Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Environmentalism, Nationalism, Hunting, Development, Evolution, Animal Behaviour, Aesthetics, Pollution, Industry

    Urges that trees be preserved and despairs at the day when the 'woodman's stroke' will have destroyed all forests. Upholds the 'merry greenwood' that is ridiculed by 'Folly's mocking brood', and observes how 'every lover of copse and cover' will lament the hunting of animals as the trees are felled. Goes on to criticise the construction of buildings on village greens and commons, actions that suggest that the race is 'sinking to Gorillas'. Anticipates the transformation of 'fields and towns' into 'a close hotbed' and in conclusion ponders the possibility of thwarting the 'ruin and wreck / Of all old English beauty', polluted by 'traffic and trade', and mammon.