Poetry Blog 4

"The trees in the garden" by Stephen Crane is essentially an extended metaphor that highlights the down side of the core of American economics: capitalism. In this poem, the flowers the children collect symbolize money. Crane states that "the trees... rained flowers" to imply abundance, and yet the children seem to collect flowers "each to himself," and sharing is never mentioned. At only the end of the fourth line of the poem, it already reminds the reader of the capitalist world. Next Crane begins describing the nature of the children: those who collect many flowers, as opposed to those who do not: "Now there were some/ Who gathered great heaps--/ --Having opportunity and skill-- /Until, only chance blossoms/ Remained for the feeble." Obviously, Crane is now commenting on the opportunity that children of wealthier families often have that those of less fortunate backgrounds do not. The "spindling tutor" he mentions is the liberal or socialist; often seen as weak in the face of thriving capitalism in the western world, especially in the United States. The father who replies to the tutor's question of justice is the embodiment of the general public's perspective of capitalism. He says, "Are not they who possess the flowers/ Stronger, bolder, and shrewder/ Than they who have none?" The purpose of Crane's poem is to emphasize what the father has overlooked: the presence of opportunity in one's life that determines skill, skill which then determines success--or in the language of Crane's metaphor, who can gather the most flowers. Capitalism is not necessarily as fair as we like to think because not everyone has the same opportunities.