The witches' wood - Mary Coleridge

There was a wood, a witches' wood, All the trees therein were pale; They bore no branches green and good But as it were a gray nun's veil. They talked and chattered in the wind From morning dawn to set of sun, Like men and women that have sinned, Whose thousand evil tongues are one. Their roots were like the hands of men, Grown hard and brown with clutching gold, Their foliage women's tresses when The hair is withered, thin and old. There never did a sweet bird sing. For happy love about his nest. The clustered bats on evil wing Each hollow trunk and bough possessed. And in the midst a pool there lay Of water white, as tho' a scare Had frightened off the eye of day And kept the Moon reflected there. by Mary Coleridge (1861 - 1907) , "The witches' wood", from Poems, no. 64, published 1907 http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=7521 * The following analysis is 100% mine, with nothing taken from the net. The analysis is copyrighted, it is my spiritual property and can be used ONLY by students at their schools. * The poem belongs to Mary Coleridge, and follows the form of Iambic tetrameter. The theme describes a society where wealth is the ultimate priority of the people, and because of that, they grow evil and non-cherished. The only pure existence is the pool with the white (pure) water (that resembles the Mystery of Baptism, probably) where the surrounding ethical darkness scared away light (ethics), and kept the moon reflected in the water, as its only source of consolation. Stanza 1: The "witches wood" is the molested by greed society where people grow ill. The witchcraft is their own defects. Stanza 2: The words of the ill people was sinners' talk; there was not one good sentiment of benevolence or redemption in their manners. The 1,000 evil tongues discuss the same themes: Of evilness and sins. Stanza 3: The hands (roots of the tree) of men grew old and weary (brown) from collecting wealth (gold). The women's tresses (combs) were gray from being non cherished and loved. Stanza 4: Nothing sweet and charming came from their mouths. Bats, instead, inhabited in the hollow (aged, old) trunk that resembles the worn out society's structure. Stanza 5: The only pure existence is the pool with the white (pure) water (that resembles the Mystery of Baptism, probably) where the surrounding ethical darkness scared away light (ethics), and kept the moon reflected in the water, as its only source of consolation. © G. V. 11-08-2013, All Rights Reserved (For the analysis of the poem, only)