Trees and Other Poems

"Trees," the best known of Joyce Kilmer's poems, is actually the third of the 31 poems in this collection. An adult convert to Catholicism, Kilmer's religious convictions show clearly in several poems. Others are more mundane, such as "The Twelve Forty-Five," which begins the collection, about a train. Another, "To Certain Poets," makes is rather clear that Kilmer thought of poetry as a thoroughly masculine profession, and didn't much care for some of the other practicioners. A sergeant in New York's 69th Infantry, Kilmer was killed in action during World War I.