The poem presented in this post first appeared in Williams’ book titled “Sour Grapes: A Book of Poems”, published in 1921. Like many other of his works, it’s wonderfully simple and minimalist: the poet uses an extremely common image only to transform it into something delightfully rich and filled with meaning.
In this instance, Williams paints the picture of bare trees ready for the cold days of winter. Just as human beings change their clothes (attiring and disattiring), so do the trees, by shedding their leaves. Right from the beginning of the poem, Williams signals the idea that we have a lot in common with trees; the poem may appear to be about trees in winter, but it’s just as much about us.
All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
Try to read the poem out loud. As the short lines quickly follow one another, the reader is practically encouraged to read it at a faster pace. There’s dynamic and vitality to it. Unlike many other winter-themed poems, used by various authors to explore the themes of sadness, lifelessness and death, “Winter Trees” gives off an almost happy vibe! The arrival of cold, desolate winter may be a sure thing, but the buds are already there in anticipation of spring – and safely protected.
The natural setting depicted in the poem is calm and beautiful (a liquid moon / moves gently along the branches), while the barrenness of trees is seen as completely normal and nothing to be sad about. We put on clothes each morning and take them off before going to bed; trees do the same – only once a year – before they start their own period of rest. It’s a routine occurrence, and as natural as the change from day to night.
Perhaps even the number of lines in this one-stanza poem has a significance: ten lines might represent the ten months of the trees’ active part of the year, bracketed by two months of their winter sleep.
How did you like this poem? What do you think the poet meant when he referred to trees as “wise?” What wisdom can we learn from them? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below!
NOTES
This post is available for download in the PDF format.
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COVER IMAGE CREDIT
Ashe Walker via Unsplash
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