As mentioned in the Overview, Blake's trees--and their highly useful symbolism--frequently aid in the understanding of the passage or work in which they occur. As illustrations, they draw upon a rich background of meanings and interpretations to produce sly, almost hidden suggestions upon the significance of the text itself or elements of the illustrations.

For the reader, the trees serve another purpose; put pluntly, they exist as an oasis of safety. Like the birch, which often acts as a protective guardian, their relatively recognizable imagery helps the reader, shields him from the rather painful impact of difficult-to-interpret poetry. After all, one can always cling to a tree when floods of images and abrupt shifts from 'person' to 'person' threaten to lose contact with anything resembling understanding.

Perhaps the tree, as a symbol and as an addition to his own new mythology, assisted Blake in a similar manner. Singer suggests that the "fear of being taken over by the unconscious may be countered by the act of objectification. Blake performed this by writing down what he heard and drawing pictures of what he saw. The visions then became manageable creations of his own mind. He never became completely overwhelmed by the terrors of the unconscious, although he was certainly endangered at times. Before he leaned over to look into the Abyss, he made sure that his foot was securely fixed in the root of an oak. The oak may be interpreted as the standpoint of the observing ego, supporting the visionary experience which is brought about by the concentration of 'The Mental Traveller.' Blake retained his perspective of the material world while also participating in the experience of the inner vision" (245). Though the tree is but one example of the creative process suggested and described by Singer, its presence does serve as a sort of compass, guiding the way to the beginnings of interpretation or understanding.

Admittedly, the tree is certainly not the most important nor even the most striking component of Blake's illustrations or written works, but it should still exact a certain amount of acclaim for its constant and lucrative reituration. As a recurring symbol, it provides a multitude of possibilities; each different tree suggests its own separate tradition or relevant mythology. Even the meanings for one tree can change or shift from poem to poem; Blake's willows, for example, can represent either sorrow or joy, two emotions that one would not expect to be embodied by the same object. Yet they are. Similarly, the apple tree can represent either good knowledge or bad, purity or sin, life or death. And so the tree, if not the most obvious of Blake's symbols, is certainly one of the best employed. Its duality of meaning adds to Blake's complexity, while also providing a relatively stable branch from which to peer out into a new creative universe. It serves as a representative for Blake himself, for his creative genius. It is impossible to drain the intricacy of meaning from any of his poems, impossible to transform a maze of meaning, mythology and possible interpretations into one single "It means this!" Not likely. It is equally unfeasable to shrink Blake's trees to fit within one necessarily limited definition. Ultimately, they embody and bring to fruition a multiplicity of symbols, images, ideas and designs. A real, physical tree has many branches; so too do the symbolic trees Blake created to abet and to depict his poetic visions.