An oak tree and a rosebush grew,
Young and green together,
Talking the talk of growing things-
Wind and water and weather.
And while the rosebush sweetly bloomed
The oak tree grew so high
That now it spoke of newer things-
Eagles, mountain peaks and sky.
I guess you think you’re pretty great,
The rose was heard to cry,
Screaming as loud as it possibly could
To the treetop in the sky.
And now you have no time for flower talk,
Now that you’ve grown so tall.
It’s not so much that I’ve grown, said the tree,
It’s just that you’ve stayed so small.
-Shel Silverstein
Hello Bloggers :)
ReplyDeleteSo, I read the poem "The Oak and the Rose" By Shel Silverstien. I believe that the meaning of this poem has something to do with growing up and moving on, kind of discovering the world. The oak and the rosebush grew up together (like they were best buddies when they were in kindergarten and what not), and they'd talk about everything. As they grew up, the oak tree started to discover new things and places (Like, he/she found a hobby or club they loved or something) In a sense, the rosebush felt the the oak tree had no time for him/her now, and that they were growing apart. The oak tree then claimed "It's not so much that I've grown, it's that you've stayed so small". I believe this is saying, it's not that I've gone out to discover that's keeping us apart, but that you've stayed in the same place, not discovering anything new, unmoving. I believe it's a story of a friendship that dissolved slowly as years passed. You know, if any of that makes sense :)
~ Hailey❤
I agree, this is like mine but your response is more descriptive. I like how you compared the plants to humans and how their friendship dissolved as years passed.
Delete-Brian Holler
Hiya!
ReplyDeleteSo for this particular poem, personally I believe it is about friendship and how it changes. The rose and the tree symbolize friends from birth. As their paths go their separate ways, both have different things to tell. The rose envies the tree and longs to see the sights the tree has seen. So when the rose cries about her problems to the tree, the tree responds by saying "It's just that you've stayed so small." meaning the rose should expand it's horizons and work harder to exceed it's dreams, as well as stop wallowing in self pity and do something.
That's basically what I said! The rose isn't growing and learning like it should!
DeleteI agree with what you said about the rose, it should stop wallowing in self pity and work hard to achieve what it wants. I said something similar by saying that the rose should not complain about the oaks feats, when it does nothing to attempt to be the same.
DeleteThe poem "The Oak and the Rose" has in my opinion a very interesting meaning. It I believe has a very unique message about friendship. When the oak and rose are younger they have a lot in common an have certain things they do together. But as they grow up they grow apart. This happens a lot in friendships and I believe the authors message is clear in the final line when the tree tells the rose that its not that hes grown but that the rose has stayed so small. I think this defines how some people are capable of growing and moving on well others are left behind and struggle to change.
ReplyDeleteI like your interpretation very much Klaire, especially where you talk about the friendship(s). I feel that it is very much true and I have seen this happen with some of my friends
DeleteRight on that is what I was thinking about how it is hard for people to change but others are moving on.
DeleteI read “The Oak and the Rose” and I think the meaning of this poem is about friendship. It shows how that you can grow up together and always talk and still be friends. It shows that no matter how different you are from one another you can still be really good friends. That despite the tree and the rose bush’s differences they put those aside and were really good friends. with a really good friend you will have fights but you stay friends with them because they’re such a good friend and don’t want to lose them.
ReplyDeleteTo my fellow group members(Courtney, Taleesha, and Jewelia),
ReplyDeleteI finished reading Shel's poem, The Oak and the Rose. I think that the poem is almost describing friendship. You've heard of friends "out growing one another" right? Well I think he took this literally. The tree was actually out growing the rosebush. The tree began talking of new things. I think this made the rosebush jealous. What do you think? I still wonder why he personified an oak tree and a rosebush.
I thought the same thing, Justin. And yes I do think the rosebush showed a hint of jealousy towards the oak tree. I think he personified an oak tree and rose bush because one will grow taller than the other (oak tree of course) and one will stay small (rose bush) and it was a good and easy example for readers to comprehend. But good response brotha haha
DeleteHello Readers of the blog.
ReplyDeleteI just read the poem, "The Oak and the Rose" by Shel Silverstein, as many of you also have. I believe that a message that the poet, Shel Silverstein, is trying to get out to the reader, (along with the others that have been stated in other comments) is that even though you may not be as great as someone else in a particular category, such as being tall in this poem, you still have great things about you. I believe that the poet wants the reader to get this by when he says, "And while the rosebush sweetly bloomed The oak tree grew so high" I believe because the poet put in that the rosebush sweetly bloomed, he was saying that the rosebush was still just as good as the tree, just in a different way.
I didn't think about this that way. Very insightful. :)
DeleteUpon reading The Oak and the Rose, what I believe the meaning of it is that, why complain about others feats when you don't attempt to do anything great for yourself. The poem goes like this, the rosebush was complaining that the oak was now too great for the rosebush. As if, perhaps, the oak thought it was better than the rosebush. I know this because the poem states that the rosebush, "was heard to cry," and "Screaming as loud as it possibly could." However, the oak isn't truly arrogant. I believe the oak is humble for he never once brags about being so tall. The oak responds to the rosebushes' cries by saying, "It's not so much that I've grown, It's just that you've stayed so small."
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think that the rosebush is just staying where he felt comfortable. The Oak tree is just learning about new things and talking about them.
DeleteI didn't think of it so in depth this way. The oak did act very calm and humble to the rosebush when it was upset.
DeleteHi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI think that "The Oak and the Rose"'s meaning is about how the rose and the Oak were good friends, they would talk and enjoy life together. However, when the rose bush stays small and the Oak grows into a large tree the poem talks about how the Oak tree was seeing newer things and the Rose was stuck with the same view and virtually friendless. When the Rose cries to the Oak Tree and says that the tree doesn't have time for flower talk anymore, I think this symbolizes "small talk" or things that are only little and important to things that are small, like the rose. The tree was seeing newer things and growing to new heights, the Rose stayed small and never grew. The Rose was upset that the tree out grew him, but really the Rose just never grew with the Oak. I think the meaning behind this poem is that if you never grow you will be left behind. Also, just because someone has gone ahead of you doesn't mean that person is wrong, you just need to catch up.
Dear Victoria,
DeleteIn response to your analysis of the poem I think that the meaning you got from the poem was very much what the author intended for us to get out of it. In simple words I agree!
Hi fellow bloggers!
ReplyDeleteI just read the poem, "The Oak and the Rose" which is a poem that I'm very familiar with. It's about an oak tree and rose bush who have grow up together and are friends. However the oak tree grew tall as the rose bush sweetly bloomed. When the oak tree starts taking about the news things it has seen like the eagles, mountain peaks, and sky the rose bush gets sort of jealous almost and says,"I guess you think you're pretty great." But the thing is is that it's not so much that the oak tree has grown it's just that the rose bush has stayed so small. The theme could be even though you might be accomplishing great things in life don't forget the "little" people back home.
That's what I think at least.
Courtneyyy :)
Hey Courtney,
DeleteI thought that your interpretation of the theme was perfect. Clearly, the theme had something to do with the oak tree and the rosebush's relationship. Great job analyzing.
I just read the “Oak and the Rose”. While reading, I saw a few emotional things. For example, when the Rose tried talking to the Oak Tree, the Tree sort of told the Rose that he (Tree) was tall while the Rose was small. I think the Tree made the Rose jealous and sad making the Rose cry with despair. That part of the poem was emotional. I enjoyed reading this poem very much. Jonathan :P
ReplyDeleteHey Bloggers,
ReplyDeleteI think that this poem is talking about how some people expand their knowledge and grow as human beings, while other people stay where they think is comfortable and don't grow as a human being. In the poem, the Oak tree is the one who is learning and literally growing and he talks about different things. The rose bush is staying small and isn't really learning about new things. As the Oak tree said "It is not that I have grown, It's just that you have stayed so small." Meaning that the tree is doing was most people should do, and is growing while the rose bush is not.
Julia 8H
Hello readers of the blog,
ReplyDeleteI just read “The Oak and the Rose.” When I read this poem about an oak tree and a rose growing up together I thought of two friends and one becomes more mature than the other and starts to hang out with new people, like how the oak thought about eagles, mountain peaks, and the sky. And when the the other less mature friend tries to talk to the mature friend he just ignores him, like how the rose yelled and cried to the oak but the oak couldn’t hear the little rose.
Sincerely,
Brian Holler
Dear Fellow Bloggers,
ReplyDeleteI have just read the poem “The Oak and the Rose” by Shel Silverstein and am responding to the meaning of it. I think its about two “friends” who grow apart and the rose thought it was the oak trying to express he was better, this is shown when the rose said, “I guess you think you pretty great,” but the problem really wasn’t that the oak thought he was better and had grown to new heights but that the rose stayed small.
I think the theme the poem expresses is that sometimes friends grow apart, but that at the roots you can still connected. Being connected at the roots was drawn / concluded from the fact they grew side by side.
Thanks for reading my poetry analysis,
Jessica Lindsay
Hola Bloggers
DeleteI just got done reading the poem called The Oak and the Rose, by Shel Silverstein. It is about the oak tree and the rose growing up together and being such good friends. But the oak tree just always was growing taller and taller and the rose just stayed the same. It would have to hauler at the oak and the oak would tell the rose of the new things it is seeing. This poem is just like real situations today, when people just stay the same and it seems as if everyone else is improving.
"The Oak and the Rose" is a poem that mirrors the relationship of many friends growing up. As kids, they are best friends, but as the oak grows and the rose stays the same, they drift apart. In real life, best friends will often separate as one friend becomes more popular, moving on to bigger and grander things than the other friend. They stop being close not only because of the one friend's success/popularity, but because the rose not only hasn't kept up, but hasn't changed at all (shown when the oak says "It's not so much that I've grown, it's that you've stayed so small").
ReplyDeleteCharlie L.
Okay, so, I believe that The Oak and the Rose is a way of talking about moving on, and staying put. The Rose says that the Oak has grown tall and moved on from the flower talk. But the Oak responds that it is not that it grow tall it is that the Rose stayed small and didn’t grow tall. So you see the world from both of their points of view. The Oak believes that the Rose never grew up and moved on to the talk of bigger and better things. The Rose on the other hand believes the the Oak grew up and left the Rose behind with the flower talk.
ReplyDeleteRady 8N
Hey.
ReplyDeleteSo, the poem The Oak and the Rose by Sheldon Silverstein. I can't help but laugh the times I've read this it always happens in real life. One person gradually grows taller than the other. Oh, the irony of calling that oak short. Also what popped out to me is the way the poet described. Like, sweetly bloomed and, to cry. It gave sort of an image in your mind. To me I could clearly picture a beautiful rose blooming in the sunlight. Then as the tree grew, I can see it, playing like it was in fast foreword. Its miraculous how nature twists itself so that a rose is smaller than the tree next to it. Fascinating poem, I think.
hello, I think Oak and the Rose is about friendship and how it grows. It first starts out the Oak tree and the Rose bush are best friends and there playing. And then the Oak tree is growing experiencing new things and meeting new friends.The rose bush is left all alone and shes crying and wishing the Oak tree to be there friends. The Oak tree see's the Rose bush and says the rose bush has stayed so small and has never grown and he has grown so much.
ReplyDeleteHey guys! :)
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the Oak and the Rose by Shel Silverstein, I realize the writer was truly trying to reach hearts that’ve struggled with friendship. He tells of an oak and a rosebush growing young and green together talking about the wind, water, and weather. I felt as though when he said this, he was talking about two young beings growing up happily together. They had things in common that they could talk about and do together. “While the rosebush sweetly bloomed, the oak tree grew so high that now it spoke of newer things- eagles, mountain peaks, and sky” is a line that I interpreted as where the problem between the two started. The bush took their time and enjoyed life in the wind, water, and weather-talking stage of their childhood. The oak tree progressed much farther in their life, showing accomplishments, lessons learned, and maturity, and they weren’t in the same social situation anymore. See, this rosebush felt deeply about their loss. Explained in the following lines is the emotionally difficult task the rosebush had to take showing their jealousy and how much they’d missed the oak: “‘I guess you think you’re pretty great’, the rose was heard to cry, screaming loud as it possibly could to the treetop in the sky.”
The true conclusion was made in the last two stanzas. After the rosebush complains about how the oak isn’t engaging in their friendship anymore because they’ve grown to mature and too stuck-up for it, the oak tells them: “‘It’s not so much that I’ve grown...It’s just that you’ve stayed so small.’” The heartbreaking moment where the oak tells the rosebush, you are a thing of the past, and I’ve grown up past where you are now. The oak tells the rosebush that the tree itself is not to blame.
Hope you found some extra insight in my comment!
The poem," The Oak and the Rose " is about an oak tree and a rosebush that grow up together and are friends. The tree becomes very tall and the rosebush stays small. The rosebush becomes jealous of the tree. I think this poem means that people are afraid of change and things always change. I think this because as the rosebush and the tree grew up, things changed for them. Like they grew up. I think the rosebush was afraid of the change and didn't like it. That is what I think the meaning of " The Oak and the Rose " is.
ReplyDelete