This is a fantastic, classic song that can only be considered modern poetry.
The "big tree" is the Jamaicsn government. Marley was very politically charged, and many of his songs contain not-so-veiled metaphors for the poverty and oppression in Jamaica in the 70s.
The "small axe" is the people, which Marley claims will rise up and take down the "big tree" that is the government. While that would eventually happen, Marley wouldn't live to see it, having been shot in his home in 1976 and dying from evenutal complications from that injury 5 years later.
This is a fantastic, classic song that can only be considered modern poetry.
The "big tree" is the Jamaicsn government. Marley was very politically charged, and many of his songs contain not-so-veiled metaphors for the poverty and oppression in Jamaica in the 70s.
The "small axe" is the people, which Marley claims will rise up and take down the "big tree" that is the government. While that would eventually happen, Marley wouldn't live to see it, having been shot in his home in 1976 and dying from evenutal complications from that injury 5 years later.