UDGAM SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN

Std. X – English Language and Literature (184)

P 7 – Trees
Name: ____________________ Std /Sec: _____ Roll No. _____

INTRODUCTION
Adrienne Rich’s ‘The Trees’ is a nature poem. In this poem, the poetess has personified nature.
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Man has confined nature within the four walls. He has uprooted trees and kept them in the modern
artificial glasshouses. But nature can’t be subdued for long. The trees struggle to break the artificial
barriers. They become free breaking all the bondages and move towards their natural habitat – the
forest. Only there they can grow to the natural vastness, grandeur and dimensions. The poetess
tries to convey that like human beings, trees also need freedom.
THEME
‘The Trees’ by Adrienne Rich depicts two types of conflicts – conflict between nature and humans
and conflict between humans. As mankind approached civilisation, they forgot their innocence and
their bonds with mother nature. They cut the trees recklessly to satisfy their own needs ignoring the
adverse effects of their deeds on other organisms. According to the poetess, when plants are
brought into the house, they feel suffocated due to the limited space available. The real nature is
outside, in the forest where birds can sit on their branches, insects hide and sun rays disappear
under the shadow of the trees. The trees are trying to break free from the walls that humans have
put around them and go out in their natural habitat – forest. Humans must recognise the negative
effects of their actions on nature and make amends before it is too late.
SYMBOLISM
Apart from the literal meaning, the trees have been used as a metaphor for human beings. Like the
trees, humans too want to break free of the boundaries that life puts on them. Modern life with all
kinds of physical comfort has also brought a lot of moral downfalls. Our lives have become busy and
we have become selfish and greedy. Man would also want to enjoy the beauty of nature and go out
in the open and be free, just like trees.
Also, given that Adrienne Rich was a feminist and that the poem was written in 1963 and published
in 1966, when the wave of feminism was on the rise, the trees can also be said to symbolise women.
In a male-dominated society, women are struggling to come out of the patriarchal confinements to
gain freedom. It is hoped that like the trees in the poem, they will be liberated too.

POETIC DEVICES
1) The trees inside are moving out into the forest
Personification: Trees are said to be ‘moving out’ like people.
Antithesis: Two words ‘inside’ and ‘out’ conveying opposite ideas are used in the same line.
2) where no bird could sit
no insect hide
no sun bury its feet in shadow
Repetition: The negative ‘no’ is repeated to stress the fact that the forests were devoid of
all these things.
Personification: The sun is personified as having feet which it will not bury in the shadow.
3) long-cramped boughs shuffling under the roof
like newly discharged patients
 half-dazed, moving
to the clinic doors.
Simile: The boughs are compared to patients just discharged. The boughs shuffling under
the roof and patients walking to the clinic doors are both weak and faint.
4) writing long letters
Alliteration: The sound of the letter ‘l’ is repeated in ‘long’ and ‘letters’.
5) the smell of leaves and lichen
still reaches like a voice into the rooms.
Simile: The smell of leaves and lichen is compared to a voice. Both travel invisibly.
Alliteration: The sound of the letter ‘l’ is repeated in the words ‘leaves’, ‘lichen’ and ‘like’.
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. What causes the forests to be empty? What can’t happen in a tree-less forest?
Man’s uncontrollable cutting of forest trees has resulted in empty forests. Birds and insects
cannot find shelter or make their homes in a tree-less forest. The sun’s rays cannot be cooled
in the shadow.
2. How do the trees protest against their enslavement at the hands of man?
Man has imprisoned forest trees in his city dwellings. The trees revolt against their
enslavement. The roots emerge from the floors by breaking them. The leaves break the
windows and fall out. The long, suffocated branches begin to spread. As a result, the trees
begin to spread out into the forest.
3. 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 doors. In the same way, the plants in the pots feel
suffocated. They are deprived of adequate light and space to be able to freely survive. So,
they stretch themselves towards the glass-door, in the hope of finding the light.
4. What are the whispers that fill the head of the poetess?
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 inside her house.
5. 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.

LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. How does the poem make a strong anti-deforestation argument?
The poem sends a strong message against deforestation. When the poetess says that
without trees, there will be no shadow, no forest, no place for birds to sit, and no place for
insects to hide, it emphasises the importance of trees. The plant, as a sapling, adds to the
beauty of its surroundings by spreading its branches, leaves and roots around. Thus, the
trees are welcomed by the strong winds and the moon. The poetess does not want to mention
the forests’ departure because she feels guilty for simply looking silently at them as they
leave. In this way, she subtly highlights man’s apathy towards forests.