The American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou wrote "When Great Trees Fall" in 1987 after the death of her friend and fellow writer/activist James Baldwin. The poem, which Angelou read at Baldwin's funeral, compares the deaths of "great" people to "great trees" falling in a forest. Just as those massive trees shake the earth and make animals crouch in confusion and fear, the loss of great individuals sends shockwaves throughout the world. Eventually, however, people's grief and despair give way to the invigorating knowledge that the world is a better place because these "great souls" once passed through it. "When Great Trees Fall" was collected in Angelou's 1990 book of poems, I Shall Not Be Moved.
|
Get
LitCharts
|
|
The Full Text of “When Great Trees Fall”
The Full Text of “When Great Trees Fall”
-
“When Great Trees Fall” Summary
-
-
“When Great Trees Fall” Themes
-
Loss, Grief, and Acceptance
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-11
- Lines 12-24
- Lines 39-47
-
Individual Greatness and Cultural Change
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 25-49
-
-
Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “When Great Trees Fall”
-
Lines 1-6
When great trees ...
... lumber after safety. -
Lines 7-11
When great trees ...
... eroded beyond fear. -
Lines 12-14
When great souls ...
... light, rare, sterile. -
Lines 15-18
We breathe, briefly. ...
... a hurtful clarity. -
Lines 19-24
Our memory, suddenly ...
... never taken. -
Lines 25-34
Great souls die ...
... radiance, fall away. -
Lines 35-38
We are not ...
... caves. -
Lines 39-44
And when great ...
... soothing electric vibration. -
Lines 45-49
Our senses, restored, ...
... For they existed.
-
-
“When Great Trees Fall” Symbols
-
Great Trees
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-11: “When great trees fall, / rocks on distant hills shudder, / lions hunker down / in tall grasses, / and even elephants / lumber after safety. / When great trees fall / in forests, / small things recoil into silence, / their senses / eroded beyond fear. ”
-
-
“When Great Trees Fall” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
-
Anaphora
Where anaphora appears in the poem:- Line 1: “When great trees fall, ”
- Line 7: “When great trees fall ”
- Line 12: “When great souls die, ”
- Line 16: “Our eyes”
- Line 19: “Our memory”
- Line 25: “Great souls die and ”
- Line 28: “Our souls”
- Line 32: “Our minds”
- Line 39: “And when great souls die, ”
- Line 45: “Our senses”
-
Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Lines 15-16: “We breathe, briefly. / Our eyes, briefly, ”
- Lines 32-33: “formed / and informed”
- Lines 47-49: “They existed. They existed. / We can be. Be and be / better. For they existed.”
-
Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 7: “fall”
- Line 8: “forests”
- Line 9: “small,” “silence”
- Line 10: “senses”
- Line 11: “fear”
- Line 15: “breathe,” “briefly”
- Line 16: “briefly”
- Line 21: “words”
- Line 23: “walks”
- Line 30: “nurture”
- Line 31: “now”
- Line 32: “formed”
- Line 34: “fall”
- Line 37: “cold”
- Line 38: “caves”
- Line 39: “souls”
- Line 40: “period,” “peace”
- Line 41: “slowly”
- Line 42: “Spaces”
- Line 44: “soothing”
- Line 45: “senses”
- Line 46: “same”
- Line 48: “be,” “Be,” “be”
- Line 49: “better”
-
Asyndeton
Where asyndeton appears in the poem:- Lines 12-14: “When great souls die, / the air around us becomes / light, rare, sterile. ”
- Lines 19-24: “Our memory, suddenly sharpened, / examines, / gnaws on kind words / unsaid, / promised walks / never taken. ”
-
Enjambment
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 3-4: “down / in”
- Lines 5-6: “elephants / lumber”
- Lines 7-8: “fall / in”
- Lines 10-11: “senses / eroded”
- Lines 13-14: “becomes / light”
- Lines 17-18: “with / a”
- Lines 21-22: “words / unsaid”
- Lines 23-24: “walks / never”
- Lines 25-26: “and / our”
- Lines 26-27: “to / them”
- Lines 29-30: “their / nurture”
- Lines 32-33: “formed / and”
- Lines 33-34: “their / radiance”
- Lines 35-36: “maddened / as”
- Lines 36-37: “of / dark”
- Lines 37-38: “cold / caves”
- Lines 41-42: “always / irregularly”
- Lines 42-43: “fill / with”
- Lines 43-44: “of / soothing”
- Lines 45-46: “never / to”
- Lines 48-49: “be / better”
-
-
“When Great Trees Fall” 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.
- Hunker down
- Lumber
- Recoil
- Eroded
- Rare
- Sterile
- Clarity
- Wizened
- Maddened
- Unutterable
-
(Location in poem: Line 3: “lions hunker down ”)
-
Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “When Great Trees Fall”
-
Form
-
Meter
-
Rhyme Scheme
-
-
“When Great Trees Fall” Speaker
-
-
“When Great Trees Fall” Setting
-
-
Literary and Historical Context of “When Great Trees Fall”
-
-
More “When Great Trees Fall” Resources
-
External Resources
-
Short Review of I Shall Not Be Moved — A Publisher's Weekly write-up of Angelou's last single volume of poetry, I Shall Not Be Moved, in which "When Great Trees Fall" was published.
-
Listen to a Recital of the Poem — Maryam Monsef recites "When Great Trees Fall."
-
The Poet's Life and Work — A biography of Maya Angelou from the Poetry Foundation.
-
PBS Interview with James Baldwin — A 1975 conversation between Maya Angelou and James Baldwin in which the longtime friends discuss race, sexual identity, writing, and more.
-
A Biography of James Baldwin — Read about Angelou's friend James Baldwin, the writer and activist whose death inspired the poem.
-
-
LitCharts on Other Poems by Maya Angelou
-
Ask LitCharts AI:
The answer to your questions
Powered by LitCharts content and AI.
