The Way through the Woods
They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.
Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate.
(They fear not men in the woods,
Because they see so few)
You will hear the beat of a horse's feet,
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods...
But there is no road through the woods.
Quick facts about “The Way through the Woods”
- Author
- Rudyard Kipling
- First line
- They shut the road through the woods
- Length
- 25 lines in 2 stanzas
- Time to learn
- about 13 minutes
Questions about “The Way through the Woods”
Who wrote “The Way through the Woods”?
“The Way through the Woods” was written by Rudyard Kipling.
What is the first line of “The Way through the Woods”?
The first line of “The Way through the Woods” is: “They shut the road through the woods”
How long is “The Way through the Woods”?
“The Way through the Woods” is 25 lines long, in 2 stanzas.
How long does it take to memorize “The Way through the Woods”?
Plan on about 13 minutes in the Memorizun trainer, which hides words and letters step by step so you recall the text instead of rereading it. A few short sessions on separate days help it stick.
What is the best way to memorize “The Way through the Woods”?
Read it aloud once or twice, then use the trainer to hide more of the text each round until you can say it without looking. Learn it stanza by stanza, then join the stanzas together. Review it again the next day.
