Strange Tree

Away beyond the Jarboe house

I saw a different kind of tree.

The trunk was old and large and bent,

And I could feel it look at me.

The road was going on and on

Beyond, to reach some other place,

I saw a tree that looked at me,

And yet it did not have a face.

It looked at me with all its limbs;

It looked at me with all its bark.

The yellow wrinkles in its sides

Were bent and dark.

And then I ran to get away,

But when I stopped and turn to see,

The tree was bending to the side

And leaning out to look at me.

Poem Audio

Roark Family Collection, 1879-1960, image no. 0010-064-12, Eastern Kentucky University Libraries, Special Collections & Archives. Used with permission from EKU Archives.

About this Poem

By Jason Gibbs

"Strange Tree” contributes to one of Elizabeth Madox Roberts’ broader themes seen throughout her work. Nature comes up with Roberts time and time again. When looking through her various works, especially this set of poetry, it is important to take note of the various uses of nature as a theme in her poetry.

“Strange Tree” draws upon an image of a tree. What becomes so interesting about this usage of nature, though, is her description of it. As the speaker describes being able to feel the tree looking at them, they note, “The road was going on and on/ Beyond to reach some other place.” The narrator also notes the tree as being “old and large and bent.” The tree is something that has been there a long time. The road went “on and on” and so had seemingly the tree’s existence. And in her final lines, the narrator echoes the idea once more that the tree is looking at them.

There are a lot of valid avenues of analysis for this poem and perhaps using other poems with similar themes and information about Roberts' life can help inform analyses of this poem and vice versa. Here the tree could represent home and leaving it, especially given the context that Roberts did leave home to pursue her education among other things. And beyond that, the lines “It looked at me with all its limbs;/ It looked at me with all its bark” could suggest that the community that the speaker is leaving behind is viewing her together. There are also alternatives, as some of the description is rather ominous. Perhaps the poem is about leaving someone behind, or maybe a bad situation the speaker was in, and that the speaker is anxiously leaving behind a “dark,” “bent” situation that they are afraid may have a lasting presence in their life even as the physical distance grows.

“Strange Tree” has a lot of potential for different readings based on the poem itself, context from others, and Roberts' life. It presents a unique opportunity for readers to dig in and derive as much and many different meanings from the metaphor as possible, and in that unique potential, the poem allows for many different connections between the reader and author to be made.

Essay Audio