Poetry · Chapter
Arboriculture explained
The chapter presents a defiant poetic defense of Joaquin Miller's plan to plant trees in a Maltese cross formation on Goat Island, with the speaker arrogantly claiming credit for the existence of forests and insisting the trees will grow de
What happens
The chapter presents a defiant poetic defense of Joaquin Miller's plan to plant trees in a Maltese cross formation on Goat Island, with the speaker arrogantly claiming credit for the existence of forests and insisting the trees will grow despite skepticism.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Artifice
The chapter contrasts natural forests with the artificial planting of trees in a Maltese cross shape, questioning whether human intervention can succeed.
Deception and Self-Deception
The speaker's boastful and exaggerated claims about their role in creating forests suggest a self-deceptive or ironic tone.
Key passages
“You may say they won’t grow, and say they’ll decay— Say it again till you’re sick of the say, Get up on your ear, blow your blaring bazoo And hire a hall to proclaim it; and you May stand on a stump with a lifted hand As a pine may stand or a redwood stand, And stick to your story and cheek it through.”
Critics can repeat their doubts endlessly, make public speeches, and stand firm like a tree in their opinion, but the speaker remains unmoved.
The speaker dismisses skeptics who claim the trees will not grow.
“But I point with pride to the far divide Where the Snake from its groves is seen to glide— To Mariposa’s arboreal suit, And the shaggy shoulders of Shasta Butte, And the feathered firs of Siskiyou; And I swear as I sit on my marvelous hair— I roll my marvelous eyes and swear, And sneer, and ask where would your forests be To-day if it hadn’t been for me!”
The speaker proudly references various forests and mountains, then arrogantly claims that without them, those forests would not exist.
The speaker takes personal credit for the existence of forests.