It takes much time to kill a tree,

Not a simple jab of knife

Will do it.
It has grown slowly consuming the earth,
Rising out of it, feeding upon its crust,
Absorbing years of sunlight, air,
water,
And out of its leprous
hide
Sprouting leaves.
So hack and chop
But this alone won’t do it.
Not so much pain will do it.
The bleeding bark will heal
And from close to the ground
Will rise curled green twigs,
Miniature boughs
Which if unchecked will expand again
To former size.
No,
The root is to be pulled out –
Out of the anchoring earth;
It is to be roped, tied,
And pulled out – snapped out
Or pulled out entirely,
Out of the earth- cave,
And the strength of the tree exposed
The source, white and wet,
The most sensitive, hidden,
For years inside the earth.
Then the matter
Of scorching
and choking
In sun and air.
Browning,
hardening,
Twisting, withering
And then it is
done.
ELEMENTS
Title: Apt- The poem On Killing a Tree, from its beginning to the end, describes in
detail the process and consequences of killing a tree. The title is simple and
appropriate as it contains the major concern
of the poet - merciless and callous felling of trees.
2. Genre: Motivational poem.
3. Tone: sarcastic.
4. Rhyme scheme: None, free verse.
5. Theme:
The poem is a criticism of human callousness and cruelty in chopping down trees for
agriculture, urbanization and industrialization.
Apparently, the poem reads like a ‘How to Do’ manual of killing a tree but actually it
is a
passionate appeal not to cut trees.

The poem also applauds the sturdiness and resilience of trees in that they take all
kinds of
attacks and wounds in their stride but refuse to die.
6. Message –Trees feel pain, grief, suffering, sorrows and
joys as sensitively as human beings do. So we
should never hurt them. The poet reminds us that we
have not inherited these green trees for our
use; they are held by us in trust for our future
generations. It is, therefore, our sacred duty to
conserve trees as a legacy for future.
Literary devices:
Alliteration, Personification, Repetition, Metaphor, Enjambment, Imagery.
i. Alliteration - the repetition of a consonant sound in close intervals.
Bleeding bark - ‘b & l’ sound is repeating.
White and wet - ‘w’ should is repeating.

ii. Personification – attributing human traits to inanimate things or other

living beings.
tree has been personified when the poet says that it bleeds.

iii. Repetition - The poet repeats ‘pulled out’, ‘out’.

iv. Metaphor – comparison between two unlike objects.

The bleeding bark- the poet compares the sap oozing out of the bark of a
hacked tree trunk to the blood of a human being which comes out of an injury.
Leprous hide – the uneven, discoloured bark of a tree is compared to the
discoloured and gnarled skin of person suffering from leprosy.
v. Enjambment – one line rolls on to the next line
without any pause marked by a comma or a full
stop.
vi. Imagery - the author uses words or phrases that
appeal to any of the senses or any combination
of senses to create “mental images” for the reader.