Decorated Christmas tree with ornamentsChristmas trees, adorned with twinkling lights and colorful ornaments, stand as a centerpiece of holiday celebrations. But beyond their festive charm, these evergreen symbols hold deeper meaning, inspiring poets for generations. This article explores the symbolic significance of Christmas trees through the lens of poetry, focusing on Robert Frost’s “Christmas Trees” and e.e. cummings’ “little tree.” These Christmas poems about Christmas trees invite us to reflect on the search for meaning within material objects during the holiday season.
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Robert Frost’s “Christmas Trees”: A Yankee Perspective on Value
Snowy pine trees behind a woodpileIn his 1916 poem “Christmas Trees (A Christmas Circular Letter),” Robert Frost presents a pragmatic yet sentimental perspective on the value of Christmas trees. The poem centers around a city man who visits a rural farmer, offering to buy his pine trees to sell as Christmas trees in the city. Frost’s speaker, the farmer, initially resists the idea, having never considered his trees in a commercial Christmas context. He states:
I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees. I doubt if I was tempted for a moment To sell them off their feet to go in cars And leave the slope behind the house all bare, Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon. I’d hate to have them know it if I was.
Driven by economic considerations, the farmer entertains the offer, but the buyer’s proposed price of three cents per tree seems paltry.
Three cents so small beside the dollar friends I should be writing to within the hour Would pay in cities for good trees like those.
He decides against selling, realizing the sentimental value outweighs the meager profit. Through this interaction, the farmer gains a newfound appreciation for his trees:
A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had!
Robert Frost in profile
The poem concludes with the farmer wishing he could share the profound meaning he’s found in his trees with his friends, highlighting the intangible nature of this newfound significance. He realizes that meaning cannot be simply gifted through a material object but must be experienced personally.
e.e. cummings’ “little tree”: A Child’s Empathy
Child decorating a Christmas treeIn stark contrast to Frost’s pragmatic farmer, e.e. cummings’ 1920 poem “little tree” explores the emotional connection a child forms with a Christmas tree. The speaker, a young child, empathizes with the tree, uprooted from its natural environment. The child seeks to comfort the tree by decorating it with bright ornaments, promising:
i will kiss your cool bark and hug you safe and tight just as your mother would, only don’t be afraid
look the spangles that sleep all the year in a dark box dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine, the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,
put up your little arms and i’ll give them all to you to hold every finger shall have its ring and there won’t be a single place dark or unhappy
Through this act of decorating, the child transforms a felled tree into a symbol of joy and celebration, finding meaning in the act of giving and creating beauty. The poem culminates in a scene of innocent celebration:
and my little sister and i will take hands and looking up at our beautiful tree we’ll dance and sing “Noel Noel”
The children’s joy underscores the power of human connection and the creation of shared meaning, even from a seemingly simple object like a Christmas tree.
The Enduring Symbolism of the Christmas Tree
Both Frost and cummings, through their distinct perspectives, highlight the human capacity to find meaning in material objects, particularly during the Christmas season. Whether through a farmer’s economic considerations turning into appreciation or a child’s empathy transforming a felled tree into a symbol of joy, the Christmas tree serves as a focal point for reflection and celebration. These Christmas poems about Christmas trees remind us that the true spirit of Christmas lies not in the material object itself, but in the meaning we imbue it with.