Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay
Form and Meter
"Loveliest of Trees" is mostly written in a rhythmic pattern known as "iambic tetrameter." Say what who-meter? Here's what that means: Each line of iambic tetrameter contains 4 (tetra- means 4) bea...
Speaker
"Loveliest of Trees" first appeared in a book called A Shropshire Lad (1896). This is because it was full of poems about a whole bunch of Shropshire lads, including the speaker of "Loveliest o...
Setting
We've said it before, and we're going to keep saying it. "Loveliest of Trees" was first published in 1896 a book called A Shropshire Lad. Most of the poems (including "Loveliest of Trees") in the b...
Sound Check
If you were to read this poem out loud (go ahead and try it right now, Shmoopers—we'll wait right here), you would hear a lot of pleasing sounds. Not only is the speaker describing a beautiful sc...
What's Up With the Title?
Technically speaking, Housman originally labeled "Loveliest of Trees" with a "II." It was, after all, the second poem in a volume called A Shropshire Lad (1896). A lot of times when a poem becomes...
Calling Card
Housman's book A Shropshire Lad is obsessed with death, and in particular with the death of young people before their time. It's kind of strange because Housman didn't really have any reason for go...
Tough-o-Meter
Like many of the poems in A Shropshire Lad, "Loveliest of Trees" is written in a very plain, simple style. Some early readers actually thought it was a little too simple. It's true that there are n...
Trivia
A.E. Housman could be really moody, especially when talking about other scholars, as you can see: "Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to ha...
Steaminess Rating
We regret to inform you folks that there is no sex in this poem. The fact of the matter is, there's nothing sexy, or sexual, about a dude looking at a cherry tree and talking about how beautiful it...
Allusions
Horace, Odes I.11 (throughout)