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The Trees

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61 views4 pages

The Trees

Uploaded by

salai.ashwinth.tis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Academic Year 2024-25

Grade: 10 Subject: English


THE TREES (Poem)

Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore USA. She was a famous poet, essayist, and feminist. She has written
this poem The Trees. This poem presents a conflict between men and nature. The poetess suggests here
that the trees and plants used in the interior decoration in cities are as imprisoned. They need freedom.
These trees want to move out to the forest where trees decreasing day by day due to cutting. The poetess
says that everything has a deep desire for freedom. It is necessary for growth and wellbeing. We must
follow the nature of laws.

This poem is a voice with a body engaged in the activities and sensing intrusion which are not organic to
the conventions of a native poem. This poem is demonstrating the unsuitability of language itself as a
greenhouse or container of nature. She knows that once the trees move to the forest area, the house will
have complete silence.
In this poem, “I” is the voice of the speaker of the poem Adrienne Rich. Poem The Trees is the voice with
a body engaged in the activities and sensing intrusions that are not organic to the conventions of a nature
poem. This is actually an unnatural poem that narrates the struggle of a population of trees to escape the
confined surrounding of a greenhouse. Through the trees, this poem demonstrates the unsuitability of the
language itself as a greenhouse. The poetess is the witness for the trees exodus but making distances
herself from participating in the making of something out of the spectacle. She can sit and write too.
Even though the speaker addresses the audience, her own head is full of whispers and she is an audience as
well. We, however, the audience to the poem, are compelled with the command. The speaker reaches
across the barrier between the poem and the audience. A transaction that occurs on the page, and says for
listening.
Poetess articulates her consciousness of the many levels of inner and outer and the blurring of the
boundaries between them. In the poem, the trees are in the house of the poet. Their roots work all night to
disengage themselves from the cracks of the floor in the veranda. The leaves are making efforts to move
towards the glass. An open door is for the night and the whole moon and the sky is available to the
speaker. This tree is at the same time, through this door the smell of leaves still reaches back in. The
speaker’s head is another interior and implicitly entered by the whispers.
The poetess is especially intrigued by the image of the trees similar to newly discharged patients. The poet
is making a comparison to the long-cramped branches which are shuffling under the roof with the newly
discharged patients from the hospital. As they are moving towards the hospital doors after their long
illnesses. The branches have cramped under the gaps with the roof. Therefore they want to get out into the
open to spread themselves in the fresh air.
The Tree is a short symbolic poem and it focuses on the movement of trees that are initially indoors but
seeking to escape to freedom in the forest. The trees represent the nature and womanhood in particular.

Answer the following questions with reference to the context.


"I sit inside, doors open to the veranda
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.
a. Which poetic device is used in the last line of the stanza?
Simile
b. What was the poet doing?
She was writing long letters
c. What is a veranda?
It is a parapet built on the first floor of a home.
d. Where are trees in the poem?
The trees are inside the house

Answer the following questions in 40- 50 words.


1. Why is the description of the moon different in the beginning and at the end of the third stanza?
At the beginning of the third stanza, the poet says that one can see the whole moon shining in the
open sky, but in the end, the moon seems to be broken like a mirror and its pieces shine in the
crown of the tallest oak tree. The change is caused by the shifting of the trees outside.
2. How does the poet describe the night? How does she feel?
It is night time. The night is fresh. In the open sky, the full moon is shining. The poet feels the
smell of leaves and lichen reaching inside the room. Her head is full of whispers. But she thinks
that the next day these whispers will be silent.
3. Why are the trees described in the first stanza not useful for birds or insects?
The trees described in the first stanza are either decorative plants kept inside a house, or they are
shown only in a painting or picture. Therefore, they are not useful for birds or insects. Birds cannot
sit on their branches. Insects cannot hide in them.
4. How does the poet describe the growth of the trees inside the house?
These trees grow in pots and pans. So their roots feel cramped. These roots try to free themselves
from the cracks of the veranda floor. The leaves need light. So they move towards the glass. The
twigs are stiff and the boughs are like the newly discharged patients coming out of clinic doors.
5. Why does the poet use the metaphor of newly discharged patients?
A patient feels depressed in a hospital. As soon as he recovers, he is eager to leave the hospital. He
rushes towards the clinic doors. In the same way, the plants in the pots feel suffocated. They are
deprived of adequate light. So they stretch themselves towards the glass door, in the hope of
finding the light.
6. What is the theme of the poem, ‘The Trees’?
The theme of the poem is the disappearance of trees. This poem also brings out the idea of conflict
between man and nature. Man is doing more and more harm to nature. Nature is getting angry.
Man’s existence on this planet is in danger. Thus, it becomes the foremost duty of every citizen to
work for the protection of the environment.
Answer the questions in 100 words.
1. ‘Departure is painful’. So is the departure of the trees for the poet. What will happen after their
departure?
Just like the departure of someone close to us is painful, so also is the departure of a tree. When
they are planted as a sapling, they look nice and enhance the beauty of our surroundings. But as
they grow and spread out their branches, they look wild and require more space for their growth.
The roots create cracks in the floor and the leaves stretch out as if to move towards the glass,
perhaps in need of sunlight. The soft twigs become strong and stiff. So the trees need to be
removed from the house. No more do the leaves cover the sky, but the trees breathe and they are
welcomed by the wind. The moon resembles a broken mirror, reflecting off the leaves. The poet
reveals that she will feel lonely after the trees’ departure.

2. How does the poem ‘The Trees’ make a strong plea against deforestation?
“The Trees” by Adrienne Rich is a poem that subtly addresses the issue of deforestation. Through
its verses, the poem personifies trees, giving them human-like qualities and emotions. This
approach creates a connection between the reader and the natural world, making the loss and
suffering of trees due to deforestation feel more personal and impactful. Rich describes the trees as
attempting to escape from a house, a metaphor for the struggle of nature against human
encroachment and destruction. This imagery of escape and the contrast between the natural world
and human constructions highlight the beauty and importance of trees, emphasizing what is lost
when forests are cut down.
Additionally, the poem touches on themes of renewal and regeneration, suggesting a hope for
nature to reclaim its space and heal from the damage caused by human activities. The emotional
language used by Rich in the poem engages the reader’s feelings, further enhancing the message of
the importance of preserving natural environments. By creating an emotional bond with the subject,
the poem effectively communicates the urgency of protecting forests and stopping deforestation.

NB: Please copy RTC, SAQs 1, 4 & 6 and LAQ 1

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