Commentary “Planting A Sequoia” By Dana Gioia

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“Planting a Sequoia” by Dana Gioia explores the struggle of a father coming to terms with the death of his new born child. Gioia uses the traditional narrative of the planting of a tree to represent the birth of a child and subverts this traditional Sicilian practice by rationalising the planting of a sequoia for his still born first son. Through the effective use of tone, imagery, setting and symbolism, the poet illuminates his thesis that life is transient, and this loss of a child is bearable because he believes the child will live on through the sequoia. As a symbol, the sequoia will break out of the limitations of the mortal realm, outliving the persona’s own family. At the beginning of the poem, the importance of the tree is shown when the persona, the father, portrays it to have human qualities, referring to it as ‘you’. By using this personification at the start, the persona heightens the significance of the tree as a symbol of the baby’s continued presence in the world. In this case, when the persona refers to the “laying [of the seed] into [the hole],” he is referring to both the seed as well as the baby, as if he is burying the baby as well. The poet’s use of imagery in the first stanza of the poem helps to set the tone and setting. The persona presents us an image of a “rain blackened sky”. This shows us the surroundings in the setting while also foreshadowing death, as in this image, the sun, being the ultimate source of life, has been taken out. The persona by referring to the “cold winds” suggests a period of winter, a time when there is minimum creation of life, as opposed to a warm summer, full of life. The persona then adds to the setting when saying “the sky above [them] stayed dull gray.” This again suggests a dreary setting while also creating a dark tone. The image at the start is of the family “digging [the] hole” which is also a

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