Joyce Kilmer: The Man Who Wrote “Trees”
I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet fl owing breast. A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair. Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. —Alfred Joyce Kilmer, 1913 Joyce Kilmer oyce Kilmer, the man who wrote “Trees,” surely delivered the Campion College commencement ad- one of the best known and loved poems in the J dress on June 15, 1917, while wearing the uniform language, had a Wisconsin connection. He found the of the New York National Guard, in which he had beautiful tree-shaded grounds of Campion College in voluntarily enlisted. Soon after returning east, he Prairie du Chien much to his liking. In 1912, the busy requested a transfer to the infantry and on October editor, writer and lecturer began a correspondence 31, sailed for France. with Father James Daly, a professor of English litera- The next year, on July 30, 1918, at the age of 31, ture at Campion. It developed into a fi rm friendship. he died in action, the fi rst American man of letters to In 1913 the poem “Trees” appeared in the literary fall in “the war to end all wars.” According to his cor- magazine Poetry, and was almost immediately ac- respondent and friend, Father Daly, he was “the most claimed. But Kilmer did not make his fi rst visit to distinguished and widely regretted American to fall the bluffside Catholic College at the confl uence of in battle during the Great War.” He is buried near the the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers until 1916. He fi eld of battle a few miles from Seringes on the River embraced it at once. According to his secretary, John Ourcq. Bunker: “Certainly there was no visiting place to Friends and family dedicated the Kilmer Library which Kilmer looked forward with such pleasant an- at Campion in 1937. The poet’s correspondence with ticipation and from which he returned so physically Daly, other letters, personal effects, books by and and spiritually refreshed as Campion.” about him, manuscripts and typescripts of poems, Although Kilmer wrote 87 poems collected into periodicals containing Kilmer’s verse and essays, three volumes, none achieved the fame of “Trees,” a photographs and other memorabilia form the basis fame that saw eastern trees vying, through their hu- of the library. His widow, Aline Kilmer, said, “The man spokesmen, for the honor of having inspired it. Library at Campion is, I believe, of all memorials the Among the contenders are a white oak on the cam- one Joyce would have loved best.” pus of Rutgers, his alma mater; a maple in Montague When Campion closed its doors in 1978, the Kilm- City. Massachusetts; oak trees surrounding his home er collection went to Marquette University Memorial in Mahwah, New Jersey; maple trees in Swanzey, New Library in Milwaukee. Hampshire; and a woods near Darien, Connecticut. Kilmer fi rst visited Campion to lecture on the Sources: Philip M. Runkel, Milwaukee Griff Williams, Prairie du Chien topic “The War and the Poets” in April 1916. He later
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