As the Easter bells prepare to ring out across the rolling hills of Shropshire, a different kind of celebration is already underway.
The air, still carrying a little of winter’s chill, is sweetened by the delicate perfume of cherry blossoms.
Here, in the heart of Housman country, you cannot see this and not call to mind these lines from Shropshire Lad:
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
These words, inspired by this very county, resonate with a particular depth as we stand amidst the very scene he so beautifully captured.
The poem, deceptively simple, weaves together the joy of spring’s arrival with a quiet contemplation of life’s fleeting nature – a confronting contrast that feels particularly relevant as we approach Easter.
Shropshire Lad
The poem begins with clear joy.
Housman shows the cherry tree in bloom, “wearing white for Eastertide.” This personification links the natural world to the religious season. The blossoms are a celebratory image, reflecting the purity and new beginnings of Easter. This “snowy” look, both delicate and striking, captures the brief beauty of spring.
The mood then shifts. The second stanza focuses on human time. The speaker considers his “threescore years and ten,” noting that twenty springs are gone. This simple calculation reminds us of our mortality. The realization that only “fifty more” remain creates an awareness of life’s brevity.
White Cherry Blossom
This thought of mortality leads to action in the final stanza. Faced with limited time and nature’s beauty, the speaker decides to act. The line, “Fifty springs are little room,” shows a desire to experience the world. His declaration, “About the woodlands I will go / To see the cherry hung with snow,” becomes an act of engaging with life’s fleeting wonders.
In the context of Easter, this ending is significant. Easter celebrates life over death, new beginnings. While Housman’s poem acknowledges mortality, the speaker’s choice to see the blossoms becomes an act of embracing the present.
It is a quiet affirmation of life despite its limits, a decision to appreciate the brief wonders around us, echoing Easter’s spirit of renewal and the enduring pattern of the seasons that our awareness engages with, even as that pattern extends beyond our lifetime.
Perhaps this Easter, amidst the traditional celebrations, we can take a moment to stand beneath a blossoming cherry tree, breathe in its sweet fragrance, and reflect on the wisdom of Housman’s words. Let the fleeting beauty of the blossoms inspire us to cherish the present, to embrace the new beginnings that Easter promises, and to make the most of the springs that lie ahead. For in the heart of Shropshire, as the cherry trees bloom in their Easter white, we are reminded that even in the face of time’s relentless flow, there is always beauty to be found and life to be celebrated.
