Editing Joyce Kilmer (section)

===Legacy===
Kilmer's death at age 31 denied him the opportunity to develop into a more mature poet. Because modern critics{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} often dismiss "Trees" as simple verse, much of Kilmer's work (especially his literary criticism) has slipped into obscurity. Only a very few of his poems have appeared in anthologies, and with the exception of "Trees"—and to a much lesser extent [[Rouge Bouquet (poem)|"Rouge Bouquet"]] (1917–1918)—almost none have obtained lasting widespread popularity.<ref name="Hillis" />{{rp|p.26}}<ref name="Hillis" />{{rp|p.40}}

The entire corpus of Kilmer's work was produced between 1909 and 1918 when [[Romanticism]] and [[Sentimentality|sentimental]] [[lyric poetry]] fell out of favor and [[Modernism]] took root—especially with the influence of the [[Lost Generation]]. In the years after Kilmer's death, poetry went in drastically different directions, as is seen especially in the work of [[T. S. Eliot]] and [[Ezra Pound]]. Kilmer's verse is conservative and traditional, and does not break the formal rules of poetics—he can be considered as one of the last poets of the [[Romanticism|Romantic era]]. His style has been criticized for not breaking free of traditional modes of [[Poetry#Elements|rhyme, meter, and theme]], and for being too sentimental to be taken seriously.<ref>Aiken, Conrad Potter. "Confectionary and Caviar: Edward Bliss Reed, John Cowper Powys, Joyce Kilmer, Theodosia Garrison, William Carlos Williams," in ''[https://archive.org/stream/scepticismsnotes00aikeiala/scepticismsnotes00aikeiala_djvu.txt Scepticisms]''. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1919), 178–86.</ref>

In the 1940 film, "The Fighting 69th", the role of Sergeant Joyce Kilmer was portrayed by actor [[Jeffrey Lynn]].