This is a poem which, like his “The Rose World”, is characterized by a Romanticism which is reminiscent of the nineteenth century poets, particularly by a Keatsian evocation of the senses. Even as in ‘The Rose World” the world of man merges in this poem with that of nature with its leaves flowers and fruit. Also, like the poem “Life”, “A Leaf’ makes for a symbolic apprehension of life.
The poem comprises four six-lined stanzas each ending with a refrain. The first four lines of each stanza show the pattern ab, ab, the first line rhyming with the third and the second with the fourth.
The four stanzas seek to depict in a symbolic way the four stages of human life. The pictures are apparently presented in a flashback. The speaker who now finds himself in the position of a lonely leaf looks back upon the four stages of his life which he has crossed.
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Stanza 1: This stanza pictures the adolescent stage with its abundance, gaiety and freedom as also a “giant pride”. The lines are reminiscent of Wordsworth’s reference to his early boyhood years in his The Prelude.
Erratic guide: Refers obviously to the animal instincts and impulses of boyhood years.
Stanza 2: This stanza depicts a period of maturity and responsibility.
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Scarred ship: This refers evidently to a life full of adventures and struggle. The stanza is full of ship images.
Stanza 3: This stanza depicts that stage of life when man loses himself in a state of inaction and pensive brooding.
“Decrepit easy chair is the twentieth century version of Wordsworth’s couch. The expression bears Eliot’s influence” (Harimohan Prasad)
Stanza 4: This is the final stage of man’s life when he is blessed with a revelation which helps him understand his place in the scheme of things and realizes that he is part of a grand order which marks the life a Tree. The Tree again is but a symbol of the life of nature.