Some Trees Themes
Isolation
No matter how you cut it, isolation is part of the whole messy process of understanding the world and your place in it. In "Some Trees," it's an even trickier process because nothing is spelled out...
Life, Consciousness, and Existence
Life. Consciousness. Existence. Those are some heavy words that make us tired as soon as we see them. But in "Some Trees," they're not so heavy. In fact, they can't be heavy because Ashbery isn't f...
Man and the Natural World
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...
Language and Communication
"Some Trees" opens with the idea of "speech" as a performance of sorts. So we immediately get to thinking about the way people communicate with one another. Maybe there's something inauthentic abou...