The Leaning Tree Analysis

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There was a time many years ago when the passing of a relative always seemed to be the eldest member of the family such as the grandmother, grandfather, great-grandmother or great-grandfather. Not too many times would one see a young person die or being killed very often. In the song “The Leaning Tree”, gospel artist Win Thompkins addresses this as no longer being true because young people are dying just about everyday. Throughout the song , he states that “the leaning tree” ,symbolizing an older person, is not always the first to fall or in other words die. Thompkins also states throughout the song that anyone’s time could be soon no matter the age or condition. He then shares a brief story about a righteous old man who saw his children pass …show more content…

The leaning tree is a perfect example of how most people would expect an elderly person to pass away before a young person or in other words a leaning tree to die before a young and strong tree;however, today that is not the case anymore. Thompkins goes on to talk about young people and their belief that time is not as precious as it seems and that it can be wasted on anything. In the third stanza it states, “Some people think because they’re young/They have the time to play and roam/You better get your house in order,Before death do appear/You never know the time you’ll be leaving here.” This line was included to reveal how most young people act as if they have all the time in the world to do what they please such as making careless mistakes and decision not even trying to think about the possible consequences to come in the future. Yet Thompkins is stressing that one does not have all the time that they think they might have and now is the time for them to get everything in order because no one knows when their time is coming. Also, he included a brief story of an elderly Christian man who was a leaning tree, and his children were the strong, bulky trees. It states, “There was an old Godly man/His story always comes to mind/ He outlived all his children/ He lived a long time/God let him live to see a hundred nine.” The elderly man outliving his children supports the fact that young people will not always outlive their parents or live to be his age. Most young people believe that they will see their parents go before them , but that is not always the case as it seems to be like in the song. The lyrics in this song show that time is very limited and should be used

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