The Black Walnut Tree By Mary Oliver Summary

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In “The Black Walnut Tree” by Mary Oliver, the narrator debates her mother to try to decide whether or not to sell a walnut tree that is in their backyard to try and help her father pay off the mortgage. The poet’s use of diction and imagery presents the theme that simple, ordinary things can have a huge emotional impact on people. The poem starts out with the speaker attempting to make excuses as to why they should sell the walnut tree. She claims that it is “likely” that “some storm” will knock it down and it’ll crush “the house.” She explains that the tree grows more and more with “every year” and the “fruit” are “harder to gather away.” The poem shifts as the narrator and her mother have a feeling that it would simply be a bad thing

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