God's Omnipotence and Omnipresence in Joyce Kilmer's Trees

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Recommended: Joyce Kilmer's: Trees

The famous poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer is a lyrical poem that focuses on nature, in which God has made. A tree is used in this poem to emphasize how the works of men is incomparable to the works of God. This poem is a proclamation of God’s omnipresence and omnipotence.

An aabbccdd rhyme scheme is used in this short but well expressed couplet. Personification is frequently used frequently throughout the poem to make it evident to the readers that God’s creation of nature is living. For an example, in stanza 2, Kilmer says, “A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast”, verifies that nature works hand in hand with one another for survival and lives. Seasonal changes us readers can relate to such as summer, winter, and spring are pointed out in to express that a tree continues in existence throughout time. The parallelism in lines 3,5, and 7 has repetition of the words “A Tree”. This stresses that a tree has purpose and hold significance everything around it. The poem shifts in the last stanza in which Kilmer says, “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.” This is a stanza that shows that Kilmer appreciates God’s creation and that he knows that God is all-powerful.

“Trees” is a poem that gives God the full glory. Kilmer calls the human “fools” because art made by man is just art. It is not is living and functioning like God’s beautiful art of nature. The poem is a proclamation that there is a God. God is seen in nature. In the poem Kilmer says, “A tree that looks at God all day”. This statement declares that nature is a reflection of God and when humans look around them, they may be reminded that God is everywhere and true. A tree can also reflect on God’s creation of men. Wh...

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