The poem 'The Laburnum Top' is written by Ted Hughes.

It is about a repaying
relationship between the Laburnum tree and the Goldfinch bird. The tree is yellow,
silent and death-like and is made alive by the bird and her young ones. The yellow
bird has her shelter on the tree where she feeds her young ones.

Important Words :

Laburnum : The Golden Chain tree - A commonly found tree with golden flowers that
hang in bunches

Laburnum Top : The top of the laburnum tree - its highest branches

Goldfinch : Wild canary - A small, yellow bird - The male of the species has black
markings across the face, on the wings and tail.

Twitch : Small, often involuntary movement of a body part

Chirrup : An onomatopoeic word capturing the sound made by a bird

Startlement : Amazement - a sudden unexpected action which causes surprise

Sleek : Smooth - In the context of the poem, it could imply a quick movement without
much disruption.

Abrupt : Sudden or unexpected

Chittering : An onomatopoeic word capturing bird sounds

Tremor : Shiver - shake

Trillings : Singing repeatedly - In the context of the poem, an onomatopoeic word,

capturing bird sounds
Stokes : Adds fuel - In the context of the poem, the goldfinch feeds its family, providing
the fuel (nutrition) that the machine (the bird's family) needs to be energetic

Flirts : In the context of the poem, move abruptly or jerkily with light steps

Eerie : Strange in a frightening or mysterious way

Infinite : In the context of the poem, the sky

Launches : In the context of the poem, flies

Subsides : Returns, reduces in intensity

Following poetic devices have been used in the poem “The Laburnum Top” written by Ted
Hughes –

1. Alliteration :- “(S)eptember s()unlight”, “a (s)uddeness, a (s)tartlement”, “the whole

(t)ree (t)rembles”, “(w)histle-chirrup (w)hispering.
2. Simile: “then sleek as a lizard”
3. Metaphor: “a machine starts up of chitterings”, “the engine of her family”, “Her barred
face identity mask”.
4. Personification: “the whole tree trembles and thrills”.
5. Transferred epithet: “Her barred face identity mask”.

SYNOPSIS
The poem “The Laburnum Top” by Ted Hughes describes the mutual relation between
a Laburnum Tree and a goldfinch. Both of them are yellow in colour (the tree is yellow
because of its flowers) and quite beautiful in appearance.

The Laburnum Tree is beautiful, large but quite silent and getting naked because of
winter. However, the bird, Goldfinch appears from the sky and soon the whole tree is
surrounded by the sweet chirps of the bird and her young ones. It was previously
dead and now it seems to be alive and shaking until the bird vanishes away again.
Dead silence prevails.

The poem has been divided into three stanzas. There is no set rhyme scheme. The
first stanza describes the tree before the bird reaches it. The second stanza describes
the coming of the bird and the final stanza tells the condition of the tree when the bird
goes away.

STANZA1

The Laburnum Top is silent, quite still

in the afternoon yellow September sunlight,

A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen

EXPLANATION

In the first stanza, the poet says that he saw a Laburnum Tree (with its yellow flowers). In his
words, “The Laburnum top is silent“. The tree is still and looks dead-like in the daytime of
September. Even the sunlight is also yellow. As it is the time of autumn, the leaves of the tree
have turned yellow and its seeds have fallen off it.

In this stanza,
yellow, then itsthe
leaves
poethave
usesalso turned“yellow”
the image colour
yellow and repeatedly.
the sunlight Firstyellow.
is also the tree’s flowers are

The yellow color symbolizes beauty (because of flowers, which, though have fallen off in the
form of seeds), death (because of yellow leaves) as well as silence (day time without rain or
wind). In the whole stanza, the poet is trying to describe the miserable condition of the
Laburnum Tree which is silent, dying, and without seeds (useless).

Stanza 2

Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup

A suddeness, a startlement,at a branch end

Then sleek as a lizard, and alert and abrupt,

She enters the thickness,and a machine starts up

Of chitterings, and of tremor of wings,and trillings -

The whole tree trembles and thrills

It is the engine of her family.

She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end

Showing her barred face identity mask

EXPLANATION

The death-like scene however changes as soon as the goldfinch comes with a
twitching chirrup. Goldfinch is a bright yellow colour
oured bird. Twitching chirrup means “short chirping sounds”.
The bird is quite precautious while sitting at a branch end of the tree and has
sudden quick movements. Perhaps it is looking out for any danger that might
be there.
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trillings.

The image of the machine here refers to the young ones of the bird. A machine
makes a lot of noise when it starts. Similarly, when the young birds see their
mother they start chirping like a machine, flattering their wings fastly in joy as
their mother has come with food. They were hungry as well as sad being far
from their mother.

Now the whole tree trembles and thrills because of the mother bird and her
young ones. The poet probably wants us to feel how a dead-like tree becomes
alive because it has given space to the bird and her young ones. The birds
have gotten shelter and the tree in return has got life.
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Stanza 3

Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings

She launches away, towards the infinite

And the laburnum subsides to empty

EXPLANATION

Reaching the branch-end of the tree, it makes strange but sweet chirping sounds
and then begins his journey towards the infinite i.e. the sky and the Laburnum Tree
again becomes silent and dead-like.

Question 1.
The arrival of the goldfinch on the Laburnum top brings about a change in the poem.
How do you interpret this change? Is change good or bad in life?
Answer:
At the start of the poem, the top of the Laburnum tree in the poem is silent and still.
There is hardly any activity on it as the sunlight falls on it on a September afternoon.
However, with the arrival of the goldfinch, it suddenly becomes a place of feverish
activity. The silence of the place is broken by the twittering and chirruping of the
chicks and the goldfinch.
I think that the change brought about by the arrival of the goldfinch on the Laburnum
top is good, as it breaks the monotony. The tree becomes alive and lively with the
movement of the goldfinch and the twitterings and chirrupings of the chicks.

Change can be good or bad in life depending on a situation. However, the fact is that
change is the only constant in life. So, even if a change is bad, we have to accept it
and move on in life.

Question 2.
What values do you learn from the goldfinch in the poem ‘The ‘Laburnum Top?
Answer:
The goldfinch has its nest on the top of the Laburnum tree in the poem, ‘The
Laburnum Top’. Her chicks stay in the nest while she (the mother goldfinch) keeps
going out at regular intervals to get food to feed her chicks. This shows her caring
nature and highlights the values of motherly care and affection of a mother towards
her offspring.

The other aspect of the goldfinch that is captured in the poem is its movement. She
arrives at the Laburnum top in a sudden manner and is very much alert to her
surroundings. The poet has compared her movement with the sleek movement of a
lizard. However, there is a reason for her moving like this (in an alert and sudden
manner). She is moving in this manner so as to avoid getting noticed by any
predator. She does not want any predator to know that her chicks are resting in her
nest on the Laburnum top as then the predators may kill them or harm them. The
values of safety and security for her offspring is highlighted in this act of the
goldfinch.