The Trees (Poem)

THEMES
The major themes of this poem are:
• Humanity vs Nature
• Freedom
Humanity vs Nature
• In the poem, Rich describes some consequences of the absence
of trees from forests.
• She says that without trees and their branches, birds have
nowhere to sit. Similarly, insects have no place where they can
hide.
• Through this, Rich may be highlighting how human activities
like deforestation and the felling of trees have damaged nature.
• These activities have destroyed the natural habitats of birds,
insects, and other species.
Freedom
• In the poem, Rich uses trees to symbolise women’s quest for
freedom.
• She vividly details how the trees fight to reach their home, the
forest.
• Trees’ roots struggle to break free from the veranda floor.
Similarly, leaves and twigs labour to escape through the glass
windows.
• Their movement resembles the ‘half-dazed’ or confused
movement of patients who have just been released from the
hospital.
• Through these images, Rich stresses on the difficulties that
women face while overcoming long-established traditions.
• Thus, the trees’ struggle to escape from the houses to the forest
reflects a woman’s struggle to shatter the barriers that are
binding her and attain freedom.

Question and Answers

Q1-(i) Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a
treeless forest?
Ans: The three things mentioned in the first stanza that cannot happen in
a treeless forest are:
Birds sitting on the tree branches.
The hiding of insects in the branches of trees
The sun burying its feet in the shadow of the trees in the forest.

ii). What picture do these words create in your mind: “….. sun bury its
feet in shadow…..1′? What could the poet mean by the sun’s ‘feet’?
Ans.The sun’s ‘feet’ refers to the rays of the sun that fall on the earth.
When there is no shadow on the ground, because there are no trees, the
rays fall directly on the ground. In a forest with trees, the shadow hides
the sun rays and it seems that the sun is burying its feet in the shadow
that fall from the trees.
Question 2.
i. Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves and
their twigs do?
ii. What does the poet compare their branches to?
Answer:
i. In the poem, the trees are inside the house. Their roots work all night
to disengage themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor. The leaves
try very hard to move towards the glass and put a lot of pressure on it so
that it breaks, while the small twigs get stiff with exertion.
ii. The poet compares the branches to newly discharged patients of a
hospital who are moving out of the clinic door because the boughs also
move out in the same semi-dazed state as if they are under a spell.

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?
iii. Why do you think the poet does not mention “the departure of the
forest from the house” in her letters?
Answer:
i. At the beginning of the third stanza, the poet says that the full moon is
shining in the open sky in the fresh night. At the end of the stanza, she
describes that the moon breaks into pieces like a broken mirror and its
pieces shine in the crown of the tallest oak tree.
The change is caused by the shifting of the trees outside.
ii. When the trees move out of the house, the glasses break and the
whispers of the trees vanish, leaving the house silent.
iii. The poet hardly mentions about “the departure of the forest from the
house” in her letters because it is humans, who did not care for nature in
the first place. So, maybe, the poet now thinks that nobody would be
interested in knowing about the efforts that the trees are making in order
to set themselves free. If other men cared about the trees, they would not
have destroyed them. It seems that this whole beauty of trees moving
back to forests can be seen and felt only by the poet.
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
‘imprisoned1, 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:
Since a poem can have different meaning for different readers and the
poet can mean two different things using the same imagery, both these
meanings can be justified in context of the poem:
i. Yes, the poem presents a conflict between man and nature. Man has
always caused much harm to nature, without realizing that it actually is a
harm to the human race. Humans cut down forests for forest goods,
which has destroyed a lot of natural beauty. By keeping trees inside
walls and denying them their natural home, they are denying them their
freedom. That is why, the trees want to move out. Similarly, in the poem
A Tiger in the Zoo, the poet shows that animals feel bounded by cages
and they want to get free and run wild in the open.
ii. If trees have been used as a metaphor for human beings, then the
poem would mean that like the trees, humans too want to break free of
the boundaries that life puts on them. Modern life with all kinds of
physical comfort has also brought a lot of moral downfall. Our lives
have become busy and we have become selfish and greedy. Man would
also want to enjoy the beauty of nature and go out in the open and be
free, just like trees.
EXTRA QUESTIONS:
1. Determine the message conveyed by the poetess through the poem
‘The Trees’.
Ans. Adrienne Rich uses trees as a metaphor for human beings, more
particularly women. In a male-dominated (patriarchal) society, women
are in bondage. They are struggling to free themselves. Similarly, nature,
represented by trees and forests, is struggling to escape itself from the
onslaughts of man to destroy it. The victorious march of the trees gives a
message of hope that nature can’t be tamed or subdued by the onslaughts
and arrogance of man.
2. Discuss the reason why are the trees revolting.
Ans. The trees inside the houses are getting suffocated so they are trying
to free themselves and go back to forests where they truly belong.

3. The poet uses trees as a symbol for women breaking patriarchal

notions. Do you agree? Why/ Why not?
Ans. Indeed, the poet uses trees as a symbol for women breaking
patriarchal notions. In a male dominated society, women are in bondage.
They are struggling to free themselves. Similarly, nature representing
tree and forests, is struggling to escape itself from the onslaughts of men
to destroy it.

Figures of Speech
Metaphor: ‘The Trees’ is the extended metaphor –
In this poem ‘The Trees’ Adrienne Rich talks about trees coming out of
houses. But in reality, she is referring to women who need to break out
of the strictures imposed by society.

Personification: A poetic device in which human attributes are given to

animals, non-living things or ideas.
The poet attributes humanly character to trees in the poem. Trees cannot
move in real life., but Rich refers to trees as humans because it is a
reference to women.
Personification is to be found in the first stanza (no sun bury its feet in
shadow -Sun has been personified), the second stanza (small twigs stiff
with exertion/long-cramped boughs shuffling) and the fourth stanza (The
trees are stumbling forward).
Simile:
* long cramped boughs compared to patients (like newly discharged
patients)
*the smell of leaves and lichen still reaches like a voice into the rooms.
*The moon is compared to a mirror (Moon is broken like a mirror)
Alliteration: Alliteration is the occurrence of the same sound, at the
starting of two or more words in a single line in a poem
* small twigs stiff with exertion
*of the forest from the house
*the smell of leaves and lichen
*writing long letters
etc…
Enjambment:
Eg.
*the forest that was…… trees by morning.
*the leaves strain……. Half dazed
etc…
Imagery:
*Its pieces flash now in the crown of the tallest oak.
*The trees inside are moving out into the forest
Etc..
Anaphora:
Eg. no insect hide
no sun bury its feet….