Prominent, yet unnoticed
Tree Tag #2737 on Baylor's Sustainability Map
By William Hannan for Dr. Joshua King's ENG 2301: British Literature class, Fall 2025
This reflection is part of a series of “Tree Stories” by Baylor students that take root in their observations about a tree on campus, branch into connections between their tree and their experiences and education, and leaf out into a creative response to the tree.
Welcome
In this tree story I will talk about how a tree in the center of campus has gone virtually unnoticed even through it's in a prominent location. This tree has been there before people got to campus and it will continue to be there after leave from canvas. I hope you will take away from this story how even large things like a tree can go unseen and people need to stop and look around once and a while and enjoy life and nature. Before taking this class, I didn’t realize how many trees there were on campus and doing this reflection I was able to see the trees around me. This is what I hope to achieve for you as you read the story.
Roots
The tree that I am writing about is right in the heart of Baylor’s campus. It is positioned just outside of the Student Union Building and near fountain mall. This is one of the busiest spots on all of campus with thousands of students walking by every day. What is striking to be as I observe the tree is how spread out the tree stretches. The tree really creates a blanket that falls over the students providing shade. Especially in such a hot state that gets a lot of sunshine the tree can provide lots of shade for students. The tree provides this shade but mostly goes unnoticed. I also found some interesting facts about the tree like how it can drink 50+ gallons of water every single day. I also found it interesting that the tree usually has a 2:1 ratio that lets it stretch out far rather than tower tall. It demonstrates how perfect of a tree it is to have on a college campus because it can really cast a large shadow and cool down the students sitting under it. It's a big thing I noticed when I first found the tree is all the people catching shade, reading, eating, and chatting before their next class. The tree can observe all the action on campus.
Branches
Students walk around campus every day and pass the Oak tree that I am writing about without realizing it's there. They often hang out, play, and grow up right under the tree. It reminds me of Toru Dutts story. She talks about one story in particular “Our Casuarina Tree” that really strikes me in the way it relates to my tree. Throughout the story she talks about this tree that she grew up with. The poem relates to how I see the tree by the way she personifies the tree to watch her, and her family grow up. In the poem Dutt states, “Beneath it we have played; though years may roll, / O sweet companions, loved with love intense, / for your sakes, shall the tree be ever dear!” (Dutt 25-27). She is describing in this quote how her and other loved ones played underneath this tree and grew together. I liken this to my tree that is on campus watching all of us students interact and grow with each other through our college experiences. The tree is at such a popular spot that students often catch some shade, lounge, chat, and do homework together. The tree can sit and observe all this around it with a whole group of thousands of students get to come in and experience the same joys all over again. This is what I’ve enjoyed while going to my tree and observing the surroundings. Being a senior in college now and seeing how my time around campus is coming to an end I relate to the memories I have around this tree. Not only have other students laughed and played here but I have too. Another story that stands out to me is one by William Wordsworth. In his poem titled “Yew-Trees” he talks about a tree that stands out and outlives soldiers that go to war. This can be like my tree that I’ve been watching because us students are all gathered around the tree and then were going to other things after college. We’re not going to war but the tree will watch us, learn from us, and then we will all leave. I like the quote in the story that says “Of Umfraville or Percy ere they marched / To Scotland's Heaths; or Those that crossed the Sea” (Wordsworth 5-6). This quote is talking about the men that would leave and travel across the sea. It is like the Baylor students leaving campus after graduating.
Leaves
Introduction
Throughout the semester I have been able to watch and observe my tree as my tree has watched and observed students on campus. When I think about it my tree has been watching and observing me with all the time, I’ve spent near it before I even did this project. This is what I was trying to convey with the story about how a tree can be massive and in the middle of campus yet be unseen by myself and others. I like another quote from “Yew-Trees” that says, “Of vast circumference and gloom profound/ This solitary Tree—a living thing/ Produced too slowly ever to decay” (Wordsworth 9-11). The quote talks about how the tree in his story is long living and outlived the men that walked by it and went to war. It is like all the Baylor students leaving to go onto other things after being on campus. This and what Dutt was saying in “My Corsicana tree” is what inspired me to make my painting. I put a nice sunset background with students walking by in front while my tree overserves them. It was a nice way to express how I see my tree and make it into a project of my own for the semester. Attached below is my painting of my Oak tree.
Creative Response
Works Cited
Dutt, Toru. “Our Casuarina Tree.”
Woodsworth, William “Yew-Trees”