The trees

- Adrienne Rich

Message - the poem conveys the message that it is not easy to suppress nature, animals or human
beings. you may confine them, suppress them, obstruct their growth, restrict their freedom and
progress, but they will find a way to break free of all their shackles and chart their own path of
freedom and glory. trees symbolise human beings particularly women. when trees come together,
they make a forest- a world of their own, a world of freedom and equality for all similarly when women
come together, they make a movement, they create a united front of resistance, regeneration and
renaissance. The indoor trees are treated as symbolic of the dominated, exploited, enslaved people,
particularly women who have been the victims of injustice and slavery in the male-chauvinist society.
The power of nature as symbolised by trees is unconquerable. therefore instead of stilting their
growth by suppressing them, it is essential to provide them a conducive environment.

Q1. Adrienne Rich has been known to use trees as a metaphor for human beings that is a
recurrent image in her poetry. What new meanings emerge from the poem if you take
its trees to be symbolic of this particular meaning?
OR

Do you think the poem ‘The Trees’ is an allegory that treats another subject under its
surface subject?

The poem is certainly an allegory and has two layers of meanings. Trees have been treated
both literally and symbolically. In fact, the great feminist has frequently used trees to
symbolise human beings, particularly women. She has raised her voice against the
exploitation of women in male-nominated, patriarchal society. She is against slavery-whether
of natural objects or of humans.
In the poem, the tree which has been grown in the unnatural environment of a house, craves
for freedom so that it can go back to the open environment of the forests. All the parts of
the tree - the roots, leaves, twigs and boughs try to break free from the stifling space. The
narrator is confident that the tree will move out to the forest and attain freedom.
The poem, on the deeper level, is a voice against the exploitation and domination of weaker
human beings by the stronger ones. All human beings should have a right to grow and live
freely in the open environment. It is really cruel to enslave and exploit other human beings.
No human being wants a life of slavery. If supressed and dominated, the down-trodden
people are likely to rebel and throw away the chains of slavery. The chains of class, cast and
gender imprison human beings. But ultimately the suffers try to break these shackles to
claim their right to equality which they achieve through collective struggle.
The trees particularly symbolise women who have suffered domination and slavery in the
male-chauvinistic society and want to escape to the world of freedom. However, they have
now raised their voice against their ill-treatment by men and are fighting for their freedom
and equality.

Q2. What is common about the poems 'The trees' and 'A tiger in the zoo'?

The poems 'A tiger in the zoo' by Leslie Norris and 'The Trees' by Adrienne Rich share the common
central idea that the natural habitat is essential for the proper growth of living beings. Both the poems
present the cruelty of man in meddling with the natural environment by separating the natural
inhabitants of forest from the natural atmosphere.

'A tiger in the zoo' presents the pitiable plight of the tiger who feels uncomfortable in the concrete cell
of the zoo when separated from the forest. Similarly, the trees feel unhappy and uncomfortable
imprisoned in the house, away from the forest. Both the trees and the tiger are the natural inmates of
forests. They want to live their natural life in the open environment of the woods. The tiger feels
imprisoned in a cramped space of the cage, his movement is restricted and his natural self is
suppressed. He cannot roar violently as he would do in a forest. The tree, too, feels restrained and
enslaved while growing in a house and wants to break free from the shackles.

Both the poems convey the message that trees and animals must be provided their natural
environment. Man must stop his cruel attack on nature for selfish purposes.

Q3 answer the following in 30 to 40 words

a) what are the 'long-cramped boughs'? why are they shuffling under the roof?
'long-cramped boughs' refer to the stunted branches of a tree that have been forced to grow in a
confined place. Symbolically, 'long-cramped boughs' refer to women who have been long denied
their freedom and have been forced to live a life of confinement and restrictions.

The boughs have been shuffling because of restlessness in the cramped space of the house while
trying to move out. Allegorically, it implies that the confinement of women makes them fretful and
restless.

b) why does the narrator feel that the whispers will be silent 'tomorrow'?

As the trees are departing from the house and moving towards the forest where they will reach in the
morning, 'tomorrow' there will be no sounds or whispers of the leaves, birds, or insects.

At the symbolic level, it implies that the whispers will be silent tomorrow because all the voices of
fear, disbelief, doubt and skepticism will be silenced, once women achieve freedom and prove that
struggle ultimately is conducive to success.