"Municipal Gum" is a poem by Australian poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal that explores the theme of isolation and confinement. The poem describes a gum tree located in a city park, surrounded by concrete and asphalt, and the poet's empathetic connection to this tree. Through vivid imagery and emotive language, Noonuccal invites readers to consider the effects of urbanization and human disconnection from nature. The poem begins with the depiction of a "gum tree in the city square," which is described as "smelling of old / barbarisms, and wars, / and our strange vanities." This opening sets the tone for the rest of the poem, conveying a sense of melancholy and nostalgia. The poet observes the tree as a symbol of natural beauty and simplicity in contrast
(2) The poem was written in 1979, and is told through the view of the persona, which is a young child, most likely Oliver herself who lost their father. This story is told through the setting of her own personal home in Ohio, and with the struggle of dealing with this “Black Walnut Tree” and the decision on whether to cut down and pay off their house mortgage or keep the tree because its symbolism towards their family history. The dramatic situation of this individual poem is found at the end of the poem where the persona is saying, “What my mother and I both know/is that we'd crawl with shame/in the emptiness we'd made/in our own and our fathers' backyard./So the black walnut tree/swings through another year/of sun and leaping winds/of leaves and bounding fruit/and, month after month, the whip-crack of the mortgage.” This is the persona’s way of describing the guilt and difficulties of deciding whether or not to cut this tree down because of the symbolism of the tree; the presence of their deceased father/husband.
The leaf is symbolic of the girl in this poem. As the leaf breaks off the limb of the tree and blows into the wind, the girl is breaking away from her roots in which she was raised and comes from. At college, she is changing herself to fit in with her new “friends.” She is afraid
So throughout this paper the symbolism of nature and its effects on the characters will be discussed. Janie mesmerized by the beautiful tree growing in Nanny’s backyard. Climbs the tree to sit in the branches soon realizes what true love means when witnessing of the bees to the blossoms of the pear tree. “She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the
In the novel, trees are a prevailing symbol, as it represents the life and growth of the protagonist mental recovery after being raped. The reoccurring use of trees allows readers to understand Melinda feelings beyond the words, as readers are able to visualize her feelings literally. Readers of YA readers use symbolism as a way to understand the mood of a novel; at the beginning of the novel, Melina selects a tree as her yearlong art project, where she is asked make her “object say something, express and emotion, speak to every person who looks at it” (Anderson 11). As struggles to express emotion through her tree, she is equally incompetent with sharing what occurred the night the police was called.
Seemingly a simple, artistic description of a tree, these words also show the changed feelings of the speaker at the end of their journey through this swamp. After all their struggles that they once found difficult to even understand, the reader suddenly pictures this beautiful, inspirational tree, signifying a new life along a new journey. That newfound optimism also signifies closure for the speaker, and proves that they are capable of overcoming anything and nthat the resulting personal growth makes all struggles worth it in the
That was the kind of tree it was. It was like poor people.” It grows from sour ground out of the sewer. It only grows in the poorest of neighborhoods and it grows no matter how poor the circumstances are. It symbolizes hard-work, perseverance, the tenacity and the strength of the poor inhabitants of the neighborhood, who survive with little food or money.
The Author effectively explores the theme and tone. The poet was able to do this because she used a variety of poetic features including an extended metaphor, enjambment, and apostrophe. The poem features an extended metaphor to portray the theme of the poem. She believes that the gum tree does not belong in a city street, just as how, indigenous Australians do not belong in other locations. Instead, they should be with their families.
The speaker gives factual details about the tree such as the “leaves are getting heavier” in line 13. The tree is growing old and its’ fruit is getting more difficult to “gather away.” Rationally, they are giving valid reasons as to why the tree should be cut down. Distinctively, the tone of the poem switches from a literal connotation to a more figurative voice in line 16.
In Mary Oliver's poem, the Black Walnut Tree is a symbol of their family and generations of history. The speaker and the mother are confronted with a conflict between the literal and figurative meanings of the tree. The literal meaning begins at the beginning of the poem when the speaker and the mother decide whether to sell the tree. The next half will be the transition to a figurative meaning, where the tree is a symbol that represents a family legacy passed down through generations and all the hard work that their ancestors have done for their family to this day.
This kind of description shows the reader how impressive and majestic this tree is, as it puts a vivid picture in the reader’s mind as something that is not only unrivaled in terms of altitude, but it can also be seen from the sea, which highlights its stature as a wholly independent object. Old as it is, this pine is strong, and does not need any assistance from the ecosystem surrounding it. The importance of this giant tree, along with other details that make the story more interesting, is what dramatizes this young heroine’s adventure.
Through the use of literary devices such as personification, point of view, and imagery Stanley Moss, author of the poem “Lost Brother”, illustrates the resemblance of a tree and its challenges like extreme weather and dieback to real human life situations like life or death. Moss uses personification to create a connection between the reader and the author. “I knew that tree was my lost brother when I heard he was cut down.” A tree can be compared to human life because both came from mother nature.
The trees represent the war that is occurring in the Sierra Leone. Beah’s imagery portrays how the war made him feel like he would never be free again. Since Beah is so young, he knows he has a long life ahead of him. This war places such a large burden on him that Beah feels
What she is inferring to us is that she just admired the beauty of the tree, and didn’t admire the plant that gave that certain tree life. During the whole poem, the speaker uses a lot of metaphors to describe her gratitude towards
The agony the writer is feeling about his son 's death, as well as the hint of optimism through planting the tree is powerfully depicted through the devices of diction and imagery throughout the poem. In the first stanza the speaker describes the setting when planting the Sequoia; “Rain blacked the horizon, but cold winds kept it over the Pacific, / And the sky above us stayed the dull gray.” The speaker uses a lexicon of words such as “blackened”, “cold” and “dull gray” which all introduce a harsh and sorrowful tone to the poem. Pathetic fallacy is also used through the imagery of nature;
Additionally, “defining the wood with one feature prefigures one of the essential ideas of the poem: the insistence that a single decision can transform a life” (Robinson). This one feature, the yellow leaves, and in it the sole definition of