Joyce Kilmer

JOYCE KILMER

by Antonio C. Antonio

July 17, 2014

Several years ago, I attended a half-day seminar on plantation establishment.  Several speakers were lined up and the seminar attendees benefitted and learned a lot from the information they shared.  The second to the last speaker was a forester from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.  He was a technically qualified resource speaker who effectively shared his knowledge on the physiology of trees.  He ended his topic by flashing a PowerPoint slide of the poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer:

TREES (by Joyce Kilmer)

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Wanting to impress the hell out of everybody present at the seminar, the speaker began to dissect the poem line by line.  Indeed, he gave very impressive correlations to the poem’s significance to nature and the environment… it was (and still is) such a beautiful poem indeed.  But what caught my attention was the speaker’s repeated reference to Joyce Kilmer as a “she”.  He, without an iota of doubt, firmly believed that Joyce Kilmer was a woman. (Oh my God!)

Just to set the record straight, Joyce Kilmer is a man.  Born Alfred Joyce Kilmer in December 6, 1886 to an American family, he finished his studies at Columbia University.  Kilmer was a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, editor, author, writer, poet and soldier.  He married Aline Murray and the union was blessed with 5 children.  He died by a sniper’s bullet while on a military tour of duty in France during World War I in July 30, 1918.

Joyce Kilmer is best known for his poem “Trees” which he published in 1913.  This poem has been interpreted in many ways… and a literary piece that is still being interpreted by modern-day literary critics… including that particular speaker who referred to Joyce Kilmer as a female.  It really pays to conscientiously research before anything else.  What a disservice to a great man in Alfred Joyce Kilmer.

Just my little thoughts…

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