Neglect Precis

The poem, "Neglect," by R. T. Smith, Smith clearly shows that he is full of regret and sadness due to the fact that he had lost his apple tree. Smith is able to convey loss throughout the poem by using imagery. Smith uses imagery in his poem to convey the loss when he says "I should have" repeatedly. This act of repetition shows just how full of regret Smith was by this loss. Smith displays his loss and regret through the words "too callow to believe that death's inevitable," meaning he was too immature to ever know that the tree would need as much attention as it did. Though it was just an apple tree, Smith repeatedly expresses his sadness by creating images of regret about how he should have treated the tree and how he should have taken better care of it. This reveals the deeper side to how neglect to an object can affect the result. In this case, Smith's tree had died. Smith could also be conveying the message that one should pay more attention to something they care about whether it is a tree or a person because, like Smith, the object could whither away. Just as Smith had regretted it, "through this lesson in winter regret," we should also pay close attention to valued objects. By using imagery, Smith was able to conduct his idea of loss and regret through his images.