The British poet Philip Larkin included "The Trees" in his book High Windows, which was published in 1974. The speaker sees spring's budding trees as "a kind of grief." The speaker says that this isn't borne from envy about the fact that the leaves are born anew each year while human beings get old; the trees themselves age, too, the speaker points out, even if their leaves re-bloom each year. Still, the fresh growth of spring reminds the speaker to cast of the past and live in the present—even in the face of inevitable mortality.

• Read the full text of “The Trees”

• “The Trees” Summary

• “The Trees” Themes

  • 

    Mortality and Renewal

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-12

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Trees”

  • Lines 1-4

    The trees are ...
    ... kind of grief.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    Is it that ...
    ... rings of grain.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-10

    Yet still the ...
    ... thickness every May.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-12

    Last year is ...
    ... afresh, afresh, afresh.

    

    

    

    

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• “The Trees” Symbols

  • 

    Spring, Trees, and New Leaves

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4
    • Lines 5-8
    • Lines 9-12

• “The Trees” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “The trees are coming into leaf / Like something almost being said;”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “Their greenness is a kind of grief.”
    • Lines 7-8: “Their yearly trick of looking new / Is written down in rings of grain.”
    • Line 9: “the unresting castles”
    • Line 11: “Last year is dead”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “The recent buds relax and spread,”
    • Lines 5-6: “Is it that they are born again / And we grow old?”
    • Lines 11-12: “Last year is dead, they seem to say, / Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.”

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “something almost,” “said”
    • Line 3: “recent,” “relax,” “spread”
    • Line 4: “greenness”
    • Line 9: “still,” “unresting castles”
    • Line 10: “thickness”
    • Line 11: “Last,” “seem,” “say”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “trees,” “leaf”
    • Line 2: “being”
    • Line 3: “recent,” “relax”
    • Line 4: “greenness,” “grief”
    • Line 6: “grow old? No”
    • Line 9: “unresting,” “thresh”
    • Line 11: “dead”
    • Line 12: “afresh”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “trees are,” “coming,” “leaf”
    • Line 2: “Like,” “something almost,” “said”
    • Line 3: “recent,” “buds,” “relax,” “spread”
    • Line 4: “Their,” “greenness,” “grief”
    • Line 5: “born again”
    • Line 6: “And,” “grow,” “old,” “die”
    • Line 7: “Their yearly,” “trick,” “looking,” “new”
    • Line 8: “written down,” “rings,” “grain”
    • Line 9: “still,” “unresting castles,” “thresh”
    • Line 10: “fullgrown,” “thickness,” “every”
    • Line 11: “Last,” “year,” “seem,” “say”

  • Irony

    

    

    

    

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    Where irony appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-8
    • Lines 9-12

  • Rhetorical Question

    

    

    

    

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    Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-6: “Is it that they are born again / And we grow old?”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “old? No,” “, they”
    • Line 11: “dead, they”
    • Line 12: “afresh, afresh,” “, afresh”

  • Epizeuxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where epizeuxis appears in the poem:

    • Line 12: “afresh, afresh, afresh”

• “The Trees” 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.

  • Coming Into Leaf
  • Buds
  • Rings of Grain
  • Unresting
  • Castles
  • Thresh
  • Afresh
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “coming into leaf”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Trees”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Trees” Speaker

• “The Trees” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Trees”

• More “The Trees” Resources

  • External Resources

    • "Rings of Grain" — Learn a little about how to determine the age of a tree by studying the rings in its trunk: a practice known as dendrochronology!

    • Portraits of the Artist — The National Portrait Gallery has several portraits of Philip Larkin, including a painting and several photographs.

    • Hear the Poem — Listen to Philip Larkin himself read "The Trees."

    • About the Poet — For more information about Philip Larkin, check out this brief overview of his life and work.

    • The Paris Review Interview — Read The Paris Review's "The Art of Poetry" interview with Philip Larkin. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Philip Larkin

    • Afternoons

    • An Arundel Tomb

    • A Study of Reading Habits

    • Church Going

    • Coming

    • Home Is So Sad

    • MCMXIV

    • Money

    • Mr Bleaney

    • Next, Please

    • Poetry of Departures

    • Talking in Bed

    • The Whitsun Weddings

    • This Be The Verse

    • Water

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