Planting a Seqoia commentary

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English A1: standard level

Commentary on “Planting a Sequoia”

Planting a Sequoia by Dana Gioia revolves around the idea of death of the narrator’s child for that reason he is mourning and planting a Sequoia to express his grief instead of an olive or a fig tree, which are planted when the son is born. Even though the dominant mood of the poem is gloomy, there seem to be a glimpse of hope as planting a tree in the memorial of his son will continue to grow.

The readers’ first impression on the poem emphasizes on the ominous mood as the poem’s begins with “Digging this hole, laying you in it, carefully packing the soil” this refers to the death of the someone close to the narrator. Further references such as those of the weather as “Rain blackened the horizon” and the in “cold” climate where the sky is “dull gray” reinforces the dark mood presented in the poem. The first stanza explains the sorrow of the narrator for the loss of his child while he is still an infant.

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The second stanza continues to explain his grief where he is planting a tree for the remembrance of his child. The “sequoia” different than “olive or a fig tree” could represent the idea of the birth of hope in between the changing of the narrator’s traditions, as planting means a new beginning with the long stand of it. "A promise of new fruits in other autumns" also reinforces the fact of the rebirth hope.

The narrator persists on explaining the day he plants a tree for his son in the third stanza. The narrator’s radical grief strengthen as he defies ...

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