Questions Discussion

-
The Trees
Short answer type questions
Direction - Answer the following questions in 40-50 words each.

Question 1. What makes the forest empty? What cannot

happen in a treeless forest?

Clues
▪ Afforestation has resulted in the empty forests
▪ Birds and insects cannot find shelter
▪ Sun cannot cool its rays
Short answer type questions
Direction - Answer the following questions in 40-50 words each.

Question 2. What kind of whispers can the poet hear? Why

will these be silent tomorrow?
Clues

▪ Trees talking to each other, asserting to be free

▪ Sounds of their moving out
▪ Poetess’s inner voice reproaches her for imprisoning the
trees
▪ Trees will move out into the forest and will be free
Short answer type questions
Direction - Answer the following questions in 40-50 words each.

Question 3. Why is the poet writing long letters? Why does

she not mention the departure of the trees?
Clues

▪ Poet feels the sorrow of the trees

▪ Not mentioned the departure of the trees in her letters
Long answer type questions-
Direction - Answer the following questions in 60-80 words each.

Question 1. The trees in the poem stretch out their

branches, break remove common barriers and
struggle hard even out in the open in their natural
environment. Analyse the efforts one puts into
breaking sway captivity and striving for freedom.
Clues
▪ Freedom is happiness. Freedom is the true law of nature
▪ Even national heroes have sacrificed everything to make
their country free
▪ It is an exemption from external control
 Extract based questions-
Direction - Read the following extracts and answer the
questions that follow in one or two lines.
1. 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.
1. 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.

Question 1. Why would the whispers be silent tomorrow?

The whispers will be silent because the trees will

move outside to the forest.
1. 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.

Question 2. Why are the trees stumbling?

The trees are stumbling because they hurry to

move outside after breaking the glass.
1. 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.

Question 3. Which word in the stanza means the same as

‘Quiet’?

The word is ‘Silent’.

1. 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.

Question 4. Which poetic device has been used in the sixth

line of the stanza?

Simile has been used using ‘like’ for comparison.

 Extract based questions-
Direction - Read the following extracts and answer the
questions that follow in one or two lines.
2. 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.
2. 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.

Question 1. Find three things that cannot happen in a

treeless forest.

The three things that cannot happen in a treeless

forest is; sitting of a bird on tree, the hiding of
insects and the sun burying its feet in the shadow
of the forest.
2. 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.

Question 2. What picture do these words create in your

mind: … “sun bury its feet in shadow…”?

The sun radiates heat and the given words create a

picture of the hot, radiating sun cooling its feet in
the cool shadow of the forest.
2. 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.

Question 3. What could the poet mean by the sun’s ‘feet”?

The sun’s feet refer to its rays that reach the

earth.
 PRACTICE
QUESTIONS
Direction - Read the following extracts and answer the
questions that follow in one or two lines.

Questions

1. The trees inside are moving out into the Ans’ 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.
(a) What does the poet mean by empty forest? Why is it empty?
(b) ‘No sun bury its feet in the shadow’, explain this line.
(c) Which word in the stanza means “unoccupied”?
(d) How will the empty forest be full of trees by morning?
 Questions

2. 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.
(a) Why do the roots work all night?
(b) Why do the twigs get stiff?
(c) Which word mean “to get free” in the stanza?
(d) Which poetic device has been used in the last line of the
passage?
 Questions

3. I sit inside, doors open to the veranda writing long letters in

which I scarcely mention the departure of the forest from the
house.
(a) Find the word from the passage which means ‘hardly’.
(b) What is she doing?
(c) Where are the trees in the poem?
(d) What do you mean by veranda?