Shiv Sir’s Challenge to try making this old topic as interesting as possible.

A tree without leaves. It can be seen as a symbol.
A symbol of age,
of battle,
of withering,
of getting worn-out.
A symbol of change.
A symbol of infertility.

Does it make a ‘gushing’ sound when the winds blow by?

Does it have a voice different from the tree with leaves?

Does it have a literal stereotyped meaning?

Does the smell of its ripening-with-age wood have a different effect on a person? Does it smell of a nostalgia of something completely different? Does it smell of isolation?

Does it feel different in touch when we feel it with our eyes open or the eye closed? If it does – (it can, for, when you touch the bark of a tree knowing it’s barren, the feelings would be different than if it’s full of leaves).
Then if our eyes define what we feel, is vision the stronger of the two senses? If we believe that our vision define our thoughts which the other senses refine, is vision the stronger of all the senses?

Finally, what is the utility of a tree without leaves? Is it better off as a commodity for wood? It does not shade, it does not allow for the cool breeze, et al.
Or, can it be stretched as far as the symbol of hope. Like what we did in LOTR.