Skip to content
Linespedia

In a London Square

By Arthur Hugh Clough

Topics: classic

Put forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane,     East wind and frost are safely gone;     With zephyr mild and balmy rain     The summer comes serenely on;     Earth, air, and sun and skies combine     To promise all thats kind and fair:     But thou, O human heart of mine,     Be still, contain thyself, and bear.     December days were brief and chill,     The winds of March were wild and drear,     And, nearing and receding still,     Spring never would, we thought, be here.     The leaves that burst, the suns that shine,     Had, not the less, their certain date:     And thou, O human heart of mine,     Be still, refrain thyself, and wait.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Put forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane,..."

Exploring the themes of classic, Arthur Hugh Clough delivers a powerful performance in "In a London Square"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Arthur Hugh Clough

"Put forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane,..." by Arthur Hugh Clough

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"Cease, empty Faith, the Spectrum saith,     I was, and lo, have been;     I, God, am nought: a shade of thought,     Which, but by darkness see"

"These are the words of Jacobs wives, the words     Which Leah spake and Rachel to his ears,     When, in the shade at eventide, he sat     By"

"To spend uncounted years of pain,     Again, again, and yet again,     In working out in heart and brain     The problem of our being here;"

"On grass, on gravel, in the sun,     Or now beneath the shade,     They went, in pleasant Kensington,     A prentice and a maid.     That Sun"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Arthur Hugh Clough

About Arthur Hugh Clough

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) was an English poet whose work explores Victorian doubt and moral uncertainty. His poems "Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth" and "The Latest Decalogue" are sharp, thoughtful, and still widely anthologized.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"Cease, empty Faith, the Spectrum saith,     I was,..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.