In this twelve-line poem by A. E. Housman, the poet contemplates the beauty of spring and calculates how many more years he will have to enjoy its wonder. In the first stanza, he proclaims the cherry tree to be the "loveliest of trees" because it is adorned with blossoms on every branch. He personifies the tree, suggesting that it is "wearing white for Eastertide." Just as women adorn themselves with frilly white dresses at Easter, so the tree is dressed in blossoms.

In the second stanza, the poet calculates his window of opportunity for enjoying the splendor of the blooming trees in springtime. The Bible speaks of "fourscore and ten," or seventy years, as being man's typical longevity. The persona, at twenty years of age, realizes that if that's true, then he has only fifty more springtimes ahead of him. That thought motivates him to roam about the woodland "to see the cherry hung with snow."

By "cherry," he means the cherry tree, as has been established previously. Since it's springtime and the tree is in bloom, the snow he refers to isn't literal snow. It is a metaphorical description of the heavy white covering of cherry blossoms on the tree that blankets it, just as snow covers trees in wintertime.