 = Trees ( poem ) = 
 
 " Trees " is a lyric poem by American poet Joyce Kilmer . 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 . The poem , in twelve lines of rhyming couplets of iambic tetrameter 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 . Despite this , the popular appeal of " Trees " has contributed to its endurance . Literary critic Guy Davenport considers it " the one poem known by practically everybody . " " 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 , Robert Merrill , and Paul <unk> . 
 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 , the University of Notre Dame , 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 that " looked out down a hill , on our well @-@ wooded lawn . " Ironically , 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 . " 
 
 = = Writing = = 
 
 
 = = = Mahwah : February 1913 = = = 
 
 According to Kilmer 's oldest son , Kenton , " Trees " was written on 2 February 1913 , when the family resided in Mahwah , New Jersey in the northwestern corner of Bergen County . The <unk> lived on the southwest corner of the intersection of <unk> Road and Armour Road in Mahwah for five years and the house overlooked the <unk> Valley . 
 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 <unk> to all her family . 
 In 2013 , the notebook alluded to by Kilmer 's son was uncovered by journalist and Kilmer researcher Alex <unk> in Georgetown University 's <unk> Library 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 <unk> Foster Murray Alden ( 1866 – 1936 ) , the mother of Kilmer 's wife , <unk> 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 " , nothing can be established specifically regarding Kilmer 's inspiration except that he wrote the poem while residing in Mahwah . Both Kilmer 's widow , <unk> , and his son , Kenton , refuted these claims in their correspondence with researchers and by Kenton in his memoir . Kenton wrote to University of Notre Dame 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 <unk> on or <unk> 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 <unk> : oaks , <unk> , black and white <unk> , 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 <unk> in <unk> 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 . 
 
 = = <unk> and analysis = = 
 
 " Trees " is a poem of twelve lines in strict iambic tetrameter . All but one of the lines has the full eight syllables of iambic tetrameter . The eleventh , or penultimate , line begins on the stressed syllable of the iambic foot and drops the <unk> syllable — an <unk> ( or " headless " ) <unk> line — that results in a truncated seven @-@ syllable iambic tetrameter line . Making the meter of a line <unk> can change the feeling of the poem , and is often used to achieve a certain effect as a way of changing tone or announcing a conclusion . The poem 's rhyme scheme is rhyming couplets rendered aa <unk> <unk> <unk> ee aa . 
 Despite its deceptive simplicity in rhyme and meter , " Trees " is notable for its use of personification 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 <unk> . 
 Rutgers @-@ Newark English professor and poet Rachel <unk> 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 <unk> 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 <unk> deformed one . " 
 " In the second stanza , the tree is a sucking <unk> drawing <unk> from Mother Earth ; in the third it is a <unk> 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 <unk> 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 <unk> <unk> ... 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 , 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 , Ezra Pound , <unk> , Wallace Stevens , Robert Frost and Edna St. Vincent <unk> ) . Poetry paid Kilmer six dollars to print the poem , which was immediately successful . 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 " <unk> and simplicity of the poems , finding a particular <unk> <unk> in " Trees " , which gave it " an unusual , haunting <unk> " . 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 <unk> 's Modern American Poetry ( 1919 ) . Journalist and author Mark <unk> , 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 <unk> 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 " . 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 , <unk> , and beauty because of its message that " the works of God completely overshadow our own <unk> attempts at creation . " Considering this sentiment , the enduring popularity of " Trees " is <unk> by its association with annual Arbor Day <unk> and the planting of memorial trees as well as the several parks named in honor of Kilmer , including the Joyce Kilmer @-@ <unk> Wilderness and Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest tracts within the <unk> National Forest in Graham County , North Carolina . 
 " Trees " has been described by literary critic Guy Davenport as " the one poem known by practically everybody . " According to journalist Rick Hampson , " Trees " was " <unk> 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 , <unk> in opera houses and vaudeville theaters , <unk> 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 , overly sentimental , and suggested that his style was far too traditional , even archaic . Poet Conrad <unk> , a contemporary of Kilmer , lambasted his work as being unoriginal — merely " <unk> with a sentimental bias " and " <unk> out of the same faint <unk> , the same old <unk> and love songs , <unk> <unk> of <unk> all too familiar . " <unk> characterized Kilmer as a " <unk> in the pretty and sweet " and " pale @-@ <unk> <unk> 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 does not break any of the formal rules of <unk> — 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 and sentimental lyric poetry fell out of favor and <unk> took root — especially with the influence of the Lost Generation . In the years after Kilmer 's death , poetry went in drastically different directions , as is seen in the work of T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound , and academic criticism grew with it to <unk> the more sentimental and straightforward verse . 
 The poem was criticized by <unk> Brooks and Robert Penn Warren in their textbook Understanding Poetry first published in 1938 . Brooks and Warren were two of the major contributors to the New Criticism movement , where its supporters opposed using literature as a surrogate for religion . New Criticism proponents analyzed poetry on its aesthetic formulae and excluded reader 's response , the author 's intention , historical and cultural contexts , and <unk> 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 <unk> sentiment , the <unk> little pictures ( which in themselves appeal to stock responses ) , and the mechanical rhythm . " 
 Literary critic Mark <unk> 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 . " 
 
 = = <unk> 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 <unk> , New Hampshire asserts without proof that Kilmer wrote the poem while <unk> in the town . <unk> , Massachusetts 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 , Kilmer 's hometown , the claim involved a large white oak on the Cook College campus ( now the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences ) , at Rutgers University . 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 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 , <unk> from <unk> of the historic tree are being grown at the site , throughout the Middlesex County and central New Jersey , as well as in major <unk> 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 and his correspondence with many priests and theologians , a tree located near a <unk> dedicated to the Virgin Mary at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend , Indiana has been asserted as the inspiration for the poem . According to Dorothy <unk> , the claim was first made by a priest named Henry <unk> . 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 <unk> , American writer Guy Davenport 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 ... had the happy idea that a breath of fresh air and an intimate acquaintance with grass and trees were worth all the pencils and <unk> in the whole school system . ... The English word for <unk> equipment is ' apparatus . ' And in her book Labour and Childhood ( 1907 ) you will find this sentence : ' <unk> can be made by fools , but only God can make a <unk> 
 It appears that Davenport must have loosely and erroneously <unk> 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 and Thomas Carlyle , opposed the effects of machinery on society and craftsmanship and thus <unk> machine @-@ made items . 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 <unk> 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 <unk> Schumann @-@ <unk> , John Charles Thomas , Nelson Eddy , Robert Merrill , Perry <unk> , and Paul <unk> . Rasbach 's song appeared on popular network television shows , including All in the Family , performed by the puppets Wayne and Wanda in The <unk> Show , and as an animated feature segment featuring Fred <unk> and the <unk> performing the song in the 1948 animated film Melody Time , the last of the short @-@ film anthology features produced by Walt Disney . 
 Rasbach 's setting has also been lampooned , most notably in the Our Gang short film " Arbor Day " ( 1936 ) , directed by Fred C. <unk> , in which <unk> ( played by Carl <unk> ) , sings the song in a <unk> , strained voice after a " <unk> , spare that tree " dialogue with Spanky ( George McFarland ) , sings " Trees . " Film critic Leonard <unk> has called this " the poem 's all @-@ time worst rendition . " In his album Caught in the Act , Victor <unk> , when playing requests , responds to a member of the audience : " <unk> I don 't know that ' <unk> in the Window ' . I know one that comes pretty close to it , " and proceeds to play the Rasbach setting of " Trees . " 
 Dutch composer <unk> van der <unk> , included a setting of " Trees " as the third in a set of five songs written in 1977 , which included texts by poets Christina <unk> , Percy <unk> Shelley , Kilmer , Matthew Prior , and Sir John <unk> . 
 
 = = = <unk> = = = 
 
 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 <unk> 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 <unk> Nash : " 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 <unk> Races titled " The Wrong Lumber Race " , where the villainous Dick <unk> chops down a tree and uses it as a roadblock against the other <unk> , declaring proudly : " I think that I shall never see / A roadblock lovely as a tree . " 
 Further , <unk> monk , poet and spiritual writer Thomas Merton used Kilmer 's poem as a model for a parody called " <unk> $ e " — with a dollar sign purposefully substituted for the letter " s " — in which Merton ridiculed the lucrative sale of <unk> cheese by his monastery , the Abbey of <unk> in Kentucky . This poem was not published during Merton 's lifetime . Merton often criticized the " <unk> 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 @-@ <unk> . " 
 Like Kilmer , Merton was a graduate of Columbia University and a member of its literary society , the <unk> Society , which has hosted the annual Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry Contest since 1986 . " Trees " is read at the conclusion of each year 's event . 
 Kilmer 's poem was recited in the 1980 film Superman II , as well as its 2006 director 's cut . In the scene , villain Lex Luthor ( played by Gene <unk> ) and others enter Superman 's Fortress of Solitude and comes across a video of an elder ( John Hollis ) from planet Krypton <unk> " Trees " as an example of " poetry from Earth literature " . Luthor ridicules the poem . 
 
 