Poet's Corner

Explanation: Generations

Lines 1-4

In these lines the speaker of the poem uses a simile to compare her young friend to "a young beech tree." Beeches are singularly attractive and rare trees as they grow only in fertile soil. In the United States beech trees were mostly destroyed by settlers who cut them down to clear farmland. Thus the poem suggests the rare beauty and character of the friend through this simple allusion. That the friend is both "straight and swaying" suggests then an interesting paradox in character. It would seem that the friend is both genuinely true to her convictions yet simultaneously capable of being flexible. If we assume that the young friend being described is, like the speaker of the poem, a poet (an interpretation which adds another level of meaning to the poem) then we might read this line to suggest that she is not particularly "set" in her poetic ways. Instead the friend is young enough, and perhaps inexperienced enough, to be able to change poetic modes on command. Note the alliteration of "s" sounds in line three and how this repetition of sound adds to the musical quality of these lines. Also, note the "golden leaves" of the beech tree. References to "gold" in poetry traditionally suggest value and/or worth. In this case, however, it is important to remember that beech trees turn gold only in autumn, which would seem to suggest that while this friend is "young" compared to the speaker of the poem, she is not necessarily young by traditional standards. Indeed, the friend would appear to be in the autumn of life, suggesting late middle age.
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Lines 5-6

These lines then introduce another simile in which the speaker compares the young friend's "walk" to the "blowing of a beech-tree/on a hill." Implied is the majesty of this tree as seen from a distance, and the awe the tree inspires as the wind bends it violently back and forth. We presume, of course, that the entire tree does not move, but rather only its upper extremities. In other words, the tree is flexible but well rooted.
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Lines 7-8

These lines introduce yet another simile. Here the speaker of the poem compares her friend's "voice" to the sounds of leaves being rustled in the wind. The alliteration of "s" sounds in these lines then serves to reinforce for the reader the sound made by wind through leaves. Notice, however, the use of the word "struck" in line 8. This would seem to suggest that the wind plays the tree like an instrument, the connotations of the word "struck" being associated as they are with striking keys of a piano or striking a chord. As well, the speaker is once again both implying the friend's ability to adapt and, perhaps more to the point, her fickleness. This reading makes particular sense when we note that the speaker of the poem seems to suggest that the friend is being "struck" by a "South wind" which is to say a warm, tropical wind as opposed to a cold biting northerly wind. Regardless, the inconstancy implied by the image of the ever-swaying beech is central to the larger meaning of the poem as much as is the friend's flexibility and adaptability. As well, the allusion to the sound of wind blowing through trees is common in many Japanese haiku and serves to add a sense of focus and clarity to the poem, a sense of poetic tradition. Finally, this aural image foreshadows the very haiku-like end of the poem, wherein the speaker makes much more economical use of language to describe herself in comparison to the friend she describes here.
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Line 9

Here the poem breaks away from the pattern of similes it has engaged thus far and shifts instead to a metaphoric description of the young friend's shadow. This is a particularly interesting line when we consider what having or not having a shadow implies as far as the weight or thinness of the thing or person being described. In brief, to say that something, or as in this case, someone, has no shadow, is to suggest that they lack substance. It is almost as if the poet were saying that this friend were negligible or invisible. On the other hand, the image of "scattered sunshine" is in itself quite breathtaking and beautiful, so to argue with any force that the speaker of the poem is trying to degrade or "put down" her friend would not seem wholly justified. We might even read this as a point of great admiration. The speaker may well be suggesting that the young friend is pleasantly not so full of herself or egocentric. This may seem a bit of a stretch, but imagistic poems such as this depend almost entirely on the reader to develop or assert the relationships between the things being depicted. In other words, we may be supplied with the central image or images, but it is up to us and our creativity to derive the larger range of meaning being implied.
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Lines 10-11

Here the speaker of the poem describes the young friend's essentially romantic relationship with the world. Implied is a failure to deal with the world on its own terms. Instead the friend would deign to alter universal laws, an act which implies an intense egocentrism, a wayward self- importance. Conversely we might take these lines to suggest the young friend's naivete and innocence: the stars serving as a blanket for this sleeping child. Read in this manner, we might even suggest that the friend is "in tune" with the natural world, that he or she is at ease with these natural surroundings. This point is somewhat ambiguous until we get to the second stanza of the poem, wherein the comparison made between the speaker and the friend seems to more clearly suggest that indeed the friend is somehow sheltered and naive.
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Line 12

In this stanza the speaker finally introduces herself into the poem. Returning to the pattern of simile used earlier in the poem, she compares herself to a "great oak" and appears to assert her superior size and strength as compared to the younger beech, which is only a "stem" by comparison. Oaks are much more plentiful in the United States than are beeches and while not considered particularly graceful, they are valued for their sturdiness and for their usefulness in building. Thus the speaker of the poem seems to suggest her ruggedness and usefulness. The sky, as described in this line, differs greatly from the sky described in line 10. This would seem to suggest a difference in perception. Whereas the young friend desires to "pull the sky down" and cloak herself in the light of the stars, the speaker recognizes the grayness of the sky which suggests impending doom, be it a great storm or the coming of winter with its shorter and shorter days. Whether the result of their differing ages or their differing perceptions and characters, what is clear is that they do not see the world in the same light. Implied as well, by the speaker's use of "great" in describing herself, is that she is ultimately superior to her younger friend. The speaker seems to believe she sees the world more realistically. The poem alludes to the age old conflict between "idealistic youth" and "cynical old-age."
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Line 13

The poem concludes by placing in relation the two images developed so far in the poem: the oak and the beech. What we recognize is that the oak towers over the beech, suggesting again the oak's overall superiority. Yet we must not forget that being older means the oak is likely closer to death. The beech then may eventually subsume its position and grandeur. Regardless, it would seem that there is competition inherent in the scene as its been depicted. The two trees, the two friends, must ultimately compete for the same resources. On the other hand, we might imagine that the great oak in some way shelters the small beech and makes its survival possible. If this is the case then we might argue that the speaker is looking down upon her young ward with motherly fondness. If again, we choose to think of the friend and the speaker as both being poets, we might consider each to be representative of separate poetic "generations." It could be then either that they are competing for literary success or that the older speaker is looking on with fondness as her young student grows as a poet. Finally, it is interesting to imagine that the young poet is actually the speaker herself or at least the speaker's memory of her younger self. In this manner, we might imagine her looking back at her own youthful ruminations with both embarrassment and longing. As well, the structural and thematic developments of the poem would then suggest the speaker's journey toward poetic maturity. If we contrast the first stanza of the poem (the young poet) with the second stanza of the poem (the older poet), what we notice stylistically is that the second stanza is much more economical in its use of language and much less romantic about the world.
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Source: Exploring Poetry, Gale, 1997.