The Trees

The poem “The Trees” by Philip Larkin, is a metaphoric poem relating the lives of trees to that of humans. The poem is also about rebirth and not dwelling on the past. In the poem, the speaker describes the budding of the trees in springtime and how, even though every year the trees look fresh and young, they do get older and it’s “…written down in rings of grain.”
Examples of imagery the poet uses in the poem are visual imagery: “Their recent buds relax, and spread.” This creates an image in the readers mind of buds on the tree, opening up and welcoming Spring. The poet uses irony: “Is it that they are born again, and we grow old? No they die too, Their yearly trick of looking new is written down in wrings of grain.” This shows that although, each year trees give an impression of new life and rebirth but in reality they are ageing. There is also irony in the way Larkin shows the way that the trees stand tall and proud “Yet still the unresting castles thresh…” And finally, he uses auditory: “Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.” In this line, you can almost hear the trees blowing in the wind. This quote could also be classified as visual but auditory is all around a better fit.
The tone of this poem is both optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. Meaning, in the second stanza of the poem, Larkin does a very good job of giving you the pessimistic opinion of life and in the third stanza he gives you the optimistic. He helps the pessimistic argument in the line “Is it that they are born again, and we grow old?” the second part of this line is “No, they die too. Their yearly trick of looking new is written down in rings of grain.” While these are both pessimistic, the first one is more ironic and bitter while the second is more depressing and acknowledgeable. Another pessimistic argument is “Their greenness is a kind of grief.” Meaning that humans see the cheerful and healthy green of the trees and they are jealous of how it seems that the trees get to have a new life and start over while they are restricted to the one they lead. To help out the optimistic argument is the line “Yet still the unresting castles thresh, in full grown thickness every May.” This shows the trees real fight for life and how they accept the fact that they are getting older but they take what is given to them and stand tall against any and all odds. And “Last year is dead, they seem to say. Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.” Shows how you put the past behind you and not dwell on it.
This poem does have many significant themes but the most important is that life is precious, don’t waste it with the past. With the words: “Last year is dead, they seem to say. Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.” The poet tries to convey to the reader the fact that past mistakes mean nothing and that everyone has a chance to start over and make things right. He [the poet] uses many inspirational lines in this poem but one example is: “Yet still the unresting castles thresh, in full grown thickness every May.” Showing how that humans should all take an example from the trees and live life to its fullest, since we only have one.
Overall, “The Trees” is an excellent poem with a very nice message. I greatly enjoy reading it and I do recommend it to others.