Trees by Joyce Kilmer
By: Academy of American Poets (Poets. org)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trees
(Joyce Kilmer 1886 - 1918)
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.
Joyce Kilmer was born on December 6, 1886, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The author of Main Street and Other Poems (George H. Doran Company, 1917), he was killed while fighting in World War I.
Joyce Kilmer was born on December 6, 1886, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He attended Rutgers Preparatory School and graduated in 1904. He attended Rutgers College from 1904 to 1906, then transferred to Columbia University, where he completed his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1908. That same year, he married poet Aline Murray .
After Kilmer graduated college, he took a job teaching Latin at a high school in Morristown, New Jersey, and wrote features for The Literary Digest , The Nation , Town & Country , and The New York Times . From 1909 to 1912, he worked for Funk and Wagnalls, writing definitions for The Standard Dictionary , and continued to write magazine articles for publication.
In 1911, Kilmer published his first poetry collection, A Summer of Love (The Baker & Taylor Company). Two years later, he published what would become his most famous poem, “ Trees ,” in Poetry magazine. The poem was included in his second collection, Trees and Other Poems (Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1914).
Kilmer published his last poetry collection, Main Street and Other Poems (George H. Doran Company, 1917), the same year he enlisted in the U.S. Army to serve in World War I, during which time he continued to write poems while fighting in the Sixty-Ninth Regiment. He died of a gunshot from a German sniper on July 30, 1918.
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Trees have always been special for me. Almost every home I ever lived in in Canada had a maple tree on the property - this one had many:
Trees make my current home in Ohio far more desire able, though living on 4 acres of a steep wooded hill can be much work and a challenge. Spent a few hours blowing leaves today, and have weeks more ahead, but still prefer a wooded property. This property from front to back, drops over 200 to 300 feet and is difficult to traverse, so I can't rhyme each and every verse.
Got a picture of it?
I must learn how to post them, and will, but not this morning. I lost everything on my I phone recently (Pictures and Contacts) and then broke my laptop two daze later. Uf you look, I'm even on a different igknorantzrulez account because I lost my passwords and email addresses. What a mess.
Sorry to hear about your problems, but I knew when you signed up for a new account. It's my job on NT to check all new signups for spammers, I get notifications of them, and I was surprised when I saw your signup, but I know all about it.
I think I was in fourth grade when I had to memorize that poem and recite it in front of the class.
It's one of my 5 most favourite poems of all time.