Planting A Sequoia By Dana Gioia Summary

Planting a Sequoia, by Dana Gioia is about a father that loses his first born son. To honor his memory, he plants a sequoia tree. The narrator of the poem speaks in the the first person viewpoint thru the eyes of the father to the tree. On a very deep level however, he is speaking to his dead son. The speaker expresses that his sons memory will live on and never be forgotten. The first stanza of the poem creates the setting and a very dark, sad scene. The title of the poem literally describes the main action of the poem. We soon come to find out that the brothers and the speaker himself have spent the day working “in the orchard”. They are planting a sequoia tree. Due to the title we know what the whole is for, rather than the initial thought …show more content…
The speaker begins to inform us on the Sicilian tradition of planting a fruit bearing tree when the first born son in the family is born. It is illustrated in the first line of the poem the importance of being the first born son in Sicily, where we learn the speaker to have been from. Planting a fruit bearing tree in honor of the first born child is an act carried out to provide balance to earth. I imagine this was first done as an act of thanks to the earth for providing fertile soil that provides food to provide life. An eye for an eye so to speak. It is also ironic that fruit bearing trees have shorter life spans, similarly to humans relative to other things on earth. “I would have done the same” claims the speaker in regard to the birth of his son. When the author uses “would have” it is implying that his first born son has passed away. This is confirmed back in the last line of the first stanza where the narrator says “the sky above us stayed the dull gray of an old year coming to an end”. Th color of the sky describing the mood of the long year that was endured. The most painful thing in the world that I can think of is the death of a child. Not just any child in particular but your own child. I personally cannot imagine anything more painful. The planting of a tree started out as a celebratory tradition and quickly became a depressing memorial. By referencing …show more content…
The narrator speaks of the future rather than the past or present. The whole stanza is about the father speaking to the sequoia tree and promising he will do everything he can to take care of it. A promise perhaps meant for his son. He reinforces this by promising he and his family will provide “what we can” , and “our labor and our soil”. All of these promises can be easily imagined coming from our own parents. It is clear that the sequoia tree is still acting as the replacement for the son. These promises are what all parents have to give and qualities that make good parents. Perhaps the father is still grieving and feels the need to provide for the tree, his son. He is not ready to let go yet, hence why he will “give [it] what [he] can”. He references planting the tree where it will be “bathed in western light” in hopes that the tree will live a long life. He hopes that his son will still have the chance for a bright future beyond normal life beyond