Trees

by Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)*

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;

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;

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.

Fixed Form: Lyrical (6 Couplets, skillfully written, single

emotion dominates)

Rhyme Scheme: aa bb cc dd ee aa

Feet: Iambic (syllables are grouped in twos with the

second stressed)

Meter: Tetrameter (four groups of Iambs)

Example:
- = Unstressed
/ = Stressed

- / - / - / - /
I think that I shall nev er see
- / - / - / - /
A po em love ly as a tree

Stylistic Devices:
Personification (Throughout the piece)
Simile (Poem as lovely as a tree)
Metaphor (the earth’s breast – ie Mother Earth)
Imagery (prest against the earth's sweet flowing breast – rather than simply
 saying it is rooted in the ground)
Synesthesia (“earth’s sweet flowing breast” – 2 senses combined. Sweet:taste
and flowing:sight)
Passive Voice (Upon whose bosom snow has lain – the poem is about the tree,
so passive voice is used when describing the snow)
Periodicity (I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree – puts the
emphasis on the word tree)
Anaphora (“A Tree” repeated beginning – again for emphasis)
Assonance (“whose bosom” – sweet vowel sounds add to feminine nature of the
tree)
Irony (“Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.” – an
image of a tree has been ‘made’ in our mind by this poem)