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  • On Killing A Tree

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    Paytolose boii
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    The poem describes how difficult it is to kill a tree because its roots have been nourished in the earth for years, allowing it to grow strongly. To decimate a tree, its roots must be attacked since they are the source of its strength, just as the human heart is the source of life. A tree can regrow if its branches are hacked, but to fully kill it, its roots must be exposed to the elements by pulling the entire tree from the ground or digging up the deep, protected roots. The killing process is only complete when the roots harden and shrivel without earthly nourishment. Figuratively, the tree represents deep-rooted values that sustain societies, and erosion of values can end

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    On killing a tree

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    The poem describes how difficult it is to kill a tree because its roots have been nourished in the earth for years, allowing it to grow strongly. To decimate a tree, its roots must be attacked since they are the source of its strength, just as the human heart is the source of life. A tree can regrow if its branches are hacked, but to fully kill it, its roots must be exposed to the elements by pulling the entire tree from the ground or digging up the deep, protected roots. The killing process is only complete when the roots harden and shrivel without earthly nourishment. Figuratively, the tree represents deep-rooted values that sustain societies, and erosion of values can end

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    105 views2 pages

    On Killing A Tree

    Uploaded by

    Paytolose boii
    The poem describes how difficult it is to kill a tree because its roots have been nourished in the earth for years, allowing it to grow strongly. To decimate a tree, its roots must be attacked since they are the source of its strength, just as the human heart is the source of life. A tree can regrow if its branches are hacked, but to fully kill it, its roots must be exposed to the elements by pulling the entire tree from the ground or digging up the deep, protected roots. The killing process is only complete when the roots harden and shrivel without earthly nourishment. Figuratively, the tree represents deep-rooted values that sustain societies, and erosion of values can end

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    Beehive

    Poem- On Killing a Tree

    About the poet : Gieve Patel is an Indian poet, playwright, painter and a practicing
    physician/doctor based in Mumbai. Patel belongs to a group of writers who have subscribed
    themselves to the 'Green Movement' that is involved in an effort to protect the environment. His
    poems speak of deep concerns for nature and expose man's cruelty to it.

    Born: 18 August, 1940 in Mumbai.


    About the poem : Gieve Patel is also an environmentalist. In the poem he speaks about
    cruelty of man towards environment. The process of urbanization and cutting of trees has been
    going on for a long time. The poem sarcastically mentions how a tree which has taken years
    and years to grow, needs to be uprooted for killing it rather than chopping parts of it. It can again
    grow with the help of its roots, if its parts are cut. It is not easy to kill a tree because its strength
    lies in its roots which have been protected for hundreds of years by the earth. Figuratively, it
    draws a comparison with a human being whose injuries heal even after a part of the body is
    amputated. A human being only dies when its source that is the heart stops. Nature protects
    trees but man kills them. Only if man could understand the will of Nature and leave the trees
    untouched.

    SUMMARY

    Gieve Patel describes the difficulty of cutting down a tree because its roots have been nourished
    by the earth for years together and it has grown out of them after absorbing years and years of
    sunlight, air and water. Its roots have sustained it for ages. It is anchored firmly to the earth
    therefore killing a tree is not an easy task. To decimate trees, the roots have to be attacked
    because they are the source of strength for the tree.

    No amount of hacking and chopping can kill a tree though the jabbing wounds the bark but soon
    it heals and then leaves sprout and boughs come out of it again. It can grow back again into its
    original form, with the help of its roots, its source of strength, if unchecked.

    If a tree has to be killed, its roots have to be pulled out from inside the earth, because it is
    anchored firmly to the earth with its roots, which go deep inside the earth. A tree, in order to kill
    it, has to be tied to a rope and then pulled out from it along with its roots or one has to dig deep
    into the earth to expose the roots, protected by the earth for years. Then it has to lie exposed to
    the harsh elements of air and sun, which turn the roots brown, harden and shrivel them making
    it wither. The process of killing a tree is only then complete.
    Symbolism:

    Figuratively the cutting down of a tree is compared to a human being. If a man's limbs are
    amputated or he is stabbed with a knife he would not die because his heart is functioning. Roots
    are a source of strength for a tree in the same way a man's heart is a source which sustains
    him. The comparison can also be with values which are passed on from one generation to the
    other.They are deep rooted and sustain mankind. Erosion of values leads to the gradual choking
    of a society which can endanger mankind.

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