Patrick Kavanagh

To a Late Poplar

To a Late Poplar - meaning Summary

Delayed Union, Nature Waits

The speaker addresses a poplar as a tardy bride, using wedding imagery to highlight a contrast between human punctuality and nature’s readiness. While the priest, bridegroom and guests wait, nearby fields and squirrels already celebrate with a meadow choir and a wedding march. The poem gently marries humor and tenderness, suggesting that natural rhythms proceed on their own timetable, indifferent to human ritual and expectation.

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Not yet half-drest, O tardy bride! And the priest And the bridegroom and the guests Have been waiting a full hour. The meadow choir Is playing the wedding march Two fields away, And squirrels are already leaping in ecstasy Among leaf-full branches.

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