Trees by Joyce Kilmer

poemanalysis.com/trees-by-joyce-kilmer-poem-analysis

Emma Baldwin 3 April

2019

‘Trees’ by Joyce Kilmer was written in February of 1913 and was first published in Poetry: A
Magazine of Verse. It was then included in Trees and Other Poems, one of Kilmer’s most
popular volumes. It is for ‘Trees’ that Kilmer is most widely remembered. The poem has
become well-loved due to its accessible simplicity and has been frequently included in
popular anthologies of modern poetry. In more recent years, it has been set to music
and performed by a number of different musicians.

There has been speculation since the conception of this piece about whether or not
there was one tree the poet had in mind while composing the text. It has been
suggested that Rutgers University or the University of Notre Dame are possible locations
for the tree Kilmer has in mind. Although, the poet later stated the poem was written in
the family home in Mahwah, New Jersey likely placing the specific setting, (if there is
one), there.

Joyce Kilmer’s poemis made up of twelve lines which are separated into six sets of two
lines, or couplets. Kilmer has chosen to conform the poem to a consistent rhyme scheme
of aa bb cc dd ee aa. The poet has also selected to utilize an almost entirely unifying
metrical pattern. All the lines, expect one, are written in iambic tetrameter. The eleventh
line of the piece begins on a stressed syllable and drops the unstressed.

A reader should also take note of the significant use of personification. Kilmer’s speaker
refers to the tree as a woman, relating the plant to the larger figure of Mother Earth. He
also imbues the tree with a number of human characteristics, including arms and hair.

Summary of Trees
‘Trees’ by Joyce Kilmer contains a speaker’s impassioned declaration that no art can
outdo one of God’s creations, especially not a tree.

The poem begins with the speaker stating that he will never see a poem that is more
beautiful than a tree. He does not believe that humanity is capable of making something
better than what God has made. The following lines are devoted to the type of tree he
has in mind. It will have an intimate connection to the earth and its elements. There will
be birds nesting in the branches in the summer, and gentle snow on the tree’s “bosom”
in the winter.

The poem concludes with the speaker explaining that no matter what humankind does,
no poem or piece of art will be lovelier than what already exists on the planet.
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Although the poem is quoted in full below, you can read the poem at Poetry Foundation
here.

Analysis of Trees

Lines 1-4

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

The first couplet of this piece begins with a simple, yet impactful statement about the
future. Kilmer’s speaker declares, without any further introduction, that he will “never
see / A poem lovely as a tree.” His words are straightforward and easily accessible, an
appealing aspect of this piece. He knows without a doubt, that every tree on the planet is
greater and more “lovely” than even the most beautiful poem.

In the following lines he moves from a generalized image of all trees, to one specific type
or kind. The tree he has in mind has its “hungry mouth..prest” to the earth. It is taking in
the nutrients provided by the soil and becoming sweeter off the “earth’s…breast.” There
is a clear use of personification in these lines. This is something he will continue
throughout the poem’s entirety. It is used in an effort to make something inanimate feel
more real. A reader is better able to empathize with the subject if it is human.

Lines 5-8

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

In the third couplet the speaker develops the character of this type of wooded plant
further. Due to its position on the planet, and it’s generally unchanging structure, it is
always facing God. It “looks at God all day.” This fact is to the tree’s benefit. It’s religiosity
at once makes it more and less human. The tree finds a connection with a God as much
of humanity does, but it more devote than any could hope to be. In the next lines the
speaker refers to the perennial plant as “her.” This is a direct connection to the larger

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symbol of Mother Earth, a residing female presence on the planet responsible for the
growth and cultivation of life. She spends all day looking to God, and “lift[ing]” her “arms
to pray.”

The next two lines bring the tree back to Earth. While “she” may be devoted, “she” also
remains as part of the earth. In the “Summer” there will be a “nest of robins in her hair.”
This quirky line is meant to endear the tree to the reader. The physical, mundane world
is still at work around the tree.

Lines 9-12

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

In the second to last couplet the speaker continues to describe how the impact of the
seasons to the plant. The “tree” has become quite specific at this point. It has moved
from a generalized, all-encompassing symbol to a specific plant the speaker can recall in
detail.

When winter comes, there will be “snow” on the “bosom” of the tree. It will rest there
gently, doing no harm to “her” branches. The speaker concludes these descriptions with a
reference to rain. Just like the sun and the snow, this element does not do anything to
act against or injure the tree. “She” lives “intimately with rain” just as “she” does with
everything else.

In the final two lines the speaker returns to the overall theme of the piece, that art
cannot match nature. This, he explains, is due to humanity’s own way of being. No man
or woman can outdo one of God’s creations.

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