Planting a Sequoia Commentary

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.

Haiku

A sudden snow storm
The icy streets deserted
warmth inside


Talking to my friend
In the midst of autumn leaves
I feel free

A walk along the lake
warm breeze touches my face
at home

She runs through the grass
Cheeks a rosy red
Her Love will never fade

She feels a cool breeze
The heat has finally passed
Time has led the way

The square is packed
The sun shines brutally on us
Lost in eternity

When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead

Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895- 1915)

When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead
When you see millions of the mouthless dead
Across your dreams in pale battalions go,
Say not soft things as other men have said,
That you'll remember. For you need not so.
Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know
It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?
Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow.
Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.
Say only this, "They are dead." Then add thereto,
"Yet many a better one has died before."
Then, scanning all the o'ercrowded mass, should you
Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,
It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.
Great death has made all his for evermore.
"This was found in the author's kit sent home from France after his death." (Note by W. R. S., p. 131.)
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1954.html


- Italian Sonnet (8 and 6)

Oral

1. Context:
This excerpt is from "One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest" by Ken Kesey. His book focuses on the oppressive American society in the 60's . In this scene McMurphy learns that most of the patients on the ward are not committed but voluntary. This passage is important because McMurphy realizes that he needs to play by the nurses rules, in order to leave the ward. He also realizes, that he is the only one that she is truly in control of.

2. Themes/ Characters:

Themes:
- Big vs. Small=> X-Ray machine
- Perspective vs. Perspective (friend vs. buddy=> juxtaposition of language)
- Living vs. Apathy=> McMurphy realizes that most of the patients are voluntary and therefore don’t oppose to the way they are being treated (apathy)


Characters:
a. Harding
- Leads the conversation
- Speaks in a condescending way to McMurphy because he knows he has valuable information for McMurphy
- Uses repetition of entire phrases


b. McMurphy
- Unsophisticated diction
- A change happens, he suddenly realizes how the ward works, and that he is one of the few committed patients
- He takes a while to understand what is going on
- Harding is in full control until McMurphy suddenly realizes



a. Characteristics are being:
- Expressed (shown)
- Reinforced
b. A change is happening


Motifs-> Symbols:
- Control panel
- Machinery


Quotes:
1. "Everybody moves down a place. Martini comes away from the X-ray machine, buttoning his shirt and muttering, "I wouldn’t of believed it if I hadn't saw it," and Billy Bibbit goes to the black glass to take Martini's place. (Big vs. Small)
2. "No. You've got ore to lose than I do, my friend." (Perspective vs. Perspective=> Buddy vs. Friend)

My Modest Proposal-Outline

Global Issue: Africa the failed Continent

Africa is a failed continent because Europe messed it up in the past

Since Africa is treated as an effectively failed continent, and one which the West seems to ignore, we should use this useless space for the disposal of our garbage and thus eliminate the problem of waste accumulation in wealthy countries . This solution would solve Europe's garbage (also nuclear waste) problem and the people in Africa would not be worse off than they are today.

Outline
1. Introduction
a) Africa is a failed/ doomed/ useless continent
b) It causes the world many problems and is a burden to the west

2. The Problem
a) The west is facing a global issue of increased waste products
b) The world needs to find a solution to deal with the rising amounts of garbage that are being produced

3. A solution
a) Africa is a useless continent anyways
b) Africa=> the failed continent
c) To make use of it, the west should just turn the continent into a huge garbage dump
d) This way Europe (the west) would get rid of its garbage, and in due time the useless continent of Africa would just sink into the ocean and their problem of poverty and hunger would be solved
e) There seem to be no objections to this idea, because millions of people are dying of starvation and genocide (deliberate extermination of a ethnic group) and corruption in Africa today and no one seems to care anyways
f) This way the world could assign the useless continent and job that in due time will save them from their own misery and will benefit the rest of the world
g) Africa would also stop overpopulating our planet
h) The west could harvest all of the valuable resources prior to turning it into a garbage dump
i) Clearly this would be a win win situation
j) Unlike Iraq there is no oil worth defending (oil is a long term extraction project and would therefore justify international intervention)

4. Conclusion
a) Something needs to be done about the rising issues that Africa is causing
b) Win win situation=> everyone would benefit
c) Create awareness about the inhumane situation that Africa is in

Beyonce

Beyonce Know(les) It Best

Last Saturday, May 16^th, Beyonce Knowles and her entire crew rocked Zurich In-Club st.Germain. After a successful concert in Zurich’s Hallenstadion, Beyonce, hubby Jay-Z, and her sister Solange proceeded to the club on Switzerland’s most famous street: “Bahnhofstrasse”. With lots of soul and talent, Solange Knowles and her band electrified the crowds, so that there was barely any space to move around. Leaving a stunned mass of people and extremely exhausted artists, Beyonce left the party at around 2am, but this meant by no means that the bash was over. The guests continued to party till the early morning hours and everyone went home feeling slightly tired but even more in awe by the incredible performance.

Love Letter

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Dear Trillian,

I very distinctly remember the first time that I met you. I will never forget your vibrant personality and your beautiful smile. Right then and there I knew that you were special. We had a long talk and I feel like we really connected. That was the most fun that I had had in weeks, if not months. But then you left me for this other guy, Zaphod. I was heartbroken because I thought that it could have worked out between us. I hope that my feeling for you do not come as a shock or that they will change the way you feel about me. I just decided that it was time to tell you how I felt, because I could keep my feelings for you bottled up inside anymore. You should know that you are the most amazing woman that I have ever met. You have the most interesting personality and your unusual ideas fascinate me. You are so creative, beautiful, mysterious, independent, there are so many things that I want to say to you that they could fill up the whole universe. You are the most special person that I have ever met, and I want you to know that you are the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. I am sending you this letter because I want you to know that Zaphod is not the right man for you. Come with me and we will live a long and happy life. I am sending you this letter because I plan on leaving this ship to go back to the newly built earth. I could not bear the thought of leaving without you knowing how I really felt about you. I hope to see you again one day.

You know where to find me.

With Love,

Arthur Dent.