"Trees" is a

lyric poem Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, th ...

by American poet

Joyce Kilmer Alfred Joyce Kilmer (December 6, 1886 – July 30, 1918) was an American people, American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees (poem), Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection ''Trees and Other Poems'' in ...

. Written in February 1913, it was first published in '' Poetry: A Magazine of Verse'' that August and included in Kilmer's 1914 collection ''Trees and Other Poems''.Letter from Kenton Kilmer to Dorothy Colson in Grotto Sources file, Dorothy Corson Collection, University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Indiana).Kilmer, Joyce.
"Trees"
in Monroe, Harriet (editor), ''Poetry: A Magazine of Verse''. (Chicago: Modern Poetry Association, August 1913), 2:160.Kilmer, Joyce. ''Trees and Other Poems''. (New York: Doubleday Doran and Co., 1914), 18. The poem, in twelve lines of rhyming couplets of

iambic tetrameter Iambic tetrameter is a meter (poetry), poetic meter in Ancient Greek poetry, ancient Greek and Latin poetry; as the name of ''a rhythm'', iambic tetrameter consists of four metra, each metron being of the form , x – u – , , consisting of a spo ...

verse, describes what Kilmer perceives as the inability of art created by humankind to replicate the beauty achieved by nature. Kilmer is most remembered for "Trees", which has been the subject of frequent parodies and references in popular culture. Kilmer's work is often disparaged by critics and dismissed by scholars as being too simple and overly sentimental, and that his style was far too traditional and even archaic.Hart, James A
Joyce Kilmer 1886–1918 (Biography)
at Poetry Magazine. (Retrieved August 15, 2012). Despite this, the popular appeal of "Trees" has contributed to its endurance. Literary critic

Guy Davenport Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher. Life Guy Davenport was born in Anderson, South Carolina, in the foothills of Appalachia on Novem ...

considers it "the one poem known by practically everybody".Hampson, Rick
"Shift in education priorities could topple poem 'Trees'"
in ''USA Today (May 6, 2013). Retrieved May 22, 2013. "Trees" is frequently included in poetry anthologies and has been set to music several times—including a popular rendition by Oscar Rasbach, performed by singers

Nelson Eddy Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs ...

, Robert Merrill, and

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

. The location for a specific tree as the possible inspiration for the poem has been claimed by several places and institutions connected to Kilmer's life; among these are

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

, and towns across the country that Kilmer visited. However, Kilmer's eldest son, Kenton, declares that the poem does not apply to any one tree—that it could apply equally to any. "Trees" was written in an upstairs bedroom at the family's home in

Mahwah, New Jersey Mahwah is the northernmost and largest municipality by geographic area () in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 25,487, a decrease of 403 ...

, that "looked out down a hill, on our well-wooded lawn".Kilmer, Miriam A
Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) - Author of Trees and Other Poems
(website of family member). Retrieved May 22, 2013Kilmer, Kenton. ''Memories of My Father, Joyce Kilmer'' (New Brunswick: Joyce Kilmer Centennial Commission, 1993), 89. Kenton Kilmer stated that while his father was "widely known for his affection for trees, his affection was certainly not sentimental—the most distinguished feature of Kilmer's property was a colossal woodpile outside his home".Hillis, John. Joyce Kilmer: A Bio-Bibliography. Master of Science (Library Science) Thesis. Catholic University of America. (Washington, DC: 1962).

Writing

Mahwah: February 1913

According to Kilmer's oldest son, Kenton, "Trees" was written on February 2, 1913, when the family resided in

, in the northwestern corner of

Bergen County Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The Kilmers lived on the southwest corner of the intersection of Airmount Road and Armour Road in Mahwah for five years and the house overlooked the Ramapo Valley.Pries, Allison
"Letter backs Mahwah's claim on Joyce Kilmer poem 'Trees'"
in ''The Record'' (May 10, 2013). Retrieved May 22, 2013.There is also an Airmont Avenue in Mahwah; the Kilmers lived on Airmount Road, not Airmont Ave.

It was written in the afternoon in the intervals of some other writing. The desk was in an upstairs room, by a window looking down a wooded hill. It was written in a little notebook in which his father and mother wrote out copies of several of their poems and, in most cases, added the date of composition. On one page the first two lines of 'Trees' appear, with the date, February 2, 1913, and on another page, further on in the book, is the full text of the poem. It was dedicated to his wife's mother, Mrs. Henry Mills Alden, who was endeared to all her family.

In 2013, the notebook alluded to by Kilmer's son was uncovered by journalist and Kilmer researcher Alex Michelini in

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Lauinger Library The Joseph Mark Lauinger Library is the main library of Georgetown University and the center of the seven-library Georgetown library system that includes 3.5 million volumes. It holds 1.7 million volumes on six floors and has accommodations for ...

in a collection of family papers donated to the university by Kilmer's granddaughter, Miriam Kilmer. The "Mrs. Henry Mills Alden" to whom the poem was dedicated was Ada Foster Murray Alden (1866–1936), the mother of Kilmer's wife, Aline Murray Kilmer (1888–1941). Alden, a writer, had married ''Harper's Magazine'' editor Henry Mills Alden in 1900.

Kilmer's inspiration

Kilmer's poetry was influenced by "his strong religious faith and dedication to the natural beauty of the world." Although several communities across the United States claim to have inspired "Trees",What a Difference a Tree Makes
citing Lax, Roer and Smith, Frederick. ''The Great Song Thesaurus''. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). . Retrieved December 25, 2006.Devlin, John C. "Kilmer Recalled as Oak is Felled; Kilmer's Tree (Or Was It?) Will Inspire No More" in ''The New York Times'' (September 19, 1963).Corson, Dorothy V. ''A Cave of Candles: The Story behind the Notre Dame Grotto''

(accessed August 15, 2012).Curley, John. "End of Legend: Kilmer's Oak to Fall" ''The Free Lance-Star''. (September 17, 1963). nothing can be established specifically regarding Kilmer's inspiration except that he wrote the poem while residing in Mahwah. Both Kilmer's widow, Aline, and his son, Kenton, refuted these claims in their correspondence with researchers and by Kenton in his memoir. Kenton wrote to

researcher Dorothy Colson:

Mother and I agreed, when we talked about it, that Dad never meant his poem to apply to one particular tree, or to the trees of any special region. Just any trees or all trees that might be rained on or snowed on, and that would be suitable nesting places for robins. I guess they'd have to have upward-reaching branches, too, for the line about 'lifting leafy arms to pray.' Rule out weeping willows.

According to Kenton Kilmer, the upstairs room in which the poem was written looked down the hill over the family's "well-wooded lawn" that contained "trees of many kinds, from mature trees to thin saplings: oaks, maples, black and white birches, and I do not know what else." A published interview with Joyce Kilmer in 1915 mentioned the poet's large woodpile at the family's Mahwah home:

while Kilmer might be widely known for his affection for trees, his affection was certainly not sentimental—the most distinguished feature of Kilmer's property was a colossal woodpile outside his home. The house stood in the middle of a forest and what lawn it possessed was obtained only after Kilmer had spent months of weekend toil in chopping down trees, pulling up stumps, and splitting logs. Kilmer's neighbors had difficulty in believing that a man who could do that could also be a poet.

Scansion and analysis

"Trees" is a poem of twelve lines in strict

. The eleventh, or penultimate, line inverts the first foot, so that it contains the same number of syllables, but the first two are a trochee. The poem's

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

is rhyming couplets rendered AA BB CC DD EE AA. Despite its deceptive simplicity in rhyme and meter, "Trees" is notable for its use of

personification Personification is the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person, often as an embodiment or incarnation. In the arts, many things are commonly personified, including: places, especially cities, National personification, countries, an ...

and anthropomorphic imagery: the tree of the poem, which Kilmer depicts as female, is depicted as pressing its mouth to the Earth's breast, looking at God, and raising its "leafy arms" to pray. The tree of the poem also has human physical attributes—it has a "hungry mouth", arms, hair (in which robins nest), and a bosom.Winchell, Mark Royden. ''Cleanth Brooks and the Rise of Modern Criticism'' (Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 1996), 159. Rutgers-Newark English professor and poet

Rachel Hadas Rachel Hadas (born November 8, 1948) is an American poet, teacher, essayist, and translator. Her most recent essay collection is ''Piece by Piece: Selected Prose'' (Paul Dry Books, 2021), and her most recent poetry collection is ''Ghost Guest'' (Ra ...

described the poem as being "rather slight" although it "is free of irony and self consciousness, except that little reference to fools like me at the end, which I find kind of charming". Scholar Mark Royden Winchell points out that Kilmer's depiction of the tree indicates the possibility that he had several different people in mind because of the variety of anthropomorphic descriptions. Winchell posits that if the tree described were to be a single human being it would be "an anatomically deformed one".

In the second stanza, the tree is a sucking babe drawing nourishment from Mother Earth; in the third it is a supplicant reaching its leafy arms to the sky in prayer ... In the fourth stanza, the tree is a girl with jewels (a nest of robins) in her hair; and in the fifth, it is a chaste woman living alone with nature and with God. There is no warrant in the poem to say that it is different trees that remind the poet of these different types of people.

However, Winchell observes that this "series of fanciful analogies ... could be presented in any order without damaging the overall structure of his poem".

Publication and reception

Publication

"Trees" was first published in the August 1913 issue of '' Poetry: A Magazine of Verse''. The magazine, which had begun publishing the year before in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, quickly became the "principal organ for modern poetry of the English-speaking world" publishing the early works of poets who became the major influences on the development of twentieth-century literature (including

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

, H.D.,

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American Colloquialism, colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New E ...

and

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyric poetry, lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted Feminism, feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. ...

). ''Poetry'' paid Kilmer six dollars to print the poem, which was immediately successful.Cargas, Harry J.
I Lay Down My Life: Biography of Joyce Kilmer
' (Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1964), 43. Retrieved July 23, 2013 The following year, Kilmer included "Trees" in his collection ''Trees and Other Poems'' published by the George H. Doran Company. Joyce Kilmer's reputation as a poet is staked largely on the widespread popularity of this one poem. "Trees" was liked immediately on first publication in ''Poetry: A Magazine of Verse''; when ''Trees and Other Poems'' was published the following year, the review in ''Poetry'' focused on the "nursery rhyme" directness and simplicity of the poems, finding a particular childlike naivety in "Trees", which gave it "an unusual, haunting poignancy".Tietjens, Eunice.
Trees and Other Poems by Joyce Kilmer
' (book review) in ''Poetry: A Magazine of Verse'' (December 1914), 140–141. Retrieved July 23, 2013. However, the same review criticized the rest of the book, stating "much of the verse in this volume is very slight indeed." Despite the enduring popular appeal of "Trees", most of Joyce Kilmer's works are largely unknown and have fallen into obscurity. A select few of his poems, including "Trees", are published frequently in anthologies. "Trees" began appearing in anthologies shortly after Kilmer's 1918 death, the first inclusion being Louis Untermeyer's ''Modern American Poetry'' (1919). Journalist and author Mark Forsyth ranks the first two lines of "Trees" as 26th out of 50 lines in an assessment of the "most quoted lines of poetry" as measured by Google hits.

Popular appeal

With "Trees", Kilmer was said to have "rediscovered simplicity", and the simplicity of its message and delivery is a source of its appeal. In 1962, English professor Barbara Garlitz recounted that her undergraduate students considered the poem as "one of the finest poems ever written, or at least a very good one"—even after its technical flaws were discussed—because of its simple message and that it "paints such lovely pictures".Garlitz, Barbara
“Uprooting "Trees"
in ''College English'' 23(4) (January 1962), 299-301. The students pointed to "how true the poem is", and it appealed to both her students' "romantic attitude towards nature" and their appreciation of life, nature, solace, and beauty because of its message that "the works of God completely overshadow our own feeble attempts at creation". Considering this sentiment, the enduring popularity of "Trees" is evinced by its association with annual

Arbor Day Arbor Day (or Arbour Day in some countries) is a Secularity, secular day of observance in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant trees. Today, many countries observe such a holiday. Though usually observed in the spring, the date v ...

observances and the planting of memorial trees as well as the several parks named in honor of Kilmer, including the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness and Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest tracts within the

Nantahala National Forest The Nantahala National Forest () is the largest of the four national forests in North Carolina, lying in the mountains and valleys of western North Carolina. The Nantahala is the second wettest region in the Continental US, after the Pacific Nor ...

Graham County, North Carolina Graham County (locally ) is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 8,030, making it the List of counties in North Carolina, third-least ...

. "Trees" has been described by literary critic

as "the one poem known by practically everybody". According to journalist Rick Hampson, "Trees" was "memorized and recited by generations of students ... It comforted troops in the trenches of World War I. It was set to music and set in stone, declaimed in opera houses and vaudeville theaters, intoned at ceremonies each April on Arbor Day." According to Robert Holliday, Kilmer's friend and editor, "Trees" speaks "with authentic song to the simplest of hearts". Holliday added that this "exquisite title poem now so universally known made his reputation more than all the rest he had written put together" and was "made for immediate widespread popularity".

Critical reception

Several critics—including both Kilmer's contemporaries and modern scholars—have disparaged Kilmer's work as being too religious, simple, and overly sentimental and suggested that his style was far too traditional, even archaic.Aiken, Conrad Potter. "Chapter XVIII: Confectionery and Caviar: Edward Bliss Reed, John Cowper Powys, Joyce Kilmer, Theodosia Garrison, William Carlos Williams," in ''Scepticisms: Notes on Contemporary Poetry''. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1919), 178–86. Poet

Conrad Aiken Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952. His published works include poetry, short st ...

, a contemporary of Kilmer, lambasted his work as being unoriginal—merely "imitative with a sentimental bias" and "trotting out of the same faint passions, the same old heartbreaks and love songs, ghostly distillations of fragrances all too familiar". Aiken characterized Kilmer as a "dabbler in the pretty and sweet" and "pale-mouthed clingers to the artificial and archaic". Kilmer is considered among the last of the Romantic era poets because his verse is conservative and traditional in style and breaks no formal rule of poetics—a style often criticized today for being too sentimental to be taken seriously. The entire corpus of Kilmer's work was produced between 1909 and 1918 when

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

and sentimental

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, t ...

fell out of favor and

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

took root—especially with the influence of the

Lost Generation The Lost Generation was the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort that reached early adulthood during World War I, and preceded the Greatest Generation. The social generation is generally defined as people born from 1883 to 1900, ...

. In the years after Kilmer's death, poetry went in drastically different directions, as is seen in the work of

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

and

, and academic criticism grew with it to eschew the more sentimental and straightforward verse. The poem was criticized by

Cleanth Brooks Cleanth Brooks ( ; October 16, 1906 – May 10, 1994) was an American literary critic and professor. He is best known for his contributions to New Criticism in the mid-20th century and for revolutionizing the teaching of poetry in American higher ...

and

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, literary critic and professor at Yale University. He was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern ...

in their textbook ''Understanding Poetry'' first published in 1938.Brooks, Cleanth and Warren, Robert Penn. ''Understanding Poetry'' (3rd Edition - New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1960), 391. Brooks and Warren were two of the major contributors to the

New Criticism New Criticism was a Formalism (literature), formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American literary criticism in the middle decades of the 20th century. It emphasized close reading, particularly of poetry, to discover how a work of l ...

movement. New Criticism proponents analyzed poetry on its aesthetic formulae and excluded reader's response, the author's intention, historical and cultural contexts, and moralistic bias from their analysis. They attributed the popularity of "Trees" largely to its religious appeal and believed it was a "stock response that has nothing to do, as such, with poetry", adding:

It praises God and appeals to a religious sentiment. Therefore, people who do not stop to look at the poem itself or to study the images in the poem and think about what the poem really says, are inclined to accept the poem because of the pious sentiment, the prettified little pictures (which in themselves appeal to stock responses), and the mechanical rhythm.

Literary critic Mark Royden Winchell believed that Brooks and Warren's criticism of Kilmer's poem was chiefly to demonstrate that "it is sometimes possible to learn as much about poetry from bad poems as from good ones".

Refuted claims regarding inspiration

Due to the enduring popular appeal of "Trees", several local communities and organizations across the United States have staked their claim to the genesis of the poem. While the accounts of family members and of documents firmly establish Mahwah being the place where Kilmer wrote the poem, several towns throughout the country have claimed that Kilmer wrote "Trees" while staying there or that a specific tree in their town inspired Kilmer's writing. Local tradition in

Swanzey, New Hampshire Swanzey is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,270 at the 2020 census. In addition to the town center, Swanzey includes the villages of East Swanzey, West Swanzey, North Swanzey and Westport. History ...

, asserts without proof that Kilmer wrote the poem while summering in the town.

Montague, Massachusetts Montague is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,580 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan statistical area. The villages of Montague Center, Montague City, Lake ...

, claims that either "a sprawling maple dominated the grounds near a hospital where Kilmer once was treated" or "a spreading maple in the yard of an old mansion" inspired the poem. In

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.white oak ''Quercus'' subgenus ''Quercus'' is one of the two subgenera into which the genus ''Quercus'' was divided in a 2017 classification (the other being subgenus ''Cerris''). It contains about 190 species divided among five sections. It may be calle ...

on the Cook College campus (now the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences), at

. This tree, the "Kilmer Oak", was estimated to be over 300 years old. Because it had been weakened by age and disease, the Kilmer Oak was removed in 1963, and in reporting by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and other newspapers the local tradition was repeated with the claim that "Rutgers said it could not prove that Kilmer had been inspired by the oak." Currently, saplings from acorns of the historic tree are being grown at the site, throughout the Middlesex County and central New Jersey, as well as in major arboretums around the United States. The remains of the original ''Kilmer Oak'' are presently kept in storage at Rutgers University. Because of Kilmer's close identification with

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and his correspondence with many priests and theologians, a tree located near a

grotto A grotto or grot is a natural or artificial cave or covered recess. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high tide. Sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden fea ...

dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

at the University of Notre Dame in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

, has been asserted as the inspiration for the poem. According to Dorothy Corson, the claim was first made by a priest named Henry Kemper. There are several accounts that Kilmer visited the campus of Notre Dame to lecture and to visit friends, but none of these accounts or occasions date before 1914. In his 1997 book of essays entitled ''The Geography of the Imagination'', American writer

suggests a different inspiration for Kilmer's poem.

Trees were favorite symbols for Yeats, Frost, and even the young Pound. ... But Kilmer had been reading about trees in another context the movement to stop child labor and set up nursery schools in slums. ...
Margaret McMillan Margaret McMillan (20 July 1860 – 27 March 1931) was a nursery school pioneer and lobbied for the 1906 Provision of School Meals Act. Working in deprived districts of London, notably Deptford, and Bradford, she agitated for reforms to im ...
... had the happy idea that a breath of fresh air and an intimate acquaintance with grass and trees were worth all the pencils and desks in the whole school system. ... The English word for gymnasium equipment is 'apparatus.' And in her book ''Labour and Childhood'' (1907) you will find this sentence: 'Apparatus can be made by fools, but only God can make a tree.' Davenport, Guy. "Trees", in ''The Geography of the Imagination''. (Boston: David R. Godine, 1997), 177-179. .

It appears that Davenport must have loosely and erroneously paraphrased the sentiments expressed by McMillan, as this exact quote does not appear in her text. Instead, McMillan is expressing the observation that several nineteenth-century writers, including William Rankin,

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

and

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

, opposed the effects of machinery on society and craftsmanship and thus eschewed machine-made items.McMillan, Margaret.
Labour and Childhood
'. (London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1907), 127. Davenport's observation likely was derived in some way from McMillan's examination and quotation of Carlyle:

He (Carlyle) often makes comparisons between men and machines, and even trees and machines, greatly to the disadvantage of the latter. For example, 'O, that we could displace the machine god and put a man god in his place!' and 'I find no similitude of life so true as this of a tree! Beautiful! Machine of the universe!'

Adaptations and parodies

Musical adaptations

Several of Kilmer's poems, including "Trees", were set to music and published in England by Kilmer's mother, Annie Kilburn Kilmer, who was a writer and amateur composer. The more popular musical setting of Kilmer's poem was composed in 1922 by American pianist and composer Oscar Rasbach. This setting had been performed and recorded frequently in twentieth century, including Ernestine Schumann-Heink,

John Charles Thomas John Charles Thomas (September 6, 1891December 13, 1960) was an American opera, operetta and concert baritone. Biography John Charles Thomas was born on September 6, 1891, in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania. He was the son of a Methodist minister of ...

, Robert Merrill,

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

, and

. Rasbach's song appeared on popular network television shows, including

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American sitcoms in the United States, sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as ''Archie Bunker's Pla ...

, performed by the puppets Wayne and Wanda in

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

, and as an animated feature segment featuring Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians performing the song in the 1948 animated film ''

Melody Time ''Melody Time'' is a 1948 American live-action and animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney. It was released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of seven segments set to popular music and folk music, the f ...

'', the last of the short-film anthology features produced by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

, showing

bucolic The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target aud ...

scenes seen through the changing of the seasons, this version noticeably features a break between the third and fourth stanzas to facilitate a storm scene. Rasbach's setting has also been lampooned, most notably in the ''

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, who also pr ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

'' (1936), directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, in which

Alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

(played by Carl Switzer), sings the song in a whiny, strained voice after a "woodsman, spare that tree" dialogue with Spanky (George McFarland). Film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

has called this "the poem's all-time worst rendition". In his album ''Caught in the Act,''

Victor Borge Børge Rosenbaum (; 3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000), known professionally as Victor Borge ( ), was a Danish and American actor, comedian, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in both North America and Europe. Hi ...

, when playing requests, responds to a member of the audience: "Sorry I don't know that 'Doggie in the Window'. I know one that comes pretty close to it" and proceeds to play the Rasbach setting of "Trees". Dutch composer Henk van der Vliet included a setting of "Trees" as the third in a set of five songs written in 1977, which included texts by poets

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romanticism, romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well k ...

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

, Kilmer, Matthew Prior, and Sir John Suckling.

Parodies

Because of the varied reception to Kilmer's poem and its simple rhyme and meter, it has been the model for several parodies written by humorists and poets alike. While keeping with Kilmer's iambic tetrameter rhythm and its couplet rhyme scheme, and references to the original poem's thematic material, such parodies are often immediately recognizable, as is seen in "Song of the Open Road" written by poet and humorist

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his Light poetry, light verse, of which he wrote more than 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyme, rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York T ...

: "I think that I shall never see / A billboard lovely as a tree. / Indeed, unless the billboards fall, / I'll never see a tree at all." A similar sentiment was expressed in a 1968 episode of the animated series ''

Wacky Races ''Wacky Races'' is a media franchise containing five animated series, several video games, and a comic book, with most centered on the theme of various Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters primarily engaged in auto racing (although occasionally employ ...

'' titled "The Wrong Lumber Race", where the villainous

Dick Dastardly Dick Dastardly is a fictional character and the main antagonist who has appeared in various animated series by Hanna-Barbera Productions from 1968 onward. Dastardly's most famous appearances are in the series ''Wacky Races'' (his initial appearan ...

chops down a tree and uses it as a roadblock against the other racers, declaring proudly: "I think that I shall never see / A roadblock lovely as a tree." Further,

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

monk, poet and spiritual writer

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915December 10, 1968), religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, Christian mysticism, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. He was a monk in the Trapp ...

used Kilmer's poem as a model for a parody called "Chee$e"—with a dollar sign purposefully substituted for the letter "s"—in which Merton ridiculed the lucrative sale of homemade cheese by his monastery, the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. This poem was not published during Merton's lifetime. Merton often criticized the "commodification of monastic life and business for a profit", claiming that it affected the well-being of the spirit. In his poem, Merton attributed his parody to "Joyce Killer-Diller". Like Kilmer, Merton was a graduate of Columbia University and a member of its literary society, the

Philolexian Society The Philolexian Society of Columbia University is one of the oldest college literary and debate societies in the United States, and the oldest student group at Columbia. Founded in 1802, the society aims to "improve its members in Oratory, Compo ...

, which has hosted the annual Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry Contest since 1986.Jaynes, Gregory
"About New York: No, Not a Curse But a Jersey Prize For Worst Verse"
in ''The New York Times'' (December 5, 1987). Retrieved June 24, 2013. "Trees" is read at the conclusion of each year's event. Kilmer's poem was recited in the 1980 film ''

Superman II ''Superman II'' is a 1980 superhero film directed by Richard Lester and written by Mario Puzo and David Newman (screenwriter), David and Leslie Newman from a story by Puzo based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the second installment i ...

'', as well as its 2006 director's cut. In the scene, villain

Lex Luthor Alexander "Lex" Joseph Luthor () is a supervillain in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #23 (published on February 22, 1940, with a cover d ...

(played by

Gene Hackman Eugene Allen Hackman (January 30, 1930 – ) was an American actor. Hackman made his credited film debut in the drama ''Lilith (film), Lilith'' (1964). He later won two Academy Awards, his first for Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Actor for ...

) and others enter Superman's

Fortress of Solitude The Fortress of Solitude is a fictional fortress appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. It is the place where Superman first learned about his true identity, heritage, and purpose on Eart ...

and comes across a video of an elder ( John Hollis) from planet

Krypton Krypton (from 'the hidden one') is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless noble gas that occurs in trace element, trace amounts in the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere and is of ...

reciting "Trees" as an example of "poetry from Earth literature".The original footage filmed by director

Richard Donner Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American film director, producer and actor. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the mo ...

before he was fired from the production featured

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia''

(playing as

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

's father

Jor-El Jor-El is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, Jor-El first appeared in the Superman (comic strip), ''Superman'' newspaper comic strip in 1939. Jor-El is Supe ...

). Brando's scenes were not included in the 1980 theatrical release due to ongoing financial and contractual disputes between Brando and the producers. Lester reshot Brando's scenes with Hollis. Brando's scenes were restored for the re-edited director's cut '' Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut'' released in 2006 that featured Donner's original vision for the film. For a comparison of the two versions of the film, see: Wheeler, Jeremy
AMG Review: Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut - Critics' Reviews
. Retrieved July 21, 2013. Luthor ridicules the poem. In

The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" is the twenty-fourth and penultimate episode of the The Simpsons season 8, eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox netwo ...

, a poem is read by Hans Moleman: "I think that I shall never see, my cataracts are blinding me." On the Smothers Brothers ''Mom Always Liked You Best!'' album, Tommy Smothers recites his own humorous rendition. Webcomic artist Zach Weinersmith plays on an inherent contradiction in Kilmer's poem: "I think that I shall never see / a poem lovely as a tree. // Except for this one's sweet refrains; / let's print them on a tree's remains".Zach Weinersmith ''SMBC'' (November 5, 2012) http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-11-05. Retrieved April 16, 2019. In ''The Cannonball Run'', nature-loving Farrah Fawcett recites the poem to Burt Reynolds, who corrects her that Joyce Kilmer is a "he" (despite the name Joyce).

References

Notes

Citations

External links

{{wikisource, Trees (Kilmer)
The Poems of Joyce Kilmer (1918)
Poetry by Joyce Kilmer 1913 poems American poems Disney songs Poems about trees Poems about God Anthropomorphic trees Songs based on poems