Christmas Trees

by Robert Frost, Ted Rand (Illustrator)

In 1916, Frost wrote a poem that he described as a Christmas circular letter. Christmas Trees , illustrated by distinguished artist Ted Rand, encapsulates the wisdom of a Vermont farmer and the beauty of his country.

Genres: Poetry, Christmas, Picture Books, Classics, Holiday, Fiction, Ebooks

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Flinty, moody, plainspoken and deep, Robert Frost was one of America's most popular 20th-century poets. Frost was farming in Derry, New Hampshire when, at the age of 38, he sold the farm, uprooted his family and moved to England, where he devoted himself to his poetry. His first two books of verse, A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914), were immediate successes. In 1915 he returned to the United States and continued to write while living in New Hampshire and then Vermont. His pastoral images of apple trees and stone fences -- along with his solitary, man-of-few-words poetic voice -- helped define the modern image of rural New England. Frost's poems include "Mending Wall" ("Good fences make good neighbors"), "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" ("Whose woods these are I think I know"), and perhaps his most famous work, "The Road Not Taken" ("Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- / I took the one less traveled by"). Frost was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry four times: in 1924, 1931, 1937 and 1943. He also served as "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress" from 1958-59; that position was renamed as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry (or simply Poet Laureate) in 1986.

Frost recited his poem "The Gift Outright" at the 1961 inauguration of John F. Kennedy... Frost attended both Dartmouth College and Harvard, but did not graduate from either school... Frost preferred traditional rhyme and meter in poetry; his famous dismissal of free verse was, "I'd just as soon play tennis with the net down."

Reviews

[Julie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just added this to our children's library. It's too advanced for my 4-year-old, but I think it would be perfect for the 5-9 crowd. I love just about any poem by Robert Frost, but this is a particularly precious illustrated version of a poem that offers an antidote to commercialism in the Christmas season.

[Tatevik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a "poetry spirited" person, so I love when the poem tells a story, and most of all - a good story. Robert Frost told a good story about Christmas trees. Go listen to it, people!

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Frost published this free verse poem “Christmas Trees: a Christmas Circular Letter” in 1916; it appeared in Mountain Interval, a book that also included “Birches” and what is probably his most famous poem, and maybe the most famous poem of all time, “The Road Not Taken.” “Christmas Trees” is in the form of a Christmas letter, and tells a short story of a city slicker who tries to cheat a farmer who has a hillside of potential Christmas trees (spoiler: he doesn’t). I went looking for some background on the poem, and ran across Ted Rand’s perfectly illustrated version. Rand’s illustrations might not be everyone’s cup of tea - sometimes they aren’t mine - but for this rustic Frost poem, they are a perfect match. It’s through Rand’s illustrations that you realize that while this is about Christmas trees, it’s really taking place on a cold autumn day (“where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon”). Rand’s illustrations captures Frost’s intent, I think, and evokes a time and place that no longer exist, and probably didn’t exist to begin with. A November kind of poem, and a November kind of book. Picture books, by the way, aren’t just for children, and this is a prime example.

[Mela · Rating 2 out of 5]

A correctly written poem with messages like anti-commercialism but it didn't make me feel anything. And poems are - to me - (even more than prose) to evoke emotions not just to tell a story.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Robert Frost, I love trees, and I love poetry. They all come together in his poem "Christmas Trees," which he wrote in 1916 as part of a Christmas letter to friends. At that time, a tree cost one dollar. The storyline in this narrative poem is that a city businessman wants to buy 1,000 fir trees from a Vermont farmer for $30 to sell as Christmas trees in town. After the farmer takes him on a tour of his land, he turns the man away with no business deal in sight and with the trees safely growing through future years. With the poem portrayed across the pages of a picture book of the same name, the written imagery is enhanced through beautiful, nature-filled illustrations by Ted Rand, and the poem becomes accessible to children, too. I really enjoyed this book and will be using it with my college students when we study poetry during fall semesters, right before Christmas!

[Megan Yaek · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I can't help wishing I could send you one..."

How special one must be to receive a tree.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never have I seen my view on trees expressed so beautifully as it is in this poem by Robert Frost. We would have been friends.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations.

[Lnaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

wish I was living there, where he says:
"Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon"

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have arranged my takeaway thoughts on this poem into a haiku:

"In hasty cities,
What's treasured reduces to
Commercialized things."

[Amelia Bujar · Rating 2 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW ON MY WEBSITE
https://thebookcornerchronicles.com/2...

This poem really tells a story and it isn’t just a random x amount of lines poem which doesn’t mean anything deeper. This poem tells a good story about a rich man who comes to a Christmas tree farm.

The writing style here is amazing and it really makes you imagine what you are reading in this poem.

The message of this poem can be read in different ways depends on the person who is reading it. But the 2 message i got from this poem was sort of anti-commercialism message and the second was that things may have bigger value than you think they have. And let me know what message you got from this poem would love to know it.

I had a hard time connecting with this poem and it because of this that I give it so low rating.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This titular poem describes what happens when a farmer is visited by someone from the city who wants to buy his trees. He wants to sell the trees in the city as Christmas Trees. Though very short, the poem engages your emotions. It is told from the farmer’s perspective. It also has the feel of a bygone era partly because of the illustrations.
Frost wrote the poem as a letter to friends.
The book I read included illustrations by Ted Rand. It was a beautiful picture book publishing of the poem which was written in 1916.
I enjoyed reading this poem.

[midnightfaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Christmas. A man comes to buy a thousand fir trees from a man. He wants to take them into the city and sell them as Christmas trees. The man was shocked when he heard the man who wanted the trees would only pay $30. He said he could not lay bare his pasture for so small a sum.

I'm glad he said no.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this poem and illustrated children's book to my 8 year old Granddaughter. The language by Frost is antiquated and slant rhymed, but the spirit of Christmas shines through. I liked the theme of a farmer not selling his valuable growing farm trees.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the illustrations, but this is not one of Frost's best poems. It's clunky. It tells a story well enough, but it's not the best choice for a children's book because it's not easy for young children to understand.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Country vs. city. Anti-commercialism. Pro-nature. Illustrations are nice.

[Elizabeth Larsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An artistic and interesting holiday book that's good for kids of all ages. - Recommended by Harley, 5th Grader

[Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute book!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful poem about Christmas trees, the environment, and what matters most -- written by Robert Frost with magical illustrations by Ted Rand -- what's not to love?

[Jileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eloquent poetry written from days gone by and a simpler life. I loved the illustrations set to the poem.

[Nelleke Plouffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn’t one of my boys’ first choices amongst our Christmas picture book read-alouds. I love it, though.

[Forked Radish · Rating 2 out of 5]

No curse, is worse, than blank verse.

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This poem, written in 1916, and quite long for Mr. Frost's standards, has, as the majority of his works, a message.

“A thousand Christmas trees!—at what apiece?”

He felt some need of softening that to me:
“A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars.”

We have country life and its beauty against city life and consumerism, quite an interesting point of view, as this problem is much more complicated in our days, more than one hundred years after...

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

-3rd-4th grade
-good for poetry unit. a new way to writ a poem
-Can be read during the holidays.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Robert Frost's poetry and this is a beautifully illustrated version of Frost's poem, "Christmas Trees." I love the Vermont farmer's relationship with his trees...and his friends.

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another gem in my collection of children's Christmas books.

[hiromi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas is all about the time for giving away and sharing joys with loved ones and unknown ones too.