
“Where birds swim like fish— / Fish that laugh and shriek— / To and fro, far below / In the pale hollow wood.”
Birds move through the air as if swimming, making laughing and shrieking sounds, back and forth deep within the pale hollow wood.
Describes the birds' movement and sounds in the wood.
“Lichen, ivy, and moss / Keep evergreen the trees / That stand half-flayed and dying, / And the dead trees on their knees / In dog’s-mercury and moss:”
Lichen, ivy, and moss keep the trees green even as they are partially stripped and dying, with dead trees bowed low among dog's-mercury and moss.
Highlights the contrast between the evergreen cover and the decaying trees.