Christmas Trees by Robert Frost

Robert Frost is well known for beautiful depictions of nature within his poetry. In his poem “The Christmas Trees”, he lends the power of his descriptions to the sacred feelings and warm emotions of the holiday. What starts as a simple narrative turns into a heart-warming story of true Christmas spirit.

Unlike the traditional classic carols and poems that roll and rollick with cheerful rhythm, “The Christmas Trees” has a slower, steady pace, and, written in free verse, reads more like a story than a song-like chant or recited poem. In fact, the sub-title of the poem calls it “A Christmas Circular Letter”, informing us that this is to be read as a letter, most likely one of the type often sent to friends and family members around Christmas.

The speaker of the poem (or, if you prefer, the writer of the letter) lives out in the country on a large tract of forested land. His letter tells of a stranger who stopped by with the interest of purchasing part of the forest to sell as Christmas trees in the city. Those familiar with Frost's poetry will recognize the immediate contrast between country and city in the description of the stranger, who “looked the city” (meaning, had the appearance of a city person) and several lines later becomes a metaphor for the city itself, as “He proved to be the city come again / To look for something it had left behind / And could not do without and keep its Christmas.” Much in the fashion of the city, the next thing out of the stranger's mouth is the proposition to buy the speaker's trees. The speaker immediately (internally) denies the request: “I doubt if I was tempted for a moment / To sell them off their feet to go in cars / And leave the slope behind the house all bare”. Here we imagine the trees chopped down, tied to cars and carted unceremoniously off to the city, leaving a devastated wilderness behind them. But then the speaker struggles within himself, considering “profitable growth” and “trial by market”, seemingly seduced by the call of money and earnings (the city against the wilderness).

Seeing the owner's struggle, the city man suggests that he be shown the trees, to gauge how many and how much their worth. The owner reluctantly agrees, and they walk around his property, assessing which would make perfect Christmas trees. At the end of the tour, the stranger announces, “A thousand,” and offers three cents apiece, for a grand total of $30 (we reading this in present day must allow for some inflation). This marks a turn in the poem, and in the speaker's thoughts and decision: “Then I was certain I had never meant / To let him have them.” Now his thoughts turn to his friends in the city who would enjoy having those trees, and how much more their enjoyment would be worth to him than the money. “Worth three cents more to give away than sell, / As may be shown by a simple calculation.”

Frost's skill as a poet here can be noted as we feel the rising excitement and passion in the speaker. The poem begins casually, as a simple anecdote, then moves to internal struggle over whether or not to sell the trees, and then turns on the speaker's realization of what these trees would mean to his friends and loved ones, and how much he wishes they could enjoy them. “A thousand Christmas trees I didn't know I had!” he exclaims, and suddenly his forest is transformed. No longer a simple stand of trees, it is a vast display of the holiday's symbol of perfection.

The poem ends as a letter, speaking directly to the reader, saying of the speaker's trees:

Too bad I couldn't lay one in a letter.
I can't help wishing I could send you one,
In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.

The conflict between city and country is resolved as the country offers its own bounty, in the form of Christmas trees, as a holiday gift to its city brethren. Triumphing over the struggle of greed, this poem represents the themes of selflessness and giving for which the holiday itself stands.

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