Planting A Sequoia - Commentary

Dana Gioia`s poem holds a quiet beauty in its tale of an infant`s death. The first person narrative is not abused by melodramatic, theatrical emotion but instead by focusing on the sequoia planted in the child`s memory, and its significance to the narrator`s family, this mournful poem delicately paints the effects of their loss. The elegiac tone never slips into total hopelessness, and how time unfolds with the tree never suffering, but living long into the future mirrors how there is always a way for the dead to live on. The sequoia is planted to survive longer than any human, through generations of the baby`s family, almost to compensate for his short life and it is the nurturing of the tree, symbolic of the tiny boy that gives the poem it`s softly heart-rending impact. In the opening of the poem, there is a hint towards the idea that there is a hidden sentiment that is held within the sequoia being planted that remains unrevealed. The shoot is planted with a gentleness, and care that seems excessive for something with no sentimental value, "laying you into it, carefully packing the soil" as though they have respect or even love for the tree. The family coming together within the descri ption almost creates the image of a burial: "All afternoon my brothers and I have worked in the orchard, / Digging this hole", reflecting how they seem to be there to support one another as though something has been lost, although the reader in unsure of what until the third stanza. The structure of the poem creates an ambiguity around the meaning of the planting of the sequoia. It begins in the present tense, with the tree being planted, which is not made explicit, but deduced from the title, and there is a sense of darkness and sorrow within created by lexical choices such as "cold winds", "dull grey" and "blackened". This subtly hints again at the idea of a burial, or something with a deeper meaning that remains unclear for now. This is then juxtaposed with images of life and happiness in the second stanza, where a tree is planted to "celebrate. a promise of new life". The use of the conditional tense in this stanza leaves the reader questioning why it is that the author did not "proudly lay new stock into [his] father`s orchard" despite writing that he "would have done" on his first son`s birth. An air of mystery is drawn over the true symbolism of the tree holding an underlying tension from the ominous tones within the pathetic fallacy in the previous stanza. The next stanza goes on to reveal that instead of planting "An olive or a fig tree" as Italian traditions dictates, the author planted "our native giant", a sequoia, "Defying the practical custom of our fathers", which suggests that something out of the ordinary, and perhaps sorrowful had occurred, so the convention was not followed. In the exact centre of the poem, Gioia elucidates that the tree is being planted with "a lock of hair, a piece of infant`s birth cord, / All that remains above earth of a first- born son", perhaps mirroring how the child was the centre of his life, and at the heart of all that was important to him. The poem then moves into the future, ending in a distant time where the tree would be the only remainder of the narrator`s family, this flow in time suggests the idea of moving on, and how time cannot pause even for death. The steady five line stanzas also echo a consistency within time, which is then complimented by the use of "an old year", portraying how time can drag when there is suffering. The lack of a regular rhyme scheme or pattern within lines conveys the idea that the events within a year are free, and unpredictable, even though time remains steady, and however long a year may seem it is still the same length as any other. Time is again emphasised at the end of the poem, where the narrator reflects on how he wants the sequoia to "stand among strangers, all young and ephemeral to you" when his "family is no more". It is as though the tree has been cared for and protected well enough for it to survive eternally, a constant symbol of the family and the infant when none of them remain. The final stanza becomes fairly aggressive in comparison to the rest of the poem, with far harsher lexical choices. The house is "torn down" and the generations to come "scattered" conveying how mortal life can be so easily destroyed, whereas the sequoia will remain strong having being raised by the elements, so able to withstand them all. It seems as though the elements themselves care for the tree, and therefore the infant, as it is these that are given to nurture the growing sequoia. "Water drawn from the earth when the skies fail", "ocean fog" and "western light" all help the sapling to develop as though the whole planet yearns for the child to live on through the tree, not just his family. Again, the language is incredibly gentle, the "scented nights" and "days softened by the circuit of bees" seem to protect the young tree, and look after it as though it is "bathed" like a baby in light rather than in water. The "slender shoot against the sunset" holds the promise of the growth of new life in a serene landscape, which is also suggested briefly in the next stanza in the anticipation of the "unborn brothers" of the infant. The idea of new life brings a sense of hope to the poem, and it highlights how the infant is living through the sequoia and will remain a symbol of the narrator`s love for the young boy. Nevertheless, throughout the poem, it is not the tragedy of the infant`s death that is stressed, but instead the nurturing of the tree, and how it represents the child. Gioia does not throw intense emotions onto the reader but instead instils a far gentler and poignant grief by suggesting that the care put into the life of the sequoia is that his family would have given to the infant, as he writes "We will give you what we can". There is no outpour of desperation and loss within the use of first person and direct address, and yet the tender descri ption of how the tree will be cherished and protected by the elements creates a delicate sorrow that is tenderly scaptivating. The care bestowed upon this symbol of life is then contrasted in the final stanza with its antithesis: death. The narrator suggests that every part of his family will eventually fade away, "his mother`s beauty ashes in the air" and that the sequoia will be its only remains. "All that remains above earth of a first born son/ A few stray atoms brought back to the elements" will in the end be all that remains of the entire family and so the sequoia begins as a way for the child to live on, and then slowly becomes the last part of their family, and will symbolise their presence on earth for far longer than any human. However, the infants birth is called a "secret", suggesting that if no one knew of it other than the family of the narrator, the symbol would "silently" represent them, rather than publicly. The subtle tribute to the brief life of their son, which becomes the last part of their family, reflects how the narrator is part of an incredibly close one. The opening of the poem presents them as one unit, working together: "my brothers and I", to support one another in their loss. Additionally, they chose to plant their "native giant", a part of their own ancestry and past rather than something disconnected. The idea of a big family is then highlighted again at the end, where phrases such as "all of his unborn brothers" and "Every niece and nephew" create the impression of a large number of people that are expected to enter their lives and yet eventually will be outlived by the sequoia. The sweeping ending enforces the sorrow felt throughout the poem, by wishing all to seem "young and ephemeral" to his son, the narrator seems to want to compensate for the tragically short life his son led, the "secret of his birth" possibly lying in how no one had the chance to know of his life. Dana Gioia succeeds in instilling an incredibly deep sense of compassion in his poem. "Planting A Sequoia" reflects an intimate insight into the narrators mourning and without mentioning a single feeling of his own, a sense of his suffering is effortlessly created. The descri ptions of the elemental protection provided for the tree mirror how the child would have been so carefully nurtured, and the reader is left hoping alongside the narrator that the sequoia will stand eternally.