Q) How does Larkin strikingly convey feelings of uncertainty in this poem?
A) “Trees” by Philip Larkin is a philosophical poem that elucidates the inevitable cycle of life. Contrasting the poem’s superficial simplicity, Philip Larkin deftly employs symbolism, ambiguous phraseology and a wide progression of literary devices to establish feelings of uncertainty in this poem, hence allowing numerous obscure interpretations of the poet’s purpose in this short poem.
Philip Larkin institutes an essence of uncertainty with a prevalent use of ambiguous diction and tone. Not only is it present in the simile “like something almost being said” but is also extant in the metaphor “greenness is a kind of grief” and in the personification in “seem to say”. The words “something almost”, “kind of” and “seem” denote the poet’s need to accompany any comparison with doubt and vagueness, signifying lack of certainty.
Larkin persistently bridges the gap between trees and humans through phrases like “being said”, “written down in rings” and with personification and pathetic fallacy employed in “buds relax and spread” and “their greenness is a kind of grief” respectively. However, with references to the trees’ metamorphosis in spring, the poet also creates a disparity between the perceptible aging of humans and the apparent immortality of the trees. Hence, the sense of ambivalence in the poem is significantly augmented.
The poet deploys a hypophora and caesura in “is it that…grow old? No, they die too”. Not only does this hypophora denote the conversational tone of the poet, but the caesura helps underscore the instantaneous change of mood from optimism to pessimism as he divulges the trees’ “trick of looking new” as they grow older. Furthermore, the poet, in contradiction to the hypophora, claims that the trees “begin afresh” in the concluding line, hence moulding their transmogrification as a paradox that elevates feelings of uncertainty in the poem.
Ultimately, symbolism and irony are used parallel to a substantial extent in the poem to convey the poet’s uncertainty . The poem opens with “the trees are coming into leaf”, which is symbolic of rebirth, however, the poet establishes themes of mortality by stating “they die too”. Moreover “rings of grain” is symbolic since rings are associated with eternity, which is ironic as the poem expounds the transience of every living entity. With the help of the paradox, the irony and the equivocal language, Larkin adroitly manifests feelings of uncertainty in “The Trees”.
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