ANALYSIS OF THE POEM

The first stanza of The Trees Are Down does not wait very long to dive into the topic. The very
first line mentions exactly what is happening, “They are cutting down the great plane-trees at
the end of the gardens”. By getting straight to the point, Mew is establishing that the topic is
of importance to her by directly letting the readers in on her mental conversation. The details
of every little sound that could be heard from the site imply that she was probably listening to
the noise more than watching the scene; and knowing that she was very much against the
cutting of these trees it is very possible that she felt the scene too offensive to spend time
looking at it. Also by describing every sound the trees made she is giving validation to the trees
and their existence, recognizing that they are more than just plants. They were living beings
that had been cut down, and every sound that they made as they fell was a reminder of the
cruelty they were facing. The concluding thought of the stanza states that “the loud common
laughs of the men, above it all”, this is a powerful image as it is a very striking contrast to the
gloomy description of the falling trees. The image also accentuates the cold and heartless
attitude of the men who were cutting the trees, highlighting their insensitivity for the dying
trees.

The second stanza jolts the reader into a memory of a “long past spring” (line five). Mew
narrates an encounter with a “large dead rat” in lines six through eight. She claims that when
she saw this dead rat she remembers thinking: “alive or dead, a rat was a god-forsaken thing/
But at least, in May, that even a rat should be alive.” This memory is relevant here because
Mew is trying to deliver the message that is something as vile as a dead rat deserved a chance
at life in spring how could people cut down grand trees that offer a home and shade to many
as well as clean up our air to make life comfortable for us. How can people be so brutal as to
kill trees in their season of full bloom, when they are of most benefit to our environment when
they are the most alive? Humans are the most selfish of beings; Humans in general do not
treat other living things with the same compassion they expect to be given, so as a result, the
relationship between people and the environment they live in is nowhere close to being ideal.
Mew picks up on this idea and is very passionate about the fact that all life should be given the
chance to live and flourish, why must some things suffer for meeting the needs or wants of the
others? This stanza clearly exposes to the reader that Mew felt very strongly that those trees
deserved to live.

Stanza three is longer than the first two, mainly because of the structure. This stanza is quite
broken up in terms of its sentences which resonate well with the topic of cutting the trees
down. The opening line of the stanza speaks of the worker men again and how they are
oblivious of the fact that they are killing these trees, they don’t seem to grasp the situation the
same way that Mew is viewing it. “The fine grey rain” mentioned in line ten is echoing the
mood of the situation at hand from Mew’s perspective. She uses a stark contrast again with
the grey rain and the “green and high” tree to emphasize how unnatural it was to tear down
these trees. The dark sky could also just be a sign of the unwanted end for these trees. The last
three lines of this stanza refer back to her memory of the dead rat because in her mind they
are related for the reason that she believes they both should have gotten the chance to live
through spring because spring represents new life and beginnings. The last line specifically
mentions that had the rat got the chance to live in the season of life than she probably never
would have thought of him ever again; however because she felt a hint of injustice had been
done to the rat, whenever a scene of injustice in terms of being given the chance to live and
thrive in spring appears, she cannot help but connect the two.
The fourth stanza of The Trees Are Down displays Mew’s attachment to the trees is a symbol
of the spring that she held so dear. Line seventeen exposes Mew’s feelings about the trees’
relationship to spring. She proclaims that spring was not “unmade” or ruined because the
trees were being taken down. Moreover, spring was “in them from root to stem” and they
were “great trees” so spring was not affected by the trees going missing because it was a part
of the trees whether they were standing or fallen. Lines nineteen and twenty expresses Mew’s
discontent at the workers because she emphasizes their cheery demeanor as they bring down
these trees. She is not impressed that they do not realize the enormity of their actions; they
are taking the life of these living things. They are killing trees yet they go about with their
‘whoops’ and ‘whoas’ conveying their indifference as they cart away the fallen trees. Line
twenty specifically states that a part of spring as she identified it left with the trees; this is
important because Mew didn’t suggest that a part of spring died, just that it left because
wherever the trees go and whatever they are used for the spring will be a part of that.

The fifth stanza is the final stanza of The Trees Are Down; it is also the longest. This stanza
focuses on how much the cutting down of the great plane trees impacted Mew. This stanza is
full of emotion as Mew reveals how much it hurt her to see those trees go. She had known
them for half of her life and they were present for the obvious literal changes in weather but
also the changes in her personal good and bad days. Those trees were a part of her own
personal history, a part of her past that can never be revisited or changed, so the
disappearance of the trees is like a disconnection with her old life and experiences. Mew’s
emotions are really showcased in lines twenty-five through twenty-nine where she paints an
image of the quiet rain as though it was mourning the loss of the trees and the other forms of
life like the birds and insects vacating the dead trees. The stanza concludes with her hung on
the biblical reference of not hurting the trees. By ending the poem with the reference she
started the poem Mew is bringing her readers full circle to show them that nothing truly ends
everything has a cycle and continues to exist. What better way to highlight her message than
to remind the readers that she just doesn’t want to hurt the trees.