"The Black Walnut Tree" was written by the American poet Mary Oliver and first published in her 1979 collection, Twelve Moons. In the poem, which is usually read as being autobiographical, the speaker and her mother must decide whether to sell their walnut tree in order to help pay off their mortgage. The decision seems easy at first: the tree causes no end of problems, its roots clogging up drains and its heavy limbs threatening to damage the women's house during storms. Yet the tree also stands as a testament to the speaker's ancestors, who emigrated to the United States and became farmers in Ohio. The speaker and her mother instinctively understand that selling the tree would dishonor the preceding generations of their family who turned to the land as they built a life in their new country. While the issue remains unresolved at the poem's end, it's clear that the speaker believes that some things—inlcuding family and heritage—are more important than money.

• Read the full text of “The Black Walnut Tree”

• “The Black Walnut Tree” Summary

• “The Black Walnut Tree” Themes

  • 

    Family and Heritage

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-35
  • 

    Nature and Humanity

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-8
    • Lines 11-19
    • Lines 21-29
    • Lines 30-33

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Black Walnut Tree”

  • Lines 1-5

    My mother and ...
    ... off the mortgage.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-10

    Likely some storm ...
    ... to be wise.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-15

    Roots in the ...
    ... to gather away.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-21

    But something brighter ...
    ... anything.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-25

    That night I ...
    ... vines and orchards.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 26-29

    What my mother ...
    ... our fathers' backyard.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 30-35

    So the black ...
    ... of the mortgage.

    

    

    

    

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• “The Black Walnut Tree” Symbols

  • 

    The Black Walnut Tree

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-8
    • Line 11
    • Lines 12-15
    • Lines 26-35
  • 

    Farming

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 17-19: “an edge / sharp and quick as a trowel / that wants us to dig and sow.”
    • Lines 21-25: “That night I dream / of my fathers out of Bohemia / filling the blue fields / of fresh and generous Ohio / with leaves and vines and orchards.”
    • Line 29: “our own and our fathers' backyard.”

• “The Black Walnut Tree” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “My mother”
    • Line 6: “some storm”
    • Line 7: “down,” “dark”
    • Line 8: “talk”
    • Line 9: “two,” “trying”
    • Line 10: “time to”
    • Line 13: “getting”
    • Line 15: “gather”
    • Line 16: “But,” “brighter,” “money”
    • Line 17: “moves,” “blood”
    • Line 19: “sow”
    • Line 20: “So,” “don't do”
    • Line 22: “fathers”
    • Line 23: “filling,” “fields”
    • Line 24: “fresh”
    • Line 26: “my mother”
    • Line 30: “So”
    • Line 31: “swings”
    • Line 32: “sun,” “leaping”
    • Line 33: “leaves”
    • Line 34: “month,” “month”
    • Line 35: “mortgage”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 7: “down,” “boughs”
    • Line 8: “house”
    • Line 9: “trying”
    • Line 10: “time,” “wise”
    • Line 11: “drains”
    • Line 12: “say,” “replies”
    • Line 13: “leaves,” “getting heavier”
    • Line 14: “every year”
    • Line 15: “harder,” “gather”
    • Line 19: “sow”
    • Line 20: “So”
    • Line 24: “fresh,” “generous”
    • Line 27: “shame”
    • Line 28: “made”
    • Line 29: “fathers' backyard”
    • Line 32: “leaping”
    • Line 33: “leaves”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “house. We”
    • Line 9: “slowly, two”
    • Line 12: “say, and”
    • Line 14: “year, and”
    • Line 17: “blood—an”
    • Line 20: “talk, but”
    • Line 21: “anything. That”
    • Line 34: “and, month,” “month, the”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “My mother”
    • Line 2: “sell”
    • Line 3: “black walnut tree”
    • Line 4: “to,” “lumberman”
    • Line 6: “some storm,” “anyway”
    • Line 7: “churn down,” “boughs”
    • Line 8: “smashing,” “house,” “talk”
    • Line 9: “two,” “trying”
    • Line 10: “difficult time to”
    • Line 11: “Roots,” “in,” “cellar drains”
    • Line 12: “replies”
    • Line 13: “leaves,” “are,” “heavier”
    • Line 14: “every,” “year”
    • Line 15: “harder,” “gather”
    • Line 16: “But,” “brighter,” “than money”
    • Line 17: “moves,” “blood”
    • Line 18: “trowel”
    • Line 19: “that wants,” “ us to,” “sow”
    • Line 20: “So,” “talk,” “don't do”
    • Line 21: “That night,” “dream”
    • Line 22: “my,” “fathers,” “Bohemia”
    • Line 23: “filling,” “blue fields”
    • Line 24: “of fresh,” “and generous”
    • Line 25: “leaves and vines and orchards”
    • Line 26: “my mother”
    • Line 27: “shame”
    • Line 28: “emptiness,” “we'd made”
    • Line 30: “So,” “black walnut tree”
    • Line 31: “swings,” “another”
    • Line 32: “sun,” “ and leaping winds”
    • Line 33: “leaves,” “ and bounding”
    • Lines 34-34: “month / month”
    • Line 35: “crack,” “mortgage”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “debate:”
    • Line 4: “lumberman,”
    • Line 5: “mortgage.”
    • Line 7: “boughs,”
    • Line 10: “wise.”
    • Line 11: “drains,”
    • Line 15: “away.”
    • Line 19: “sow.”
    • Line 25: “orchards.”
    • Line 29: “backyard.”
    • Line 32: “winds,”
    • Line 33: “fruit,”
    • Line 35: “mortgage.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “sell / the”
    • Lines 3-4: “tree / to”
    • Lines 6-7: “anyway / will”
    • Lines 8-9: “talk / slowly”
    • Lines 9-10: “trying / in”
    • Lines 12-13: “replies / that”
    • Lines 13-14: “heavier / every”
    • Lines 14-15: “fruit / harder”
    • Lines 16-17: “money / moves ”
    • Lines 17-18: “edge / sharp”
    • Lines 18-19: “trowel / that”
    • Lines 20-21: “do / anything”
    • Lines 21-22: “dream / of”
    • Lines 22-23: “Bohemia / filling”
    • Lines 23-24: “fields / of ”
    • Lines 24-25: “Ohio / with”
    • Lines 26-27: “know / is”
    • Lines 27-28: “shame / in”
    • Lines 28-29: “made / in”
    • Lines 30-31: “tree / swings”
    • Lines 31-32: “year / of”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 16-19: “But something brighter than money / moves in our blood—an edge / sharp and quick as a trowel / that wants us to dig and sow.”
    • Lines 34-35: “the whip- / crack of the mortgage.”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 25: “with leaves and vines and orchards.”
    • Line 29: “our own and our fathers' backyard”
    • Lines 32-33: “of sun and leaping winds, / of leaves and bounding fruit,”
    • Line 34: “month after month”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 17-19: “an edge / sharp and quick as a trowel / that wants us to dig and sow.”

• “The Black Walnut Tree” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Black walnut tree
  • Lumberman
  • Churn
  • Trowel
  • Sow
  • Bohemia
  • Bounding
  • Whip-crack
  • (Location in poem: Line 3: “black walnut tree”; Line 30: “black walnut tree”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Black Walnut Tree”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Black Walnut Tree” Speaker

• “The Black Walnut Tree” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Black Walnut Tree”

• More “The Black Walnut Tree” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Tree Itself — Learn more about black walnut trees.

    • The Poem Out Loud — A reading and interesting analysis of the poem by The Daily Poem. 

    • More Poems and Biography — A valuable resource on Mary Oliver from the Poetry Foundation. 

    • On Being Mary Oliver — A rare and insightful interview with the poet. 

    • Trees in Poetry — A great compilation of poems with trees as their main subject. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Mary Oliver

    • Good-Bye Fox

    • The Journey

    • The Summer Day

    • Wild Geese

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