Summary of 'Parents' by Vincent Buckley.

               Vincent Buckley is an Australian poet, critic, teacher, essayist and editor.He worked in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War.His subject matter ranged from personal to political.

                He has written many poems and this poem 'Parents' is taken from the poetry collection "Arcady and other places". Arcady is a poetic term for Arcadia, a mountainous region of ancient Greece which is traditionally represented in literature as a place of pastoral innocence and contentment. This poem like most of the poems in the collection is about the poet's reminiscence of the trees that were in his house when he was young.
         
               As the title suggests the poet talks about his parents in the first few lines of the poem.He lists out the questions asked by his father regarding the work,debt and also the wrath, and hatred he faces in the world and how he handles it.Vincent also gives a glimpse of how his mother talks to him as if he is the most precious possession in the world.But the poet says that all these questions and conversations reveal not his parents' affection towards him but only their needs that would be fulfilled by him.Thus through these lines the poet tears off the masks worn by the people and teaches us that the words of kindness is the sheath that covers the sword of selfishness.

                 The poet then contemplates about the trees in the next six lines of the poem.Even though his parents are still talking to him, his attention is being caught by the rusting branches of the Walnut tree.He also notices that a pile of litter has replaced the biggest pine tree and feels that his absence has lead to the killing of the pine in some way or the other .He also observes  that a vine has crept upon the door.From this it is clear that the poet has returned home after a long time and his parents haven't paid any attention to the plants and trees in his house during his absence.
     
                  He then says that his parents whisper sweet nothings in the ears of their pet animals and cry even if something trivial happens to those pets.The poet thus puts forth a question about which among the three - plants , animals,  human beings came first. Therefore, in the first part of the poem the poet tries to convey the message that human beings should realize that plants were the precursors of animals and human beings. So, they should be revered and preserved at any cost.
                 
                  In the first six lines of the second part of the poem the poet talks about the preferences of human beings. He begins by telling that the facts might sound like acquisitions and goes on to say that human beings are very much interested in the lives of their neighbours than their own.He adds that gossips spread just like a lightening passing from tree to tree.He calls the lightening to be  frightening and remarkable at the same time because they result in the death of the trees.Thus the poet says that people are interested in the lives of fellow human beings and not on the lives of the trees.He stresses the fact that the names, disasters and the dates of the death of the trees mean nothing to the people which clearly indicates that the bond between the human beings and the trees are lost.

                   In the concluding part the poet's​ thoughts are shifted back to the vine.He wonders how the vine will bear fruits this year.He continues to say that his heart is aching and his thoughts are growing worse.Again he changes his attention to the litter and sees the old dried branches in the heaps.He says that he couldn't recall much about the pine because it's been a long time since he left.The poet then feels that the branches are waving to him as they are being taken away since they are nothing but waste now .It seems as if the branches are becoming less and less visible to him as they are leaving him behind.The poet finally says that copper and other such human discoveries are accelerating the gap between human beings and trees by portraying a picture of him and the trees being separated by the copper bars in the window. Thus the poet says that trees(nature)are the Parents and the root for the existence of all other living beings.So this poem is definitely the pick of the litter of all the nature poems.