Poems about Trees in Winter

The forest transforms itself in the winter.  The hardwood trees drop their leaves and expose their wood skeletons. Whereas, most of the conifers hold on to their needles and provide cover from the blowing snow. If you are lucky enough to walk a forest path in the winter, one that has been lightly covered in new snow, you may see the tracks of all the animals that inhabit that piece of land. 

As a way to help celebrate the trees’ persistence during the winter months, we turn our attention to poetry. 

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“Winter Trees” by William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) is our first poem. Williams is a Pulitzer Prize winner and one of the principal poets in the imagist movement.  The poets of the imagist movement sought to eliminate unnecessary words that don’t contribute to the poetic expression of their subject.  

“Winter Trees” by William Carlos Williams

All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.

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I really enjoy this poem right from the beginning with Williams’ recognition that “All the complicated details/of the attiring and/disattiring are completed”, to the conclusion where he states, “The wise trees/stand sleeping in the cold”. 

There is something comforting about wise trees standing in the cold.  

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“Wild Branches” by Margaret Widdemer (1884-1978) is our next poem.

“Winter Branches” by Margaret Widdemer

When winter-time grows weary, I lift my eyes on high
And see the black trees standing, stripped clear against the sky;

They stand there very silent, with the cold flushed sky behind,
The little twigs flare beautiful and restful and kind;

Clear-cut and certain they rise, with summer past,
For all that trees can ever learn they know now, at last;

Slim and black and wonderful, with all unrest gone by,
The stripped tree-boughs comfort me, drawn clear against the sky.

Widdemer’s poem resonates with Williams’ poem.  There is a stoic and wise quality placed upon these trees. Widdemer seems to imply if they can withstand the winter months, so can we.

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We also can’t leave a celebration of winter trees without a verse from the haiku master Kobayashi Issa.

still I see them
how they were...
bare winter trees
-Issa

In this haiku, Issa reflects back to the summer time; to a time when the trees once had leaves. “Still I see them/how they were”. This could be a melancholic memory of the past or an acknowledgement that these trees will once again retake that form.

The winter is just another part of the seasonal cycle of growth and it provides the rest that is needed for life to continue.

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Resources:

• William Carlos Williams books of poetry include Kora in Hell, Spring and All, Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems, and Paterson.  You can read his bio and some of his other poems at Poets.org.
• Margaret Widdemer’s prize winning book, The Old Road to Paradise was published in 1919.  You can read “Winter Trees” and other poems at Poets.org.
• A Brief Guide to Imagism: Poets.org

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