The speaker recalls a childhood excursion to a wide, unfamiliar meadow where a low swing hangs from an old tree. The first half feels dreamlike and joyous: the children roam freely, swing high into sharp leaves, and eat under a fruit-laden bough. The language creates a sense of openness and wonder—an almost enchanted escape from home and adult watchfulness. But as the day ends, the mood shifts. Tired and alone by the swing, the speaker watches shadows lengthen and move, and sudden fear replaces freedom. Running back to the others brings relief, but the memory leaves a lasting mark. The final line—waiting a year to see “so wide a sky, so great a tree”—suggests both longing and the ache of a happiness that cannot be fully reclaimed. The poem captures how childhood joy can tip quickly into unease, and how strongly such moments linger.
The Swing — Summary
It was like floating in a blessed dream to roam Across green meadows, far from home, With only trees and quivering sky to hedge the sight, Dazzling the eyes with strange delight. Such wide, wide fields I had never seen, and never dreamed Could be; and wonderful it seemed To wander over green and under green and run Unwatched even of the shining sun.
One tree there was that held a wrinkled creaking bough Far over the grass, hanging low; And a swing from it hanging drew us near and made New brightness beneath that doming shade. For there my sisters swung long hours delightedly, And there delighted clambered I; And all our voices shrilled as one when up we flung And into the stinging sharp leaves swung.
Then in a garden dense with bramble and sweet flowers Where honeysuckle a new sweetness pours, We sat and ate and drank. Well I remember how We were all shaded by one bough Bending with red fruit over our uplifted eyes, Teasing our well-watched covetousness.
And then we went back happy to the empty swing, But I was tired of everything Except the grass and trees and the wide shadows there Widening slowly everywhere. It was like swinging in a solemn dream to roam In a strange air, far from home-- Until I saw the shadows suddenly wake and move, And float, float down from above. Then I ran quickly back, round the large gloomy trees, O with what shivering unease! And stumbled where they waited, and was far too glad, Finding them, to be afraid or sad. --Then waited an unforgetting year once more to see So wide a sky, so great a tree.