In chapter seven of 1984, Winston Smith remebers seeing Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford (founders on the party) in the Chesnut Tree Cafe. The telescreen plays this song:
Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree
I interpreted this as meaning that Big Brother realises they are there and remembers how he/they were betrayed. I thought the lying part suggests burial and foreshadows their deaths.
Using Google I found that this is Orwell's take on a poem by Longfellow called The Village Blacksmith:
Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.
Interpretation: village = good as countryside is idealised in Smith's Golden Country dreams. Blacksmith = Winston Smith. Winston is mighty as he tries to resist party.
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Can anyone explain this further? What is the symbolism of a chestnut tree?