The Irreplaceable Value of Heritage

“Sycamore Gap” explores a real-life event in Northern England, in which a UNESCO World Heritage Site was irrevocably damaged by vandals. Hadrian’s Wall is a historically significant and popular walking trail, which until 2023 included a famous sycamore tree. The poem describes the moment in which two very human men, disconnected from the natural world, decided to exert their own power over the landscape by cutting down the tree. In the process, the wall was damaged. The speaker describes the reverberations of the act, stating that “Years from now, we will still be trying / to map the open wound” (Lines 9-10). This “wound” is both figurative and literal. The vandalism created an open space where there had previously been growth, and that empty space is a constant reminder of what has been taken away. The hurt is also a sense of betrayal...