POEM

ANALYSIS
(A Tree by Jose Corazon de Jesus)

SUBMITTED BY:
Group 3 (11-HUMSS)
Baita, Renalyn R.
Bermoy, Pamela S.
Castillo, Frecy D.
Garcia, Ma. Gracella M.
Estrella, Mark Owen G.
Salazar, Jason

SUBMITTED TO:
Ms. Maica Jill N. de Guzman
SUBJECT TEACHER
 All of us will die one day. It is one of the few matters in this world that will remain
undisputable. But, imagining your own death is kind of disturbing. Still, Huseng Batute does
not care about it.

Huseng Batute, born as Jose Corazon de Jesus was born on the 22nd day of November
1894 at Sta.Cruz, Manila was one of the famous poets during the American-Colonial Era
who used Tagalog poetry. He died on the 26th of May 1932 leaving his literary works
including Isang Punong Kahoy (A Tree).

Poem Analysis

1. TYPE OF STANZAS

The type of stanzas used in the poem is quatrain. Every stanza comprises four lines.

2. DICTION

The denotative meaning of the message of the poem is about a tree and its experiences
as situation varies. Meanwhile, the connotative meaning of it is about life and death. The
choice of words of the poet are all related to a tree which can also be used to describe a
human’s life.

3. LITERARY DEVICES (Sensory Images and Figures of Speech)

The poet uses some of the figures of speech and sensory images to convey the purpose
and idea of the poem. It is important to use literary devices to widen the imagination of the
readers.

“That sobs all day and all night”, appeals to the reader’s sense of hearing because of the
word “sobs” which is an act of crying in a noisy manner. It is also a personification for
sobbing is a human act being used to describe the spring. The other one is, “By the
sparkling of that spring”, which appeals to human’s sense of sight because of the word
“sparkling” which means small flashes of light. There are also symbolisms used in the
poem.

“Like an organ in a church,

Praying amid extreme sorrows,
Is the candle flame of my life
Keeping vigil upon my tomb.”

In this stanza, the candle flame is used to symbolize the hope illuminating his sorrows.

“The bells tolling the vespers

Hint to me their wailing
Birds on my branches are covered with leaves,
The spring at my feet has tears welling,

In the first line from the 5th stanza, the ring of bell is used to symbolize the preparation
for the forthcoming death and it also represents the prayers of the persona’s loved ones for
the glory of his soul, while the word branches in the third line symbolize the offering of
help for others and courage for those who are in need.

“And the Moon that seems to be prayin, Greets me with a pale smile”, praying and
greeting with a smile are used to reveal how the moon looks like, related to a human action
so, it is another example of personification.

“I became the cross of the withered love, And a watcher of tombs in the darkness”,
shows metaphor because of the direct comparison to the persona and to a withered cross.
4. RHYME SCHEME

The rhyming scheme of the poem is inconsistent. It is in the state of irregular rhyme.
The end rhymes of every line does not form any discernible pattern. Nevertheless, here
is the rhyme scheme that we have created.

Viewed from a distant vantage A The bells tolling the vespers M

I appear as a cross with arms outstretched; B Hint to me their wailing; C
As I stayed on my knees long enduring, C Birds on my branches are covered with leaves, N
It seems that I am kissing God’s feet. D The spring at my feet has tears welling, C

Like an organ in a church, E But look at my fate, O

Praying amid extreme sorrows, F Dried-up, dying alone comforting myself. P
Is the candle flame of my life G I became the cross of the withered love, Q
Keeping vigil upon my tomb. H And a watcher of tombs in the darkness. R

At my feet is a spring C All is ended! Night is a mantle of mourning C

That sobs all day and all night; I That I use to cover my face! S
Upon my branches lie J A fallen piece of wood am I, and prostate O
The nests of love-birds. K Neither bird nor people find any pleasure. T

By the sparkling of that spring C And to think that in the days past U
You’d think of flowing tears bubbling; C A tree I was of luxuriant and leafy growth; V
And the Moon that seems to be praying C Now my branches are crosses o’er graves, N
Greets me with a pale smile. L My leaves made into wreaths on tombs! W

5. RHYTHM

“By the sparkling of that spring

You’d think of flowing tears bubbling;
And the Moon that seems to be praying”

“Now my branches are crosses o’er graves,”

The lines above contain internal rhymes (sparkling-spring), (flowing-bubbling), (spring-

welling) and (branches-crosses) and end rhymes (spring-bubbling-praying)

6. METER

A Tree is in Free Verse because of the irregular patterns of stresses and syllables for
every line. Here is the number of syllables for every line in A Tree.

Viewed from a distant vantage 7 The bells tolling the vespers 7

I appear as a cross with arms outstretched; 10
As I stayed on my knees long enduring, 10
It seems that I am kissing God’s feet. 9
Like an organ in a church, 7
Praying amid extreme sorrows, 8
Is the candle flame of my life 8
Keeping vigil upon my tomb. 8
At my feet is a spring 6
That sobs all day and all night; 7
Upon my branches lie 6
The nests of love-birds. 5
By the sparkling of that spring 7
You’d think of flowing tears bubbling; 8
And the Moon that seems to be praying 9
Greets me with a pale smile. 6
Hint to me their wailing; 6
Birds on my branches are covered with leaves,
10
The spring at my feet has tears welling, 9
But look at my fate, 5
Dried-up, dying alone comforting myself. 11
I became the cross of the withered love, 10
And a watcher of tombs in the darkness. 10
All is ended! Night is a mantle of mourning 12
That I use to cover my face! 8
A fallen piece of wood am I, and prostate 11
Neither bird nor people find any pleasure. 11
And to think that in the days past 8
A tree I was of luxuriant and leafy growth; 12
Now my branches are crosses o’er graves, 10
My leaves made into wreaths on tombs! 8
7. WORD ORDER

Most of the lines are in a conventional sentence structure where the subject comes
before the predicate. For example:

“The bells tolling the vespers

Hint to me their wailing;
Birds on my branches are covered with leaves,
The spring at my feet has tears welling,”

Still, there are some parts in the poem where the poet inverts the order of words so that,
the subject comes after the predicate, for example: “A fallen piece of wood am I, and
prostate” and “A tree I was of luxuriant and leafy growth”. It gives a better sound and
greater elegance to the poem.

8. PUNCTUATIONS

The punctuations visible in the poem are semi-colon (;), comma (,), period (.),
exclamation point (!) and apostrophe (‘). By the use of semi-colon and comma, the reader
naturally pauses while the period means to stop. These punctuations also terminate the
line of a poem to begin a new one. End-stopping the lines tends to have the effect of
drawing attention to the rhythmic quality of the poem since, it makes the pauses occur
quite often. On the other hand, the excalamation point gives intensity to the line as the
reader recites that part and the apostrophe is used in contraction of words.

9. SHAPE
“By the sparkling of that spring
You’d think of flowing tears bubbling;
And the Moon that seems to be praying
Greets me with a pale smile.”

All is ended! Night is a mantle of mourning

That I use to cover my face!
A fallen piece of wood am I, and prostate
Neither bird nor people find any pleasure.

The poet does not show any visual design or shape in the poem. But, the first letter of
the word “Moon” in the fourth stanza, line three and “Night” in the seventh stanza, first line
are capitalized. It is because, these words need to be emphasized because behind these
words is the image of twilight in the life of the persona—a sign of the imminent death
which is the subject of the poem. Also, the word nights comes after the exclamation point.

10. TONE

The tone is serious and sad since it talks abot what death feels like and what is the
importance of life.

11. VOICE
The speaker of the voice of the poem is the poet himself, Jose Corazon de Jesus. It is
observable with the regular use of pronouns, “I”, “me” and “my”.

12. CLASS
It is a lyric poem, specifically an elegy because of its sad approach and its topic is mainly
about death. The poet is imagining his own death and in the middle of waiting for that
moment to come, the memories come rushing back to him from the failures, triumphs,
fellowship and his life as an inspiration therefore, because of its theme and tone, it is still
classified as an elegy, a kind of a lyric poem.