We Have Been Friends Together

The most common type of chestnut tree in England is the sweet chestnut tree, from which edible nuts are harvested for roasting. These trees can grow to a massive size and have twisting trunks and wide, low branches. The friends in “We Have Been Friends Together” play under these trees when they are children. The trees have deep root systems and can live for hundreds of years, so they have become symbolic of longevity. Longevity is one of the reasons the speaker gives the friend for retaining their friendship. Chestnut trunks often develop vertical fissures, and their branches can collapse, but those branches may grow new shoots where they land. As with the branches, Norton implies something new could come out of this emotional fissure the friends are experiencing.

In Stanza Two, the friends are “gay together” (Line 9, Line 15) and deeply happy. This is due to the “hope” (Line 11) flowing between them. The image here is of a fountain bubbling over with rushing water. The speaker correlates a physical fountain to the emotional “hope” (Line 11) overflowing in their hearts. This is a “warm and joyous” (Line 12) experience. What this seems to reveal is the friends share aspirations together.