Literary Devices, Prosody, and Possible Connotations “Loveliest of Trees” Literary Devices, Prosody, and Possible Connotations

Twelve lines broken into three stanzas of iambic tetrameter. Form Twelve lines broken into three stanzas of iambic tetrameter.

Connotations The twelve lines may be analogous to the twelve months of the year, the seasons of the year analogous to a lifetime

Diction Loveliest: superlative of attractive or beautiful especially in a graceful way; “now” is repeated, creating a sense of urgency

Imagery There is a simple (end) rhyme scheme that changes with every stanza, as well as internal rhyme (sound imagery) as well as alliteration The primary image is visual and complex: the boughs (branches) of cherry blossoms “wearing white at Eastertide” (“hung with snow”)

Point of View The first stanza is written in the 3rd person perspective, while the second and third stanzas are written in the 1st person.

Details Details about the setting are spare, focused on the cherry bough and the snow, otherwise the setting is described as “woodland”; the second stanza focuses on the speaker’s elaborate contemplation (awareness) of his age, his remaining days, and the seemingly short time left him to witness the beauty of the woodland in spring.

Allusions Eastertide is a 50-day celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The period begins with Easter Sunday and ends with on Pentecost Sunday.

Symbolism Considering the allusion to the Resurrection, the central image of the poem—the snow-trimmed cherry blossom bough—symbolizes resurrection, redemption, the vanquishing of death (both spiritual and physical), hope, awareness of mortality that lends profound meaning to life; cycles of death and rebirth intermingled in nature are patterns you will see in many poems.

Figurative Language “Woodlands” may be a metaphor for contemplative life, one close to nature and the wisdom it can convey to the astute observer; “snow” may or may not be literal snow but a metaphor for death or awareness of death (esp. in this context, juxtaposed with the cherry blossoms), or wisdom in youth, etc.

Other Devices (antithesis, apostrophe, sound devices, irony, oxymoron, paradox, pun, sarcasm, understatement) A blooming cherry tree in spring (Eastertide), hung with snow, is a paradoxical image; the cherry tree is personified (“wearing white”); referring to the seventy years he’s likely to live as “seventy springs”, the persona invokes synecdoche (a part meant to represent the whole). Life years measured in springs connotes annual rebirth, resurrection rather than mere increments of time.