“I am no better than the old lightning-struck chestnut-tree in Thornfield orchard,” he remarked ere long. “And what right would that ruin to have bid a budding woodbine cover its decay with freshness?”
“You are no ruin sir – no lighting-struck tree: you are green and vigorous. Plants will grow about your roots, whether you ask them or not, because they take delight in your bountiful shadow; and as they grow they will lean towards you, and wind round you, because your strength offers them so safe a prop.”
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 37. Rochester uses nature metaphors to compare himself to the splintered chestnut tree in the orchard at Thornfield, and Jane to a budding new plant. He feels that he has no right to a fresh young woman like Jane because of his ruined body. However, Jane tells him that his strength makes him green and vigorous and will provide safety for plants that grow around him.