“The Black Walnut Tree” Introduction

• Read the full text of “The Black Walnut Tree”

“The Black Walnut Tree” Summary

“The Black Walnut Tree” Themes

• 

  Family and Heritage

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-35
• 

  Nature and Humanity

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-8
  • Lines 11-19
  • Lines 21-29
  • Lines 30-33

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Black Walnut Tree”

• Lines 1-5

  My mother and ...
  ... off the mortgage.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 6-10

  Likely some storm ...
  ... to be wise.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 11-15

  Roots in the ...
  ... to gather away.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 16-21

  But something brighter ...
  ... anything.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 21-25

  That night I ...
  ... vines and orchards.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 26-29

  What my mother ...
  ... our fathers' backyard.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 30-35

  So the black ...
  ... of the mortgage.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“The Black Walnut Tree” Symbols

• 

  The Black Walnut Tree

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-8
  • Line 11
  • Lines 12-15
  • Lines 26-35
• 

  Farming

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 17-19: “an edge / sharp and quick as a trowel / that wants us to dig and sow.”
  • Lines 21-25: “That night I dream / of my fathers out of Bohemia / filling the blue fields / of fresh and generous Ohio / with leaves and vines and orchards.”
  • Line 29: “our own and our fathers' backyard.”

“The Black Walnut Tree” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “My mother”
  • Line 6: “some storm”
  • Line 7: “down,” “dark”
  • Line 8: “talk”
  • Line 9: “two,” “trying”
  • Line 10: “time to”
  • Line 13: “getting”
  • Line 15: “gather”
  • Line 16: “But,” “brighter,” “money”
  • Line 17: “moves,” “blood”
  • Line 19: “sow”
  • Line 20: “So,” “don't do”
  • Line 22: “fathers”
  • Line 23: “filling,” “fields”
  • Line 24: “fresh”
  • Line 26: “my mother”
  • Line 30: “So”
  • Line 31: “swings”
  • Line 32: “sun,” “leaping”
  • Line 33: “leaves”
  • Line 34: “month,” “month”
  • Line 35: “mortgage”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 7: “down,” “boughs”
  • Line 8: “house”
  • Line 9: “trying”
  • Line 10: “time,” “wise”
  • Line 11: “drains”
  • Line 12: “say,” “replies”
  • Line 13: “leaves,” “getting heavier”
  • Line 14: “every year”
  • Line 15: “harder,” “gather”
  • Line 19: “sow”
  • Line 20: “So”
  • Line 24: “fresh,” “generous”
  • Line 27: “shame”
  • Line 28: “made”
  • Line 29: “fathers' backyard”
  • Line 32: “leaping”
  • Line 33: “leaves”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 8: “house. We”
  • Line 9: “slowly, two”
  • Line 12: “say, and”
  • Line 14: “year, and”
  • Line 17: “blood—an”
  • Line 20: “talk, but”
  • Line 21: “anything. That”
  • Line 34: “and, month,” “month, the”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “My mother”
  • Line 2: “sell”
  • Line 3: “black walnut tree”
  • Line 4: “to,” “lumberman”
  • Line 6: “some storm,” “anyway”
  • Line 7: “churn down,” “boughs”
  • Line 8: “smashing,” “house,” “talk”
  • Line 9: “two,” “trying”
  • Line 10: “difficult time to”
  • Line 11: “Roots,” “in,” “cellar drains”
  • Line 12: “replies”
  • Line 13: “leaves,” “are,” “heavier”
  • Line 14: “every,” “year”
  • Line 15: “harder,” “gather”
  • Line 16: “But,” “brighter,” “than money”
  • Line 17: “moves,” “blood”
  • Line 18: “trowel”
  • Line 19: “that wants,” “ us to,” “sow”
  • Line 20: “So,” “talk,” “don't do”
  • Line 21: “That night,” “dream”
  • Line 22: “my,” “fathers,” “Bohemia”
  • Line 23: “filling,” “blue fields”
  • Line 24: “of fresh,” “and generous”
  • Line 25: “leaves and vines and orchards”
  • Line 26: “my mother”
  • Line 27: “shame”
  • Line 28: “emptiness,” “we'd made”
  • Line 30: “So,” “black walnut tree”
  • Line 31: “swings,” “another”
  • Line 32: “sun,” “ and leaping winds”
  • Line 33: “leaves,” “ and bounding”
  • Lines 34-34: “month / month”
  • Line 35: “crack,” “mortgage”

• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “debate:”
  • Line 4: “lumberman,”
  • Line 5: “mortgage.”
  • Line 7: “boughs,”
  • Line 10: “wise.”
  • Line 11: “drains,”
  • Line 15: “away.”
  • Line 19: “sow.”
  • Line 25: “orchards.”
  • Line 29: “backyard.”
  • Line 32: “winds,”
  • Line 33: “fruit,”
  • Line 35: “mortgage.”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-3: “sell / the”
  • Lines 3-4: “tree / to”
  • Lines 6-7: “anyway / will”
  • Lines 8-9: “talk / slowly”
  • Lines 9-10: “trying / in”
  • Lines 12-13: “replies / that”
  • Lines 13-14: “heavier / every”
  • Lines 14-15: “fruit / harder”
  • Lines 16-17: “money / moves ”
  • Lines 17-18: “edge / sharp”
  • Lines 18-19: “trowel / that”
  • Lines 20-21: “do / anything”
  • Lines 21-22: “dream / of”
  • Lines 22-23: “Bohemia / filling”
  • Lines 23-24: “fields / of ”
  • Lines 24-25: “Ohio / with”
  • Lines 26-27: “know / is”
  • Lines 27-28: “shame / in”
  • Lines 28-29: “made / in”
  • Lines 30-31: “tree / swings”
  • Lines 31-32: “year / of”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Lines 16-19: “But something brighter than money / moves in our blood—an edge / sharp and quick as a trowel / that wants us to dig and sow.”
  • Lines 34-35: “the whip- / crack of the mortgage.”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 25: “with leaves and vines and orchards.”
  • Line 29: “our own and our fathers' backyard”
  • Lines 32-33: “of sun and leaping winds, / of leaves and bounding fruit,”
  • Line 34: “month after month”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Lines 17-19: “an edge / sharp and quick as a trowel / that wants us to dig and sow.”

“The Black Walnut Tree” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Black walnut tree
• Lumberman
• Churn
• Trowel
• Sow
• Bohemia
• Bounding
• Whip-crack

• (Location in poem: Line 3: “black walnut tree”; Line 30: “black walnut tree”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Black Walnut Tree”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Black Walnut Tree” Speaker

“The Black Walnut Tree” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Black Walnut Tree”

More “The Black Walnut Tree” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Tree Itself — Learn more about black walnut trees.

  • The Poem Out Loud — A reading and interesting analysis of the poem by The Daily Poem. 

  • More Poems and Biography — A valuable resource on Mary Oliver from the Poetry Foundation. 

  • On Being Mary Oliver — A rare and insightful interview with the poet. 

  • Trees in Poetry — A great compilation of poems with trees as their main subject. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Mary Oliver

  • Good-Bye Fox

  • The Journey

  • The Summer Day

  • Wild Geese