Poet's Corner

"Generations"

Amy Lowell

Poem explanation

1	You are like the stem 
	Of a young beech-tree,
	Straight and swaying,
	Breaking out in golden leaves. 

5	Your walk is like the blowing of a beech-tree 
	On a hill.                                   
	Your voice is like leaves 
	Softly struck upon by a South wind.
	Your shadow is no shadow, but a scattered sunshine;

10	And at night you pull the sky down to you 
	And hood yourself in stars.              
	But I am like a great oak under a cloudy sky,
	Watching a stripling beech grow up at my feet.

Source: Exploring Poetry, Gale, 1997.