Joyce Kilmer
American poet, editor, literary critic, soldier (1886-1918) · United States · On the map · Writers · Died at 31
Alfred Joyce Kilmer was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection Trees and Other Poems in 1914.
Joyce Kilmer is read about 155 times a day, in 11 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 18 September 2026
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Birthplace at 17 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, New Brunswick
Kilmer House, New Brunswick, NJ
Sgt. Joyce Kilmer, as a member of the 165th Infantry Regiment, United States Army, c. 1918
Grave of Sergeant Joyce Kilmer, Oise-Aisne Cemetery, France
The Kilmer family lived in this home on Airmount Road in Mahwah, New Jersey. It was here that his poem "Trees" was written in February 1913.
1914 first edition, Trees & Other Poems on display, Oise-Aisne Cemetery Visitors Center
Refurbished plaque honoring Kilmer, "the poet of the trees", Central Park, NYC, November 2025Awards
About this person
Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his Catholic faith, Kilmer was also a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. At the time of his deployment to Europe during World War I, Kilmer was considered the leading American Catholic poet and lecturer of his generation, whom critics often compared to British contemporaries G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) and Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953). He enlisted in the New York National Guard and was deployed to France with the 69th Infantry Regiment in 1917. He was killed by a sniper's bullet at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918 at the age of 31. He was married to Aline Murray, also an accomplished poet and author, with whom he had five children.
