Some Trees
Some Trees - meaning Summary
Trees as Human Mirror
John Ashbery's Some Trees observes trees as social presences that silently mirror human relations. The speaker reads their arrangement and quiet existence as evidence that being itself carries meaning and invites touch, affection, and understanding. The poem contrasts outward stillness with inner noise, presenting nature's unselfconscious beauty as both a comfort and a subtle defense. It offers a gentle reflection on how ordinary settings can illuminate human connection and restraint.
Read Complete AnalysesThese are amazing: each Joining a neighbor, as though speech Were a still performance. Arranging by chance To meet as far this morning From the world as agreeing With it, you and I Are suddenly what the trees try To tell us we are: That their merely being there Means something; that soon We may touch, love, explain. And glad not to have invented Such comeliness, we are surrounded: A silence already filled with noises, A canvas on which emerges A chorus of smiles, a winter morning. Placed in a puzzling light, and moving, Our days put on such reticence These accents seem their own defense.
from Some Trees (1956)
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