• Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Planting a Sequoia

Extracts from this document...


Commentary on Planting a Sequoia Planting a Sequoia is a poem written by Dana Gioia. The poem is about a father whose son had just died. He and his brothers bury the child in the orchard and decide to plant a tree on the grave to follow the Sicilian tradition. The narrator of the poem is the father. The poem is written in the 1st person. The Father plants a Sequoia tree in the place to celebrate the death. This is against the tradition because Sequoia trees are not seen as useful trees. The tree symbolizes the son and you see this because the narrator treats the tree as if it was his son. ...read more.


The fact that the father has chosen a sequoia compared to a more useful, prosperous tree like the fig tree or an olive tree shows a lack of prosperity. Sequoia trees live for a long time but the trees aren't useful. Also in this stanza we see that the poet compares the tree to the son. An example of this is "wrapping in your roots a lock of hair, a piece of an infant's birth cord". This quote compares the roots of the plant to an umbilical cord. It also explains the horrors of the stillborn child. The writer personifies the plant. In the poem it says "A few stray atoms brought back to the elements". ...read more.


The final stanza is about the family of trees the narrator plans to grow, to give the sequoia brothers and sisters just like he wanted for his son. A quote to show this is "And when our family is no more, all of his unborn brothers dead." This shows that the father wants another family. When he says "all of his unborn brothers dead" he uses an oxymoron to describe what it was like when he lost his son. The last line of the poem- "silently keeping the secret of your birth" is very optimistic. The narrator is looking towards the future in order to overcome the grief he had suffered. In conclusion, the poem shows one mans story of losing his son at a very young age and tries to replace his son with a tree and to treat the tree as his son. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text


Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

4 star(s)

There are some very apt points made in this response but as a whole essay it is underdeveloped and does not explore the text in enough detail. The writer should consider the structure and form and how it is used to shape meaning. There should be further language analysis.

4 Stars

Marked by teacher Laura Gater 08/10/2013

Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE Miscellaneous essays

  1. Marked by a teacher


    4 star(s)

    Spender is also being reminded of something that happened in the past 'I longed to forgive them, yet they never smiled.' Spender is reminded of a group of people that used to bully him. Spender ends the poem with 'I longed to forgive them, yet they never smiled' as a

  2. For Heidi With Blue Hair Commentary

    The poem uses some imagery, and a metaphor is used "shimmered behind the arguments", demonstrating how they were all aware of the depressing news of her mother's death, and that it was a major problem that she was going through.

  1. Nature Poetry - After Apple Picking

    The scent of apples; I am drowsing off. The sweet 'scent' of the apples is almost soporific and seems to have an anaesthetic effect on the narrator. The semi-colon allows the reader time to metaphorically 'breathe in' the intoxicating scent of the apples, which is followed by the sensuous pull of the Earth.

  2. All the poems in the section 'That old rope' are about parent child relationships. ...

    Therefore as it is a direct address it has been written in colloquial. Also the language used is simple so that the idea that this poem is being spoken by a child is believable.

  1. Normandy Landing creative piece

    I stood up to the morning breeze and the wiz of racing bullets only to get seriously wounded, by Et-300, on my left shoulder my strength arm. In seconds I was surrounded by my comrades who bandaged me up in seconds.

  2. Life-cycle' And 'Enter without so much as knocking

    Again the fact that these people lack individuality is being focused on and it is disputed whether this is correct. The rest of the family are presented as stereotypes. "one economy - sized Mum, one Anthony Squires- Coolstream - Summerweight Dad, along with two other kids, Straight off the Junior Department rack."




    ?Time?s winged chariot hurrying near? = Greek Mythology LINK Marvell?s poems talked about Myths and Metaphysics of the past/future Comparatives 1. Sonnet 119 = Passing of Time, Affect on Love 2. In Paris With You = Physical Passion 3. Hour = Physical Passion Sonnet 43 Elizabeth Barrett Browning Themes 1.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work