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The document discusses a poem about trees, exploring themes of nature versus human intervention. It poses questions about the imagery and symbolism of trees, their relationship with the environment, and the implications of their presence or absence. The document also compares this poem with another titled 'On Killing a Tree,' highlighting the satirical commentary on humanity's treatment of nature.

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6 views3 pages

Document (54)

The document discusses a poem about trees, exploring themes of nature versus human intervention. It poses questions about the imagery and symbolism of trees, their relationship with the environment, and the implications of their presence or absence. The document also compares this poem with another titled 'On Killing a Tree,' highlighting the satirical commentary on humanity's treatment of nature.

Uploaded by

bhoopesh.singh0710
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter- The Trees

Question 1.

1. Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest.

2. What picture do these words create in your mind:"... sun bury its feet in shadow ..." ?
What could the poet mean by the sun's 'feet'?

Answer:

1. (a) Trees can't move out into the forest

(b) no birds can sit on them

(c) no insects can hide in them.

2. The picture is that of the sun. It is burying itself in the shadow. This is caused by the
clouds. By the sun's 'feet' the poet means the edge.

Question 2.

1. Where are the trees in the poem ? What do their roots, their leaves, and their twigs
do ?

2. What does the poet compare their branches to?

Answer:

1. The trees in the poem are in the pots and pans. Their roots spread to free themselves
from the cracks in the veranda door. Their leaves go toward the glass. Small twigs stiffen
the long- cramped boughs.

2. The poet compares their branches to the newly discharged patients. Those patients
are going towards the clinic doors. They have been discharged.

Question 3.

(i) How does the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and (b)
at its end? What causes this change?

(ii) What happens to the house when the trees move out of it? (V. Imp.)

(iii) Why do you think the poet does not mention "the departure of the forest from the
house" in her letters ?

Answer:

(i) The whole moon shines in the open sky.,


(ii) In the end it is broken like a mirror. The growth of trees in the pots and pans causes
this.

The house undergoes a change. Its glass is broken. The smell of leaves is felt inside the
rdoms. Winds rush inside the house.

(iii) The poet deliberately does not mention this because it is like the unexpected
happening. It is common and is known to all.

Question 4.

Now that you have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poem might
mean. Here are two suggestions. Can you think of others?

(i) Does the poem present a conflict between man and nature ? Compare it with
'A Tiger in the Zoo.' Is the poet suggesting that plants and trees, used for
'interior decoration' in cities while forests are cut down, are 'imprisoned', and
need to 'break out'?
(ii) On the other hand, Adrienne Rich has been known to use trees as a metaphor
for human beings; this 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?

Answer:

(i) The poem does present a conflict between man and nature. In fact, man has
harmed nature much. He has cut forests and killed wild animals. He keeps wild
animals in zoos as given in 'A Tiger in the Zoo'. Yes, the plants and trees are really
imprisoned. We must grow them naturally, not inside the houses.

(ii) The new meanings are: men will multiply. They grow like the trees. These are kept in
pots in houses. These trees break the house. So the human beings shall disturb the
ecological balance of nature. At present this is the situation. Environmental pollution is
its effect, Human survival is threatened. Global warming is there. Soon it will threaten
human and other life. The danger, therefore, is real.

Question 5.

You may read the poem 'On Killing a Tree' by Gieve Patel (Beehive-Textbook in English for
Class IX, NCERT). Compare and contrast it with the poem you have just read.

Answer:

'The Trees' deals with 'trees' that are nowhere in a physical sense. They exist only in a
picture. 'On Killing a Tree' deals with the subject of how to kill a tree. Both the poems
narrate a world which is connected with trees. In 'On Killing a Tree', the poet satirizes
man's action in killing a tree. He says that man should 'kill' a tree 'totally'. The tree will
grow again if it is partially 'injured'. In 'The Trees', the poet satirizes the 'world' that is
without the trees. It hides the fact that man has 'killed' all the trees. So both the poems
underline man's attitude towards trees and nature. They also satirize it.

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