The Surrender Tree (Poetry)

The Surrender Tree was written by Margarita Engle and published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC in 1866. It is recommended for seventh grade and above. This book has received a Newbery Award and a Pura Belpre award for writing.

The Surrender Tree is a five part book of narrative poetry about Cuba's struggle for freedom. A girl named Rosa grows from a young girl to an older woman throughout the book. She is a very famous healer. Everyone during the wars wants to find her, even Spain's soldiers, the enemies.

These poems let readers get to know Rosa's thoughts and feelings along with her husband's, a girl named Silva, and Lieutenant Death's. Lieutenant Death is the enemy which gives us a different point of view during the wars.

The Surrender Tree is recommended by me as a good source of poetry for children because it's a great example of narrative poetry. The story draws readers in and is captured by different points of view. Along with the entertainment of these characters' story, it's also educational. Many historical events mentioned in the poems actually happened.

The poems are free of didacticism and patronizing language, and children will be able to pick out many examples of personification, metaphors, and rhythm. I think The Surrender Tree will help students view the Cuban wars differently after reading these victims' stories.

After the students read this book, go over the types of poetry and their forms: lyric, haiku, narrative, sonnet, etc.; then explain why this book was narrative. They should then be able to answer these discussion questions:

1. What type of poetry is The Surrender Tree and what does that type of poetry mean?
2. What is one example of personification in this book?
3. What is one example of a metaphor in this book?
4. Who is the main character?
5. Who was the Cuban war against?
6. Why did Rosa help heal the enemies?
7. Who was Silvia?
8. Why did Lieutenant Death want to kill Rosa?
9. Why did the author write this book with many different points of view?
10. Did the story flow from one character to another as the story went along, or were different characters repeating the same part of the story in their points of view?
11. Which characters were on Rosa's side?
12. Which characters were on Lieutenant Death's side?
13. Who was Rosa to Lieutenant Death at the beginning of the story?
14. Did Lieutenant Death ever kill Rosa?
15. Why are they "free to dream" at the end of the story?

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.5
Analyze how a drama's or poem's form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.6
Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.