The Heart of a Tree, Henry Cuyler Bunner.
The Heart of the Tree, written and published by Henry Cuyler Bunner in 1912, presents an eco-centric view of the significance of trees and their relationship with humans and the earth. Bunner challenges both plant blindness and the anthropocentric view of trees being less significant than humans by presenting trees as possessing more value than seen or initially interpreted. He also presents a role and value reversal by presenting trees as the providers, and humans as the dependants; trees don’t need us, but we need them.
The poem is simply structured with 3 stanzas, 9 lines each, and a rhyme scheme of ABABBCCAA consistently. Beginning with a rhetorical question, “what does he plant who plants a tree?”, Bunner answers himself by stating, “he plants a friend of sun and sky, he plants the flag of breezes free" and "he plants a home to heaven anigh". After listing all the natural benefits with equally beautiful imagery, he ends the stanza with the confirmation “these things he plants who plants a tree.” This is repeated at the end of every stanza resulting in not only a consistent rhythm for the rhyme scheme, but also a cyclic element to the words. We can see this cyclic structure as analogous of all things being interlocked and interconnected on earth. For example, the tree, through its planting becomes interconnected with the "sun and sky", the "harvest of a coming age", the joy of an "unborn child", and the "growth of" an entire nation. The interconnectedness trees have with the material, immaterial, abstract, concrete, and future or present, highlights the significance of trees as being more than aesthetically appealing oxygen providers, as they are presented as the shapers of humanity who impact the progression of history.
The personification of the tree in “a friend of the sun and sky” is an anthropomorphic attribution of socially aware and valuable relationships, challenging our currently anthropocentric views by framing the tree as our equal. This endowment also allows us to envision the symbiotic relationship between the sun and the tree, whereby each benefits from the other’s existence; an ecological view of interconnectedness where all natural things, regardless of life force can be in relationship and benefit from one another.
The challenge to anthropocentrism continues in the trees taking a dominant role in the functioning of society; especially evident in the comparison between a tree and ‘a flag that breezes free’. In the time it was written, 1912, science and technology were at the forefront of social advancement, but here, Bunner is suggesting trees are what we should be following or looking toward nature for the next step into our future, or even as representative of our values. This reversal of perceived roles is furthered by hyperbaton in stanza 3, “Who in the hollow of His hand- Holds all the growth of all our land" - a symbolic analogy to reversal or progress of humanity/future being found in technology over nature. This also plays into his challenge of plant blindness, as he presents a reimagined perspective wherein trees need to be understood for their full significance and role in our lives.
The notion that we are dependent on trees, not they on us, is further demonstrated through Bunner's eloquent enumeration of all the benefits of trees. This is reinforced through his anaphoric repetition of “he plants” that leads on to the various listed benefits of doing so. This challenges the reader’s preconceived and simplistic views of a tree’s importance, as the reader is confronted with an abundance of benefits all directed from the planting of one tree, creating a kind of dissonance if the reader does not question and renew their beliefs of the role of trees.
The power of a single tree is dramatized from offering "cool shade and tender rain", " seed and bud" for the future, a "harvest of a coming age" all the way up to being responsible for humanity’s or a nation’s progress stretching from "sea to sea". This effectively challenges plant blindness and anthropocentric views of trees, as the poem works to prove trees cannot be taken at face value, rather they need to be deeply respected, appreciated, and valued.
By Isabella M-White and Hiba Alhamidawi