Loveliest of Trees" deals with the subject of life, particularly the inevitability of death. The speaker realizes he will not always be a youth. He sees each spring as one more spring closer to the inevitable, death. The diction is mostly simple, but the poem gains an air of ease from this. The ballad-like quality makes it seem as if it is merely a sad song of death. There are many instances of symbolism as well in this poem, using simple words that convey a darker meaning. The speaker is innocent, and oblivious to death in the first stanza. But by the second stanza, the poem begins to become darker. The speaker realizes how short his life really is. The third stanza is the most bleak, when the speaker views what life he has left as too "little room" to live. "Loveliest of Trees" through diction, rhyme, and symbolism, paints a bleak picture for life as the speaker views each day as another closer to death.