‘The Trees’ by Adrienne Rich

Introduction
The Trees shows the conflict between man and nature. Nature is not happy with activities of
human being. With the growth and development of society, human beings have used nature for
their own benefit and caused a lot of harm to it. In order to use natural resources men have
forgotten the importance of nature. The trees from the poet’s house are going out of the forest to
free themselves.

Summary
This is a poem about the decorative plants. These plants are grown in houses for beautification.
These grow in small pots and pans. They have taken the place of large forest trees which have
been cut by human beings. This poem presents the picture of harm done to nature by human
beings. Adrienne Rich’s poem ‘The Trees’ is a voice with a body engaged in activities and
sensing intrusions that are not organic to the conventions of a nature poem. This poem narrates
the struggle of a population of trees to escape the confines of a green house or container of
nature. The poet tells us that how trees want to break out of the bondage of man-made things
and reunite with their natural surroundings. The message is that the forests have disappeared. So
people have plant in their homes. Trees are revolting as they have lost their natural usefulness.
No bird nests in them, nor do they spread their shadows to the tired people.

Explanation
The trees inside are moving out into the forest,
the forest that was empty all these days
where no bird could sit
no insect hide
no sun bury its feet in shadow
the forest that was empty all these nights
will be full of trees by morning
Explanation : The poet observes that the trees in her house are moving outside into the forest
which has been empty for a long time. It is important to understand that the trees are not
actually moving, but it has been used as an imaginary by the poet to show the destroyed forests
and the false nature that humans have tried to keep in their houses for creating a false
impression of nature or for decoration. Since the forest outside was empty, no birds could sit on
the branches of trees, no insects could hide in the trees and sunlight could never disappear under
the shadows of the trees. The poet says that as the trees are moving out , the forests which were
empty all these nights will be full of trees by the morning.
All night the roots work
to disengage themselves from the cracks
in the veranda floor.
The leaves strain toward the glass
small twigs stiff with exertion
long-cramped boughs shuffling under the roof
like newly discharged patients
half-dazed, moving
to the clinic doors.
Explanation : It seems like the trees work silently in the night in order to complete their
mission of getting free from the boundaries of the house. Therefore, the roots of the tree work
all night to free themselves through the cracks on the Veranda floor. The leaves of the trees try
very hard to put a lot of pressure on the glass window so that they could break it and go outside.
The small twigs have become very hard due to applying so much pressure to free themselves.
The larger branches of the trees have shrunk and had bent because of being inside all the walls
and under the roof , where they cannot grow much. Trees try to move slowly from there and
look like newly discharged patients from a hospital, who become half-shocked on coming to the
outside world.

I sit inside, doors open to the verandah

Writing long letters
In which I scarcely mention the departure
of the forest from the house.
The night is fresh, the whole moon shines
in a sky still open
the smell of leaves and lichen
still reaches like a voice into the rooms

Explanation : The poet sits in her house, writing long letters, with the doors of house opening
to the Veranda. She scarcely mentions in her letters about the trees that are moving out to the
empty forest. It is a full moon night where the moon is shining in the open sky and the night is
very fresh. The smell of leaves and lichens reaches the poet like a voice coming from the rooms
of the house.
My head is full of whispers
which tomorrow will be silent.
Listen. The glass is breaking.
The trees are stumbling forward
into the night. Winds rush to meet them.
The moon is broken like a mirror,
its pieces flash now in the crown
of the tallest oak.
Explanation : The poet listens to the sounds coming from the leaves and lichens of the trees.
These sounds will not be there in the morning as the trees will move out to the forest in the
night and will not be in the house by morning. Now, the poet can hear the glass breaking due to
the efforts of the twigs. The trees hurry outside stumbling on each other. As the trees go in the
open, it seems like the wind is moving fast towards them to meet them. After going out into the
forest, the tall trees stand straight in the forest. Its branches cover the moon due to which it
looks like a broken mirror. The broken pieces of the moon seems like a crown of the tallest oak
tree.

Short Summary

Adrienne Rich’s poem ‘The Trees’ is a voice with a body engaged in activities and sensing
intrusions that are not organic to the conventions of a nature poem. This poem narrates the
struggle of a population of trees to escape the confines of a green house or container of nature.
The poet tells us that how trees want to break out of the bondage of man-made things and
reunite with their natural surroundings. The message is that the forests have disappeared. So
people have planted trees in their homes. Trees are revolting as they have lost their natural
usefulness. No bird nests in them, nor do they spread their shadows to the tired people.

Summary

The poet observes that the trees in his house are moving outside into the forest which has been
empty for a long time. It is important to understand that the trees are not actually moving, but it
has been used as an imagery by the poet to show the destroyed forests and the false nature that
humans have tried to keep in their houses. Since the forest outside was empty, no birds could sit
on the branches of trees, no insects could hide in the trees and sunlight could never disappear
under the shadows of the trees. The speaker feels that the empty forest will be full of trees by
the next morning.

It seems like the trees work silently in the night in order to complete their mission of getting
free from the boundaries of the house. Therefore, they work all night to free themselves through
the cracks on the Verenda floor. The leaves of the trees try very hard to put a lot of pressure on
the glass so that they could break it. The small twigs have become very hard due to applying so
much pressure to free themselves. The large branches of the trees try to move slowly from there
and look like newly discharged patients from a hospital, who become half-shocked on coming
to the outside world.

The poet sits in her house, writing long letters, with the doors of house opening to the Veranda.
She mentions in her letters about the trees that are moving out to the empty forest. It is a full
moon night where the moon is shining in the open sky and the night is very fresh. The poet
smells the leaves and lichens coming from the trees that reach her like a voice.

The poet listens to the sounds coming from the leaves and lichens of the trees. These sounds
will not be there in the morning as the trees will move out to the forest in the night and will not
be in the house by morning. Now, the poet can hear the glass breaking due to the efforts of the
twigs. The trees hurry outside stumbling on each other. As the trees go in the open, it seems like
the wind is moving fast towards them to meet them. The trees are so tall that they have the
moon into pieces like a broken mirror. The moon sits like the crowns on the head of the tall oak
tree.
This was the simple summary of this poem. However, the poem means quite different from
what we have explained above. It is also about feminism and women emancipation

POETIC DEVICES in the Poem ‘THE TREES’

Rhyme scheme: There is no rhyme scheme in the poem. It’s written in ‘free verse’

Imagery: The words and phrases in the poem create their visual representations in mind. It is
done through the use of figurative language to create pictures and visuals in the mind of the
readers to convey the views and thoughts of the poet. In short, the poem floats and moves
through or imagination.

The whole poem keeps creating visuals in our mind about the struggle of the trees and different
incidents and happenings associated with it.

See the following examples:

 The trees inside are moving out into the forest.
 The forest that was empty all these days
where no bird could sit …
 Like newly discharged patients
half-dazed, moving
to the clinic doors …..
 The glass is breaking
The trees are stumbling forward ….
 Its pieces flash now in the crown of the tallest oak.
Simile: It is used to draw a clear comparison between two or more things or people having
same qualities using words ‘like’ and ‘as’.
 Like newly discharged patients.

 Still reaches like a voice into the rooms.

 The moon is broken like a mirror.

Repetition: Words or lines are repeated to emphasise a feeling or idea, create rhythm, and or
develop a sense of urgency.

‘The forest that was empty’ (in the first stanza)

Personification: A prominent figure of speech in which a thing is given human attributes.

See the following examples as how the trees, the sun and the winds are shown as behaving like
human beings.
  The trees inside are moving out into the forest.
 No sun bury its feet in shadow.
 All night the roots work.
 Winds rush to meet them.
Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
The poet uses ‘the trees’ to connote the significance of forests and raise the issue of
‘deforestation’

People keep plants and trees in their homes and have the false impression that it can replace the
lost forests. The poet uses the trees as symbolism to say that the issue of deforestation can be
tackled only by planting trees.

Alliteration: A literary device in which a series of words begin with same consonant sound.

Example: long leaves, leaves and lichen

Metaphor: Metaphor is a literary device used to represent a comparison without using the
words “like” or “as”.

The poet uses ‘trees’ metaphorically to represent helplessness of woman in the patriarchal
society. The metaphor extends throughout the poem and therefor the poem is a good example of
‘extended metaphor’.

The struggles of the nature or trees to be freed from the confinements of man is compared to
that of the
women’s struggle for the same to get freedom from the men dominated society.

Personification: A prominent figure of speech in which a thing is given human attributes.

See the following examples as how the trees, the sun and the winds are shown as behaving like
human beings.

 The trees inside are moving out into the forest.

 No sun bury its feet in shadow.
 All night the roots work.
 Winds rush to meet them.
Enjambment: Enjambment is a poetic technique in which a sentence or phrase is continued
over multiple lines of poetry, without a pause or break at the end of each line.

The poem is a good example of enjambment. Every stanza of this poem has lines continuing to
next lines without punctuation.
For example: In the lines below, no punctuation has been used by the poet.

the forest that was empty all these days

where no bird could sit
no insect hide
no sun bury its feet in shadow
the forest that was empty all these nights

Anaphora:

The trees inside are moving out into the forest,

the forest that was empty all these days

no insect hide
no sun bury its feet in shadow

Simile:
 Like newly discharged patients
 Still reaches like a voice into the rooms
 The moon is broken like a mirror
Imagery: Its pieces flash now in the crown of the tallest oak.

Some other Poetic Devices in “The Trees” by Adrienne Rich

1. Personification
Definition: Giving human characteristics to non-human objects or abstract ideas.
Example: “The trees inside are moving out into the forest.” The trees are described as if they
have the ability to move on their own, which is a human characteristic.

2. Imagery
Definition: Descriptive language that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste).
Example: “The night is fresh, the whole moon shines in a sky still open the smell of leaves and
lichen still reaches like a voice into the rooms.” This line creates vivid sensory images of sight
(moon shines), smell (smell of leaves and lichen), and sound (like a voice).

3. Simile
Definition: A comparison using “like” or “as”.
Example: “long-cramped boughs shuffling under the roof like newly discharged patients half-
dazed, moving to the clinic doors.” The boughs are compared to patients who have just been
discharged from a clinic, emphasizing their struggle and effort.

4. Metaphor
Definition: A direct comparison between two unlike things without using “like” or “as”.
Example: “The moon is broken like a mirror; its pieces flash now in the crown of the tallest
oak.” The moon is metaphorically described as being broken like a mirror, creating a striking
visual image.

5. Alliteration
Definition: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Example: “small twigs stiff with exertion” The repetition of the ‘s’ sound in “small,” “stiff,”
and “exertion” creates a rhythmic effect.

6. Enjambment
Definition: The continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break.
Example: “The trees inside are moving out into the forest, the forest that was empty all these
days where no bird could sit no insect hide no sun bury its feet in shadow” The sentence flows
over multiple lines without a pause, creating a sense of movement and urgency.

7. Symbolism
Definition: Using symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings
different from their literal sense.
Example: The trees symbolize freedom and the return to one’s natural state. The act of the trees
moving out into the forest symbolizes liberation and reclaiming one’s true self.

8. Repetition
Definition: Repeating words or phrases for emphasis.
Example: “the forest that was empty all these days… the forest that was empty all these nights”
The repetition of “the forest that was empty” emphasizes the lifelessness of the forest before the
trees return.

9. Hyperbole
Definition: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Example: “The moon is broken like a mirror” This is an exaggerated way to describe the
fragmented appearance of the moon’s reflection.

(Compiled from various sources)