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“Trees” doesn’t have a specific setting. The speaker could, it seems, be anywhere in the world. They might be standing before a living tree, considering its qualities as they speak. Alternatively, they could be indoors or somewhere in a city, where the full splendor of the natural world feels remote. In such a situation, they may be taking solace in memories of particular trees they have seen and admired. The vagueness of the setting has led numerous towns and institutions to claim that Kilmer based his poem on a particular tree at their location. Most famously, Rutgers University, which is where Kilmer began his undergraduate studies, has claimed that “Trees” was about a 300-year-old white oak that stood on its campus. It’s more likely, however, that Kilmer had in mind one or more trees on the property where he lived in Mahwah, New Jersey. Indeed, it was there that Kilmer wrote the poem, on February 2, 1913. That said, the lack of a concrete setting arguably makes the poem more broadly applicable, referring as it does not just to one special tree, but to all trees.

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