Trees

Joyce Kilmer

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
DIRECT QUESTIONS:

1. To what does the poet compare tree?

- The poem talks about the nature beauty of the earth which is the tree. And the poet
compares the tree to a poem. He wrote that he won’t be able to see or read a poem which is
as lovely as the tree. To go depth with it, the poet compares the creativity of God on creating
a nature beauty like a tree to his creativity to write a poem. He thinks that his creativity is
nothing when it compares to the creation of God.

2. What does the poet mean when he wrote that the hungry mouth of the tree is prest against
the earth’s sweet flowing breast?

- The poet personified the tree as a baby and the earth as the mother. Just like a mother
breastfeeding her child, the earth is also feeding the tree with the water that flows on the
surface when the hungry mouth of the tree which is the root of the tree searches for food.

3. How does a tree lift her leafy arms to pray?

- In this poem, the poet personified the branches and leafs as the leafy arms of the tree.
When a tree grows, it naturally grows upward forming the branches and leafs to face or rose
upward and the poet makes it seems like the tree lifting her leafy arms--which is the branches
and the leafs, as praying.

4. Why is it said that a tree ‘intimately lives with rain’?

- Water is one of the main source for the tree to live. The tree has a close relationship
to the rain in which the tree allows the rain to freely drop onto the leafs, branches to roots
because the tree knows that the rain can help him grow.

5. Why do you think the poet considers himself a “fool”?

- Because the poet thinks his creativity is nothing compares to the creativity of God. We,
humans, can never be and will never be perfect. To go depth with it, the tree is one of the
creation of God, although we plant trees we cannot say that we created the trees because it is
still with God’s grace to make the tree grows. For that, we don’t have the right to destroy our
nature. However, humans cut the tree, make it as a paper, and use the paper to write a poem
or anything with it. And maybe that is why the poet calls himself a fool.