Trees at the Arctic Circle
Trees at the Arctic Circle. In the poem “Trees at the Arctic circle”, the author Al Purdy provides a description of dwarf plants that manage to grow above the tree line on Baffin Island, a Canadian territory. The topics of this poem are very mundane as he uses different types of trees to illustrate truths about the human condition, and in particular about life in the Arctic.
However, Purdy 's true goal is to remind the reader that humans are judgmental creatures and that it is only once you take a closer look at the scene in front of you that you are forced to acknowledge a hidden truth. The author muses aloud as he drastically evolves through a range of emotions: Disappointment, admiration and regret. The first and second stanzas are a verbal attack that criticize these dwarf trees of the north. Hence, Al Purdy begins by pointing out all their negative attributes.
Thus, the poet decides to use a list of actions, “crawling” l.3, “bending” l.5, and “curling” l.5, that personify these trees. Moreover, when the trees are “bowing to weather”l.12, the poet tries to demonstrate how submissive the trees are. Further down the stanza, with the use of adjectives like being “careful” l.13, “worried” l.14, “afraid” l.15, he also shows the trees have an important human characteristic: sentiment. Because these terms all have negative connotations and pejorative meanings it is clear to see the derogatory author is showing his subjective point of view. To him the trees are submissive and weak. As a result, this creates imagery. But he doesn’t stop there, as he compares the so-called “coward trees” (l.8) to majestic and massive trees like oaks (“oaks like gods”, l.19), “tall maples” l.18, and “great Douglas firs” (l.17); exaggerated similes that can be perceived as hyperboles. Later Personification is reapplied in the last 4 lines of this stanza, “even the dwarf shrubs of Ontario mock them” l.23-24. However this time it is used on one of the poem’s
However, Purdy 's true goal is to remind the reader that humans are judgmental creatures and that it is only once you take a closer look at the scene in front of you that you are forced to acknowledge a hidden truth. The author muses aloud as he drastically evolves through a range of emotions: Disappointment, admiration and regret. The first and second stanzas are a verbal attack that criticize these dwarf trees of the north. Hence, Al Purdy begins by pointing out all their negative attributes.
Thus, the poet decides to use a list of actions, “crawling” l.3, “bending” l.5, and “curling” l.5, that personify these trees. Moreover, when the trees are “bowing to weather”l.12, the poet tries to demonstrate how submissive the trees are. Further down the stanza, with the use of adjectives like being “careful” l.13, “worried” l.14, “afraid” l.15, he also shows the trees have an important human characteristic: sentiment. Because these terms all have negative connotations and pejorative meanings it is clear to see the derogatory author is showing his subjective point of view. To him the trees are submissive and weak. As a result, this creates imagery. But he doesn’t stop there, as he compares the so-called “coward trees” (l.8) to majestic and massive trees like oaks (“oaks like gods”, l.19), “tall maples” l.18, and “great Douglas firs” (l.17); exaggerated similes that can be perceived as hyperboles. Later Personification is reapplied in the last 4 lines of this stanza, “even the dwarf shrubs of Ontario mock them” l.23-24. However this time it is used on one of the poem’s