Aleya Thakur-Weigold
Planting a Sequoia Commentary
There is no doubt, that there is no greater pain than that of a parent who has lost a child. Dana Gioia’s lyric poem Planting a Sequoia reflects on the traumatic experience of losing his son. The poem was structured in five stanzas is mainly driven by imagery and tone. Although the poem is dominated by an elegiac tone, there is still a strong sense of honor and hope present.
The first stanza does not reveal much about the content of the poem but gives the mood and the setting. Dana Gioia makes use of strong sensory imagery to set a gloomy and negative mood and lets the reader know that he has situated the poem on the North West coast of the United States. Although he has not yet revealed the content of the poem, he uses figurative imagery to symbolize death “Of and old year coming to an end […]” which creates a very sad and negative tone.
The second stanza of the poem introduces the idea of the Sicilian tradition of planting a tree in honor of a child’s birth “In Sicily a father plants a tree to celebrate his first son’s birth-[…]„. Dana Gioia embraces this tradition to overcome the grief of his son’s death. In his poem he writes “But today we kneel in the cold planting you, our native giant,[…]” which signifies that he is not planting a fruitful tree for the birth of his son, but a sequoia shrub in honor of his late sons memory. Although the sequoia tree is still small and vulnerable, it should grow into a grand and great tree, that will survive through the ages and that will “[…] stand among strangers […]” even after time has changed the setting. Instead of mourning and endlessly suffering over his son’s death, Gioia plants a tree in his honor which symbolizes life in the face of death.
With the shrub he also plants “[…] a lock of hair, a piece of an infant’s birth cord,[…]”, which personifies the tree and gives it more human traits. This line from the third stanza is the heart of the poem and there is a clear change of tone. The mood and tone of the poem change from being elegiac and mournful to showing hope and faith in a more fruitful future.
The poem is written in a free verse which symbolizes infinity and makes it seem like the poet is speaking directly to his son through the sequoia tree, while allowing the reader to be part of this moving moment between father and son.
Dana Gioia frequently uses sensory imagery throughout his poem to visualize the pain and suffering but also the hope and honor that the poet is feeling. It allows the reader to imagine and understand the terrifying situation of the loss of a child. Images like “Rain blackened the horizons […]” and “Nights scented with the ocean fog […]” give the reader the opportunity to fully embrace the opposing ideas of life, death, hope, and loss that shape this poem.
The strong imagery in the poem gives it an elegiac tone which seems to be stronger in the first few stanzas and then continues to have a more hopeful and positive tone towards the end (the future).
Dana Gioia frequently uses juxtaposition and opposing ideas in his poem. The entire poem is driven by juxtaposed ideas like life and death or the brevity of life versus the eternal lifetime of a sequoia tree. The idea of planting a tree for a child originally comes from a Sicilian tradition that symbolizes birth and celebration instead of pain and loss, like Gioia represents it in his poem.
But the tree does not solely represent the Gioia’s son’s memory, but it also symbolizes the brevity of life. The tree will grow into a native giant and even when Dana will have died and all of his unborn children will have passed, the sequoia tree will live and grow. A human lifetime to the tree will seem like a cherry blossom to man, brief and insignificant.
The poem is characterized by a father’s pain over the loss of a child. Dana Gioia uses a lot of imagery to connect with the reader and to create an elegiac yet hopeful tone. In honor of this late son he plants a sequoia shrub, passing his sons life into the tree. It will grow and outlive him and his brothers and nephews and one day the tree will stand among strangers, but will forever be in his memory.
