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The man who sold his lawn to standard oil
Joked with his neighbors come to watch the show
While the bulldozers, drunk with gasoline,
Tested the virtue of the soil
Under the branchy sky     5
By overthowing first the privet-row.

Forsythia-forays and hydrangea-raids
Were but preliminaries to a war
Against the great-grandfathers of the town,
So freshly lopped and maimed.     10
They struck and struck again,
And with each elm a century went down.

All day the hireling engines charged the trees,
Subverting them by hacking underground
In grub-dominions, where dark summer’s mole     15...

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1. The War Against the Trees: Introduction
2. The War Against the Trees: Text of the Poem
3. The War Against the Trees: Summary
4. The War Against the Trees: Stanley Kunitz Biography
5. The War Against the Trees: Themes
6. The War Against the Trees: Style
7. The War Against the Trees: Historical Context
8. The War Against the Trees: Essays and Criticism
   1. Complexity of Word Choice
   2. A Look at the Structure of Kunitz's Work
   3. Themes of Life and Death
9. The War Against the Trees: Compare and Contrast
10. The War Against the Trees: Topics for Further Study
11. The War Against the Trees: Media Adaptations
12. The War Against the Trees: What Do I Read Next?
13. The War Against the Trees: Bibliography and Further Reading
14. The War Against the Trees: Pictures
15. Copyright