little tree” is a delightful little ode to a Christmas tree written in the voice of a child, who speaks to the tree as if it were an orphan with a special purpose. The poem has no rhyming scheme, but the poet crafted its structure so that the variable lengths of lines give it the shape of little fir tree, albeit cut vertically in half. The “tip” of the tree is the first line, “little tree.” The “base” of the half-tree is “Noel Noel.” In fact, the poem’s shape, tone, and overall sweetness is somewhat like a self-contained Christmas card.
The language and diction of the poem is, as previously mentioned, that of a small child, who addresses the tree lovingly, almost as if it were a small wild thing, snatched from its mother. The last two lines of the first stanza, “you are so little / you are more like a flower,” set the overall loving mood of the piece.
The poet freely uses figurative language (personification, simile, metaphor) that enhances the overall sweetness of this piece. In the second stanza, the child asks the tree, “who found you in the green forest / and were you very sorry to come away?” So the child regards the tree as somewhat of a frightened orphan and offers to “hug you safe and tight / just as your mother would.” But “don’t be afraid,” the child comforts the tree “I will kiss your cool bark and hug you safe and tight.”
As if in consolation for the tree’s having been plucked from its forest home, the child promises to decorate the tree with “the spangles / that sleep all the year in a dark box.” Those ornaments “dreaming of being and allowed to shine” will likewise take comfort in decorating the little tree in “balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads.”
After personifying the ornaments as sad, hidden things waiting to adorn a tree, the child urges the tree to “put up your little arms / and i’ll give them all to you to hold.” Every “finger” of the little tree “shall have its ring” and there “won’t a single place dark or unhappy.”
The piece ends with a promise to the tree. It will be on display and “stand in the window for everyone to see / … oh but you’ll be very proud.” And then, the poet and his little sister will “dance and sing / Noel Noel.”