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Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) was a journalist, lecturer, and poet known for his commitment to the Catholic faith and for his deceptively simple meditations on natural beauty. Kilmer was born and raised in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He attended Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) for two years before transferring to Columbia University in New York City. Upon finishing college, Kilmer worked briefly as a Latin teacher before deciding to pursue a career as a writer. In addition to writing poems and essays, he also served as literary editor for the religious newspaper The Churchman and wrote occasionally for the New York Times Review of Books, among other periodicals. By the early 1910s, Kilmer’s religiously inspired poetry and acclaimed public lectures had made him into an important figure in the Catholic community. Soon after the United States entered World War I in 1917, Kilmer enlisted. He was killed in France the following year. Though he was a prolific writer, the only work of his that remains well known today his short poem from 1913, “Trees.” Yet his legacy also lives on through a small parcel of protected old-growth forest in North Carolina, which was named after him following his death.

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