Nature has a funny way of telling us things without saying a word. Of course it would be scary if nature did say a word (are you ready for a talking tree?), but that's not the point. Man has always looked toward nature for answers and truth. He tends to think that those trees and fuzzy creatures are somehow more authentic than we are. The speaker of "Some Trees" is probably feeling the same way as he looks at those "amazing" trees.
Questions About Man and the Natural World
- Why is it that those trees get the speaker thinking about life and relationships? What is it about them that makes us question ourselves?
- What about that "winter morning"? Nature looks and sounds different according to the time and season. How might the speaker also feel and see things differently for these same reasons?
- If the speaker had chosen to invent some "comeliness" around him, how might the poem sound different?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Nature gives us our ultimate reality. We're not apart from it; we're a part of it. Deep, dude.
Trees aren't really that important to our speaker. He could have made the same observations by looking at socks in a drawer or bobble-head dolls on a shelf.