Name : Rita Mikaela B.

Nava
Title of Story : Bonsai
Grade & Section: 11 – COPPER, STEM
Score :

A Formalist approach on Edith L. Tiempo’s “Bonsai”

A formalist approach to literature seeks out meaning from a work by giving

attention to the form or structure of a work and literary devices operating in it. It

examines the exclusively literary aspects of works, focusing on the internal

workings of the texts rather than the its external influences. It provides readers with

a way to understand and enjoy a work for its own inherent value as a piece of

literary art. In this paper, I am going to take a formalist approach to criticize the

poem “Bonsai” written by Edith L. Tiempo. Edith L. Tiempo, the author of “Bonsai” is

a masterful exploration of love’s nature and its preservation through the tangible

and the ephemeral. The poem invites readers to consider how love, a vast and

abstract concept, can be scaled down and contained in small, meaningful objects.

By examining its structure, imagery, and language, we can appreciate how “Bonsai”

conveys profound emotions with precision and depth.

The poem “Bonsai” was published In the 23rd of December 1972. This poem is not

dedicated to a specific person however it is about love in general, considering that

the author was a mother she may have written this poem to her child, or because of

her love towards her family, love towards her friends, or the people loving her. She

was even known as Mom Edith to many who knew her

was a great reminder to cherish all the memories you’ve made with the people you

love, I'm the kind of person who looks at the past as proof that you’ll never be as

happy as you once were. As if all those memories are nothing but a figment of my

past- something that I would beg to feel again, that’s why it's rare for me to look

back so I keep moving forward. However, the mood evoked by the line "all that I

love, why yes for the moment and all-time both" can be described as wistful and

eternal. This line suggests a profound, tender attachment to the things cherished in

life, blending the fleeting nature of the present moment with the enduring quality of

timeless love. It creates a mood that is both nostalgic and reverent, emphasizing

the permanence of deep affection. The phrasing carries a sense of quiet

contemplation, as if the speaker is marveling at the nature of love—something

transient yet infinite.

At the first stanza of the poem, the narrator accepts that change is inevitable. Of

course, we love a lot of people, in that case, it's quite overwhelming, but at some

point, in our lives, we will have to go on our paths, part ways from the people we

love, and bid goodbyes. For example, you can still definitely keep the relationship

you have with someone you’ve known for a long time, but as time passes by, you

just need to embark on your separate adventure. “All that I love, I fold over once,

and once again and keep it in a box, or a slit hollow post inside my shoe” For you

shall continue to ve able to keep the memories and still move forward, when you

miss that person, you always know where to look for them.

All that I love? Why yes, but for that moment and for all time both”, when does this

happen? When do for the moment and all time, when do they intersect? When do

they happen at the same time? Most people think that love as an occasion, we
think about the comfort of marriage or getting engaged, or simply all the moments

where you celebrate such as Valentine’s Day: a day of hearts to those lovers on

social media when they’re all about chocolates, bouquets, stuff toys and all of those

grand gestures. But all set aside this love, its already happening to us, it's just that

our standards have become skewed because of what we see online, or those

romantic movies or novels perhaps. It's already happening, and it doesn’t have to

be romantic for there to be true love in your life. True love is when my mother is

making me breakfast so early in the morning for my family and I, and when I look at

her, I think that I don’t only love her because she is my mother , but I love my

mother right now because she loves us and for the most part she puts us before

her, These are examples that love is happening in the most ordinary moments that

will lead you to say why will you love someone for the eternity. Something that folds

and keeps easily such as A son’s note or Dad’s gaudy tie, A roto picture of a queen,

A blue Indian shawl, even a money bill. These small things hold a sentimental value,

that for the narrator its not just an object but things that are associated with

experience with someone they love that is even more important than expensive

things and a treasure to hold unto. So when it comes to time things that are

happening right now, it will pass, it’ll never go back, but if you had those objects,

you have proof it happened, you will remember how it felt to be loved.

“It’s utter sublimation, A feat this heart’s control, moment to moment, to scale all

love down, to cupped hand size” In this stanza we will understand why this poem is

entitled Bonsai, It is an achievement to control your heart. Sublimation. in which

means where your emotions are very intense, the author wants us to know that this

happens to human beings like us; we may feel at the same time, we may also feel
sad, So why is it an achievement to control your heart? Sometimes we may feel that

our heart is a separate entity from who we are. Its wild. It feels what you don’t want

to feel. If we think about love , we think of it as something abstract, we think of love

in an overwhelming way that cannot simply be held in our hands. That’s why the

poem is entitled Bonsai, love doesn’t necessarily have to be so big that you can see

it, or touch it, in fact in the next line: “moment to moment to scale all love down to

a cup-hand size” is the true representation of a bonsai, because when we think of a

tree that is so big and will stand under its shade if shrunk to size of a bonsai, will it

be less of a tree? Will it lose its value? In those small and ordinary moments of

love , are they any less of love?

“Til seashells are broken pieces, From God’s bright teeth, and life and love are real,

Things you can run and breathless handover to the merest child.” Our point of view

of God is he is seen as the almighty, all-powerful, enormous being, but what the line

represents is that God can be found in the simplest objects that God’s teeth are

seashells, for you can see him in a leaf, or a flower or somebody’s hand, he can be

found in the simplest of objects in the most ordinary days as well as life and love

are real and you already have it, you are already very loved. You can run and

breathless hand over to the merest child which symbolizes the child’s purity and

innocence, that when they are loved, they do not need to say it back as it's like an

obligation.

Edith L. Tiempo’s “Bonsai” exemplifies the power of literary form and technique in

conveying profound truths. Through its compact structure, evocative imagery, and

thoughtful symbolism, the poem distills love into its purest essence. A formalist

reading reveals how every element of the poem—from its structure to its language

—works harmoniously to create a poignant meditation on love’s nature and

readers to cherish the small yet profound moments that define our connections with

others.