The speaker begins feeling crushed by a dead landscape, so he turns deliberately toward brighter country—hills, meadows, and a place near Cranham where the white scars on the hillside turn golden in sunlight. For a moment, cool green shade stops him, and he worships the beautiful trees around him. Then, without warning, his mind slips to “other, dreadful trees.” He finds himself standing and staring at them in memory, sick at heart. The poem dramatizes how a peaceful moment can be ambushed by painful memory. Its mood moves from heaviness, to almost joyful reverence for nature, and then to sudden dread, leaving the speaker haunted and exhausted rather than comforted.
Trees — Summary
The dead land oppressed me; I turned my thoughts away, And went where hill and meadow Are shadowless and gay. Where Coopers stands by Cranham, Where the hill-gashes white Show golden in the sunshine, Our sunshine--God’s delight. Beauty my feet stayed at last Where green was most cool, Trees worthy of all worship I worshipped ... then, O fool, Let my thoughts slide unwitting To other, dreadful trees, ... And found me standing, staring Sick of heart--at these!