The Trees Are Down By Charlotte Mew

About Charlotte Mew 15 November 1869 – 24 March 1928 Two of her siblings suffered from mental illness, and were committed to institutions Three others died later on, leaving her with her mum and sister. She made a pact with her sister to never marry in order not to pass on the mental illness to their children. She suffered depression after her sister’s death from cancer in 1927 and therefore committed suicide.

Ideas from the poem The poem portrays not only the trees being chopped down but also the poet herself, Mew’s life; how she was ‘cut down’ by the deaths of her siblings around her. First her mother then her sister, which lead her to end her own life with her own hands whereas the trees’ life were ended by mankind as “they are cutting down the great plane trees at the end of the gardens”. Mew connected the link between the trees and the rat by comparing their lives together, saying that even a disgusting and “a god-forsaken thing” like a rat has its chance to live, so why aren’t the trees allowed to live and had to be ‘killed’ by humans.

Mew also included animal like “sparrows” and the “small creeping creatures near the end of the poem, emphasizing the importance of the trees and how they are being ‘killed’ by humans without mercy as the “common laughs of the men” were heard

The poem is also connected sympathetically and suggests a spiritual dimension with the ‘angel’ of the penultimate line and initial quotation from Revelation - one of the books from the Bible - at the very beginning of the poem, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees”, which suggests the importance of the trees to human beings.

Why Spring. Why not Summer of Winter Why Spring? Why not Summer of Winter? Mew chose Spring over the other seasons in this poem as it is usually when the trees and flowers are at their best, without the trees having no leaves etc, and therefore chosen that time to cut down the trees. “lonely against the sky” suggests the landscape of a sky but without the trees hanging halfway in the air, leaving the portrait to be just be the sky, this lead to the trees being ‘lonely’.

Subject & Tone Subject The poet wrote the poem in reaction to the feelings of the plane trees in Euston Square Garden being cut down in the early 1920s Humans cruelty and cold heartedness towards the trees being cut down and how the trees’ lives meant nothing to them Tone Lament for the feeling of “the great plane trees” being cut down Sadness is shown through the phrase “fine grey rain”, suggests a subtlety in sadness A sense of desolation and loss as the trees were her direction in life and how they had been with her through the variation of nature, ‘sun’, ‘rains’, ‘wind’ etc – a constant through different phases of her life

Speaker/Point of View First person narrative Suggests that she had some sort of connection with the trees in relation of her own life, which again contributes to the idea of the trees being a metaphor of how the deaths of her siblings had affected her own life. She laments that the trees are being cut down and yet the humans showed no mercy in doing such things. They don’t realise the importance of the trees to not only human beings, but Mew herself. The poet herself had a strong connection with the trees as “[her] heart has been struck with the hearts of the planes”, suggesting she does have feelings about the trees being gone and how Spring “(has)have gone with them”.

Form/Structure Poem started with a quote from one of the bible – Revelation ‘he’ suggests the angel from the east suggest that the narrator feel sympathetic for the trees as perhaps she sees them for more than just a physical and natural object Poem ends with biblical reference as well starting and ending with the same thing “I heard an angel crying : ‘Hurt not the tree’ “ refers back to the angel who “cried with a loud voice” at the start of the poem, shows how much the angel had tried to stop the trees from being cut down, but failed in doing so create a sense that the men should be ashamed for cutting down the trees as the angels cried and begged not to Reflects the poet’s faith in Christianity as she believes the existence of the angels and how they reacted towards the trees being cut down

The sentence in the poem seems unorganized, unevenly structured literally refers to the image of the place after the trees were cut down as it feels uneven, unpleasant, by just looking at it Metaphorically refers to her life, after she lost her siblings, her life shattered all over the place as she struggles to get herself back on track and live a normal and even life Longer sentences were continued on to the next line and yet the poet chose not to continue writing the sentence on the same line, she started the next sentence instead e.g. “Did once, for a moment, unmake the Spring, I might never have thought of him again.” perhaps to focus on the subject of the sentence in this case, the focus is on the rat, and how the poet could not get over the death of the “god-forsaken thing”

Imagery “Swish of the branches”, “Crash of the trunks” and “The rustle of trodden leaves” gives an extended imagery of the plane trees to the readers as it is also counted as Onomatopoeia, allow us to picture the trees with horrified sounds of it being cut down “dead rat” is used as an imagery perhaps to portray the idea of even though the rat is an animal, it still deserve to be ‘alive’, just like the trees, they should have a chance to live their life. “Spring” gives a beautiful sight to the readers as it is when the leaves are growing back on the trees and the flowers are starting to bloom, yet the poet said its Spring time when the trees are being cut down, which suggests how humanity shows no mercy in ruining the beautiful sight with their own hands

Personal Response Poet is portraying her feelings about the plane trees being cut down and how she heard the angel trying to save them but failed The plane trees could be emotionally attached to her and perhaps are seen to represent her siblings who have left her one by one, just like how the trees are being cut down, as “there is just one bough” which suggests this is only one tree that has been cut down, and there are more to go later on It is obvious that the poet could not get over the fact that the plane trees have been cut down and the place is now “lonely against the sky” as “[her] heart has been struck with the hearts of the planes” which also explains how she could not get over the death of her siblings and therefore fell into great depression and decided to end her own life with her own hands, just like how the humans had ended the trees’ ‘lives’ without showing any sympathy at all

Relevance to today? Today there is a growing concern that as humans we are abusing our natural environment. Tree felling is sometimes a contentious topic. Mew personifies trees and believes that they hold symbolic value for us as human beings. Charlotte Mew believed that trees did not deserve to take the fall, regardless of the reason. To what extent do you agree with her? These days we grow trees for the specific purpose of cutting them down – eg Christmas tree farms, paper factories. Do you think that these reasons are valid?