The Trees

By– Adrienne Rich

Value Points of the Poem
1. The trees are coming out of their artificial glasshouses.
2. They are moving out into their natural habitat — the forest.
3. The trees are metaphors of nature itself.
4. Without trees, forests have become empty.
5. No trees are left in the forest where birds can perch themselves on their tops.
6. Even insects have lost the places where they could hide themselves in.
7. The poetess is hopeful that the forest, will be full of trees ‘by morning.’
8. To free themselves, the roots continue working all night.
9. They tire trying to come out from the cracks in the veranda floor.
10. Small twigs become tough and branches move their positions under the roof.
11. The night is fresh. The moon is shining and the smell of leaves and lichen is spreading out into
the rooms.
12. The poet is sitting inside but the struggle of the roots, leaves and branches continues to free
themselves.
13. The struggling trees have come out breaking the glasshouse and are marching towards the forest
victoriously.
14. The poet uses trees as a metaphor for human beings. The human beings feel suffocated and
sad under the oppression and dependence. They yearn for their freedom and independence. They
rebel against the oppression, slavery and exploitation to be free and be on their own.

Literary and Poetic Devices

"The Trees" is a free verse poem of four stanzas, making a total of 32 lines. There is no set rhyme scheme
and no regular metric beat pattern—each line is different rhythmically—and the lines vary from short to
long.

The poem begins with a description of the actions of the trees as they start to move out at night. This is quite
an objective view of the scene, the first two stanzas going into lots of objective detail.

• Repetition (anaphora) occurs in the first stanza (the forest that was empty), reinforcing the idea that
previously there was no life outside. Take note also of: where no bird/no insect/no sun.
• Similes, in the second, third and final stanzas, involve both human and domestic elements: like newly
discharged patients/like a voice/like a mirror.
• Personification is to be found in the first stanza (no sun bury its feet in shadow), the second stanza
(small twigs stiff with exertion/long-cramped boughs shuffling) and the fourth stanza (The trees are
stumbling forward).

Reference to Context

Read the following stanza and answer the questions that follows:

Question 1.
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.

(i) Name of poem and poet.

(ii) From where do the trees move out into the forest?
(iii) Why has the forest been empty all these days?
(iv) How do you think will the forest be full of trees again?
Answer:
(i) These lines have been taken from the poem ‘The Trees’ composed by ‘Adrienne Rich’.
(ii) The trees move out into the forest from the human houses.
(iii) The forest has been empty all these days because trees have been cut and transported to the cities.
(iv) The forest would be again full of trees when men would understand his responsibility towards the
nature.

Question 2.
All night the roots work
to disengage themselves from the cracks
in the veranda floor.
The leaves strain towards 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 are the roots trying to do?

(ii) Why are the small twigs stiff?
(iii) What does the poet mean by ‘the clinic doors”?
(iv) Name the poem and poet.
Answer:
(i) The roots are trying to break the veranda floor.
(ii) The small twigs are stiff as they were straining to break the glass.
(iii) The poetess means that the trees are sick because they are being suffocated and choked in cramped
spaces of the veranda.
They need to be cured and become healthy again and for them the clinic is the open spaces of the forest.
(iv) The poem “Trees” composed by ‘Adrienne Rich’.

Question 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.
The night is fresh, the whole moon shines
in a sky still open
the smell of leaves and lichen
still reaches like a voice into the rooms.

(i) Where is the speaker?

(ii) Why does the poet not mention the departure of the forest?
(iii) How do the leaves and lichen talk to each other?
(iv) Name the poem and poet.
Answer:
(i) The speaker (poetess) is sitting inside her house
(ii) The poetess doesn’t mention the departure of the forest because she is embarrassed.
(iii) The leaves and lichen talk to each other through the smell.
(iv) The poem “Trees” composed by Adrienne Rich.

Question 4.
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.

(i) What are ‘whispers’ that the poetess can hear?

(ii) What does the poet ask us to listen to?
(iii) Which poetic device has been used?
(iv) Name the poem and poet.
Answer:
(i) The whispers that the poetess can hear are the sounds made by the outgoing trees.
(ii) The poetess asks us to listen to the sounds of the breaking glass.
(iii) The poetic device is ‘Personification’. The trees are personified.
(iv) The poem “Trees” written by ‘Adrienne Rich’

HOME ASSIGNMENT
Question 1: What is the central idea of the poem, ‘The Trees’?
Question 2: Why are the trees described in the first stanza not useful for birds or insects?
Question 3: Why does the poet use the metaphor of newly discharged patients?