Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) was an American poet, journalist and soldier, the author of Trees, one of the most popular American poems. He was killed in France in the First World War.
Works
Trees and Other Poems
New Brunswick
Alfred Joyce Kilmer was born on 6 December 1886 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His father was a chemist at Johnson & Johnson who helped develop its baby powder.
He studied at Rutgers and at Columbia University, married Aline Murray, also a poet, in 1908, and worked as a teacher, then as an editor of dictionaries and magazines in New York.
Trees
Trees, a short poem in rhyming couplets, appeared in the magazine Poetry in August 1913 and gave its title to his collection Trees and Other Poems (1914). It became one of the most anthologised poems in America.
Kilmer, a convert to Catholicism in 1913, wrote for The New York Times and lectured widely.
The war
When the United States entered the war in 1917, he enlisted in the 7th New York Infantry and transferred to the 165th Infantry Regiment, the former 'Fighting 69th', serving as a sergeant in its intelligence section.
On 30 July 1918, near the Ourcq River in France, he was killed by a sniper while scouting ahead. He is buried in the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery.
Anecdotes
Which tree?
Several places claim to have inspired Trees, among them a white oak at Rutgers University; the tree was cut down in 1963. Kilmer's son said the poem was written at the family home in Mahwah, New Jersey.
A forest named after him
The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, a stand of old-growth trees in North Carolina, was dedicated to him in 1936.
Frequently asked questions
Who wrote Trees?
Joyce Kilmer, published in Poetry magazine in 1913.
How did Joyce Kilmer die?
He was killed by a German sniper near the Ourcq River in France on 30 July 1918.
Was Joyce Kilmer a man?
Yes. Joyce was his middle name, which he used as his first name.