{"id":1337,"date":"2025-09-18T19:44:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T23:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/?p=1337"},"modified":"2025-09-18T19:44:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T23:44:53","slug":"trees-are-not-all-youll-find-boy-at-the-edge-of-woods-and-the-really-complicated-relationship-within","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/2025\/09\/18\/trees-are-not-all-youll-find-boy-at-the-edge-of-woods-and-the-really-complicated-relationship-within\/","title":{"rendered":"Trees are not all you’ll find: Boy at the Edge of Woods and the (really) complicated relationship within"},"content":{"rendered":"

My interpretation of this poem presents a forbidden<\/span> age-gap<\/span> homosexual relationship and the \u2018woods\u2019 is the only place they could be intimate. <\/span>It\u2019s<\/span> a place hidden away from the rest of the outside world, where they can explore their<\/span> relationship; woods throughout folklore can be seen as a place for transformation; <\/span>perhaps this<\/span> speake<\/span>r engaging in this relationship <\/span>represents<\/span> them growing up\/maturing in a way separate from their biological age. Th<\/span>ere was a contradiction from the <\/span>initial<\/span> \u201cgasp\u201d and \u201cgod damn\u201d to the action of the zipp<\/span>er being pulled or forced up; momentary release but now they <\/span>literally <\/span>must<\/span> put everything away<\/span> and pretend nothing happened<\/span> (8). \u00a0Add<\/span>itionally<\/span>, <\/span>the use of \u201ctongue\u201d<\/span> instead of teeth<\/span> suggests a deeper form of intimacy that is present in this relationship (8). Furtherm<\/span>ore, the use of \u201cleaves<\/span>\u201d<\/span> referring to the lover <\/span>represents<\/span> a sense of choice- based on their maturity<\/span>\/age, they have more autonomy in their life and who they present to the outside world<\/span> (8). <\/span> The\u00a0speaker might not have the ability to make that decision yet based on the age difference. <\/span>There are also <\/span>descriptions<\/span> of \u201cpine needles\u201d and \u201cbrown leaves\u201d and how they are on\/<\/span>in the speaker\u2019s hair and body<\/span> (8). <\/span>These items are only described after the lover leaves the woods, w<\/span>hich could be telling how this relationship ha<\/span>s resulted in a loss of innocence<\/span>;<\/span> these elements of the woods<\/span> disheveled his <\/span>appearance<\/span> that he now <\/span>has to<\/span> fix before he <\/span>reenters<\/span> the real world. <\/span>Finally, t<\/span>he <\/span>repetition<\/span> of \u201cleaves\u201d could <\/span>indicate<\/span> the quick turnaround of the<\/span> intimate moment; they could not afford to enjoy each other\u2019s company.<\/span> Overall,<\/span> t<\/span>he<\/span> consistent descriptions of the woods could <\/span>represent<\/span> the forbidden nature of the relationship. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My interpretation of this poem presents a forbidden age-gap homosexual relationship and the \u2018woods\u2019 is the only place they could be intimate. It\u2019s a place hidden away from the rest of the outside world, where they can explore their relationship; woods throughout folklore can be seen as a place for transformation; perhaps this speaker engaging … Continue reading Trees are not all you’ll find: Boy at the Edge of Woods and the (really) complicated relationship within<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5406,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344663],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1342,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions\/1342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}