Poet's Corner

"Home — Thoughts from Abroad"

Robert Browning

Poem explanation

1	Oh, to be in England 
	Now that April's there,
	And whoever wakes in England
	Sees, some morning, unaware,

5	That the lowest boughs and the brush-wood sheaf
	Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
	While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
	In England – now!
	And after April, when May follows,

10	And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
	Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
	Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
	Blossoms and dewdrops – at the bent spray's edge – 
	That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,

15	Lest you should think he never could recapture
	The first fine careless rapture!
	And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
	All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
	The buttercups, the little children's dower

20	– Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Source: Exploring Poetry, Gale.