Summary Of The Brother Tree By Tony Moss

The presence of nature is strong in this poem, but the meaning can also be perceived in various ways. The nature present in the poem can allude to the events of daily life. Nature contains major resources that are worn away by humans, just like humans can tear down other humans. The theme of the poem is pain and grieving. One tree grieves for the health of the other. Overall, the mood remains the same and the poem maintains a grieving mood, and vivid imagery. The poem alludes to real life situations in that, the brother tree is chopped down. Moss states in the poem, “I heard he was cut down at four thousand eight hundred sixty-two years; I know we had the same mother. His death pained me.” The death of the tree, that may be symbolic of a person affects the other tree. Moss figuratively reminisces the great things about his brother, “Some years bighorn sheep visited in summer- he was entertained by red bats, black-tailed jackrabbits, horned lizards, the creature old and young he sheltered.” He reminisces about the things his brother enjoyed doing. He has memories of the things his brother enjoyed watching and the company he made. Moss notes, “I am prepared to live as long as he did (it would please our mother).” He does not necessarily want to live forever, but he would do it for …show more content…
You tend to reminisce and think about all of the memories shared and what they enjoyed doing. If the cause of the death was an outside factor it is extremely chilling. Moss states, “Sooner or later, some bag of wind will cut me down.” This could be an allusion to the fact that humans are bags of winds that literally cut down trees in nature, and other people in their environment. His only hopes to live long are to please his mother, but the loss of his brother deeply saddens him. It makes him bitter to the idea of living a long and prosperous life only to be knocked down, or live without his