The Trees

 Summary

This is a poem about 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 with their actions.

Comprehension Questions 

Answer the following questions in 30-40 words: 

1. What is the central idea of the poem ‘The Trees’? 

The central idea of the poem is the conflict between man and nature. A plant is brought inside the house when it is a sapling. But as it grows into a tree, it gets suffocated with the limited space available. So it departs to feel free. The tree is thus moving out to occupy the now empty forest, made so by man’s indiscriminate felling of trees. Humans must understand the negative impact of their actions on nature and mend their ways before it is too late.

2. 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. 

3. How does the poetess 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 poetess 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.

4. 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.

5. 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. 

6. Why are the trees moving out into the forest? 

In the poem, the trees are presented as a metaphor for human beings. As humans value freedom, nature can’t be subdued and controlled by man. The trees have been brought to the artificial glasshouses. The natural habitat of trees in the forest. Therefore, after a long and hard struggle, they are coming out of the artificial barriers. They are marching victoriously towards the forest which is their original habitat. 

7. Why is the poetess hopeful that the empty forest will be full of trees by the morning? 

The poetess is quite optimistic. The natural barriers to contain and subdue nature created by man will be broken. The trees which have been deprived of their natural habitat will struggle to free themselves from the clutches of man. The struggle of these trees will not go in vain. By morning, they will be marching victoriously to the forest. The forest will be full of trees by morning.

8. Describe the struggle of the roots, leaves, small twigs and long boughs to free themselves and break open the artificial barriers created by man. 

Every part of the confined trees rises in revolt and struggles hard to free itself. The roots struggle all night to break free from the cracks in the veranda floor. The leaves struggle to come out of the glass. Small twigs have become hard due to overwork. Long cramped boughs are trying to break open the roof and come out.

9. Describe the comparison between boughs and the newly discharged patients in the last lines of the second stanza.

Freedom is a common theme. The cramped branches of the trees put in the artificial glasshouses, want to be free. They are shuffling hard to come out in the open. They want to be free. Similarly, the newly discharged patients are impatient to escape to freedom. They don’t want to be confined to the beds of the hospital. They run towards the doors of the hospital to have a taste of freedom again.

10. What are the whispers that fill the head of the poet? 

The head of the poetess is full of whispers. These are the whispers of the silent struggle that is going on in her house. The trees have been waging a heroic struggle to free themselves from the bondage of man. They are moving to their original home — the forest. The poetess is a witness to all that is happening in the house.

11. Describe the sound and fury of the victorious march of the trees to the forest. 

Now the silent struggle gets more vocal and visible. The trees have won their hard-earned victory. The artificial glasshouse that imprisoned them has been broken to pieces. The trees are stumbling forward towards the forest. Winds rush in to meet them. Even the full moon is covered by the full-grown up oak tree. Only a fragmented moon is visible through its expanding leaves and boughs.

12. Why is the full moon broken to pieces like a mirror in the last lines of the poem? 

Previously it was a peaceful night hiding the struggle that was going on silently. The moon was full. But now the full grown-up trees like oaks with their boughs spreading out all around have obstructed the sight of the moon. The full moon is fragmented and partly visible only through the top boughs and leaves of a huge oak tree.

13. What is the message that the poetess wants to give to the readers through the poem ‘The Trees’?

Adrienne Rich uses trees as a metaphor for human beings, more particularly women. In a male-dominated 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.

Answer the following questions in 100-120 words:

1. ’Departure is painful’. So is the departure of the trees painful for the poetess. 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 poetess reveals that she will feel lonely after the trees’ departure.

2. The poem ‘The Trees’ presents a conflict between man and nature. Describe the struggle of the trees and their victorious march to their natural habitat—the forest.
The poem ‘The Trees’ is based on the universal and age-long theme — the conflict between man and nature. Nature has endowed innumerous blessings on man. However, the greed, arrogance and foolishness of man have constantly tested the patience of otherwise peaceful nature. When nature can’t bear any more, it revolts and causes havoc on man in the form of storms, droughts and floods. Man’s greed leads to deforestation. Forests without trees have become a curse for birds, insects and even for the sun. This disaster can’t be redeemed.
Any attempt to subdue and control nature will end in failure. Uprooting trees from their original habitat, the forests and confining them to artificial glasshouses will end in failure. The trees rise against the onslaughts of men and wage a long and hard struggle to liberate themselves from the bondage of man. Ultimately, they are victorious. They return to their original home where they should be. Ultimately, nature asserts itself and repulses man’s attempt to exploit, subdue and tame it.

Questions from the text book. Thinking about the Poem

1. Find in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest.
The three things which have been described in the first stanza that cannot happen in a treeless forest are:
(i)Without trees, birds can’t perch on them.
(ii) In a treeless forest, insects will find no place to hide.
(iii)The scorching sun can’t find cool shade in a treeless forest.

2. What picture do these words create in your mind? ‚… sun bury its feet in the shadow …‛? What could the poet mean by the sun’s ‘feet’?
Adrienne Rich uses the poetic device of ‘personification’ in these lines. Here the sun has been personified having feet like a man. The words create an image when the scorching rays of the sun desperately need shade to cool them. Sadly, it can’t happen in a treeless forest.

3. Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves and their twigs do?
The trees are not in their natural habitat — the forest. They have been planted by humans in their artificial glasshouses. The trees in the poem represent the metaphor of man. As a man loves freedom, so leaves, twigs and roots of the trees struggle to free themselves. They are struggling to break open the artificial barriers put up by man. They are struggling to go to their natural habitat. And the forest is their original home.

4. What does the poet compare their branches?
The poet uses very effectively the poetic device of simile. The cramped branches are shuffling under the roof of the house to come out. Their restlessness is compared to the newly discharged patients who are impatiently running towards the hospital door to come out.

5. How does the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this change?
At the beginning of the third stanza, the poet describes a full moon shining in the open sky. The night is fresh. However, at the end of the poem, the same full moon is broken into pieces. This happens because the trees have departed to the forest. The full-grown up oak tree is spread so widely that only a fragmented or broken moon is visible through its leaves and branches at the top.

6. What happens to the house when the trees move out of it?
The artificial barriers to confine the vast power of nature by man are broken. The trees move to their natural habitat — the forest. The house becomes treeless as the forest was a day before. Only the poet is left alone to reflect upon this unique act of nature.

7. Why do you think the poet does not mention ‚the departure of the forest from the house‛ in her letters? (Could it be that we are often silent about important happenings that are so unexpected that they embarrass us? Think about this again when you answer the next set of questions.)
It is rather a mystery that the poet writes long letters and she doesn’t even mention the great change of nature that is happening before her eyes. The departure of the trees finds no mention in her letters. Perhaps the change is so sudden and unexpected that she is shaken and embarrassed at the departure of the trees.

8. 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? After going through the poem, it is clear that the poet wants to explain that trees want to be free. They don’t want to be imprisoned.

(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’?
Certainly, the poem ‘The Trees’ does represent a universal conflict between man and nature. Nature can’t be subdued and controlled by man. Man’s greed and arrogance may put the tiger (‘A Tiger in the Zoo’) in a concrete cell. But the tiger’s the urge for freedom never dies. He can find his natural growth and grandeur only in his natural habitat—the forest. Similarly, in ‘The Trees’, the victorious march of the trees to the forest underlines man’s failure to subdue and tame nature. Trees can’t find their full growth and grandeur in artificial glasshouses. Only in the forest, which is their natural habitat and home, the trees can flourish to their full glory and growth.

(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?
There is no doubt that Adrienne Rich uses trees as a metaphor for human beings, particularly women. In the male-dominated society, women have been forced to live within the four-walls erected by men. The attempt of the trees to break upon the artificial glasshouses represents the struggle of women too. Women too are struggling to break open the chains and shackles they have been imprisoned in. They are fighting for their liberation. Like the victorious march of the trees in the poem, one day they will surely be liberated from the artificial barriers created by men.

9. 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.
Both the poems ‘The Trees’ and ‘On Killing a Tree’ are a beautiful study in contrast. In ‘The Trees’, Adrienne Rich describes man’s attempt to disturb the natural balance of the environment. Here, there is a futile attempt of confining the all-powerful nature within artificial barriers. There is a stupid but arrogant attempt to shift trees from their natural habitat — the forest. The trees don’t value freedom less than men. They struggle, break open the artificial barriers and march victoriously to their original home, the forest. In ‘On Killing a Tree’ Gieve Patel describes man’s attempt to kill the natural wealth of this world—trees and forests. Man’s greed leads to deforestation. But the killing of a tree can’t be taken for granted. A tree is not killed suddenly with a blow. Every part of a tree struggles. The roots, the twigs, branches and even leaves put up a heroic fight before dying in the end. Man’s arrogance and cruelty are challenged step by step. Man’s diabolic attempt to subdue and destroy nature is vehemently challenged by nature itself.
The only difference is that man’s arrogance and cruelty ultimately succeeds in ‘On Killing a Tree’. On the other hand, the victorious march of the trees to the forest in ‘The Trees’ tells the story of the victory of nature over man.

Practice

Q1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. 

(a) All night the roots work 

to disengage themselves from the cracks 

on 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. 

i.) What do the roots do all night?
a. try to free themselves
b. try to sleep
c. try to dance
d. try to grow 

ii.) How are the small twigs?
a. brittle 

b. stiff 

c. strong 

d. weak 

iii.) What are the boughs compared to? 

a. newborn children 

b. new blooms 

c. senior citizens 

d. newly discharged patients 

iv.) Find a word from the extract which means the same as ‘to separate themselves.’
a. cramped
b. exertion
c. disengage
d. shuffling

(b) 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. 

i. Where is the poetess sitting?
a. forest
b. veranda
c. her room
d. her office

ii. What is the poetess doing?
a. writing emails
b. writing letters
c. writing poems
d. writing stories

iii. How does the poetess describe the night and the moon?
a. The night is fresh.
b. The night is dark.
c. The night is unpleasant.
d. The night is scary. 

iv. Find a word from the extract which means the same as ‘almost not.’
a. veranda
b. departure
c. shines
d. scarcely

Q2 Answer the following questions in 30-40 words each. 

(a) Where are the trees at present? What do their roots, and leaves do? 

The trees are in the house. The roots try to free themselves from the cracks of the veranda floor, and the leaves make efforts to move towards the glass perhaps in search of light. The small branches become stiff as they try to pull themselves towards the light. 

(b) How does the poetess describe the growth of the trees inside the houses? 

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. 

(c) Why does the poetess 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’s 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. 

(d) What will be the condition of a treeless forest? 

No one can imagine a forest without trees. They are the life-line of a forest. Without trees, there will be no activity of birds, insects as well as of the sun. The birds will have no place to perch on. The insects will have no place to hide in. Even the scorching sun will lose the shade to cool itself in the absence of trees.

Q3Answer the following questions in in 100 -120 words. 

(a) What message does Adrienne Rich want to convey through her poem, The Trees’?
In her poem, ‘The Trees’ poetess Adrienne Rich subtly drives home the message about the importance of trees. Without trees, the birds would not have a place to sit, insects will have no place to hide and the sun would not bury its feet in shadow. As saplings, we enjoy the beauty of plants as they adorn the surroundings. But slowly the tree spreads its roots, its branches and leaves and seems to yearn to go outside where it can live and grow without any restrictions. No more does the tree look attractive indoors. The trees are however welcomed into nature by strong winds and the moon. The author hereby emphasizes that trees need to be kept alive, but should not be ‘imprisoned’ inside the house as they look more beautiful, and tend to thrive outdoors that is where trees belong.

(b) How does Adrienne Rich use trees as a metaphor for humans? Isn’t the struggle of the trees to free themselves and go to the forest is the struggle of crushed humans, particularly of women against the powerful and atrocious men?
The poet Adrienne Rich uses trees as a metaphor for humans, particularly struggling women. Nature, itself is represented by trees and forests in the poem. Man’s foolish and atrocious attempts to exploit, subdue, tame and control nature have led to disastrous results like deforestation. Forests have become empty. The futile attempt of humans to put trees and forests in the artificial glasshouses fails miserably. The trees, their roots, leaves, twigs and boughs wage a long and hard struggle to come out of the artificial barriers. Ultimately, the trees and forests reach where they should be. The victorious march of the trees to the forest tells the saga of nature’s victory over the onslaughts of man.
The liberation of the crushed and the women is based on the same theme. In a male-dominated society, women are struggling to come out of the clutches of men to gain freedom. It is hoped that like the trees in the poem, they will be liberated in the end.