Toru Dutt: Our Casuarina Tree

Toru Dutt was born into the well-known Dutt family of Rambagan. Many of her
uncles and cousins as well as her father, Govin Chunder Dutt, published poetry and prose.
Her education and upbringing were rather unusual for even progressive mid-nineteenth
century Bengal. Toru Dutt’s family had converted to Christianity, which in some ways led to
a feeling of social alienation for the Dutt family in India. In 1869, a few years after the death
of their elder brother Abju, who died at the age of 14 due to consumption, Govin Chunder
Dutt took his wife and two young daughters Aru and Toru to travel in Europe. They spent a
few months in Nice where both sisters attended a French boarding and learnt French. In 1870
the family travelled to Brompton, England via Boulogne.  It was unusual for Indian women
of the time to travel abroad and also to gain an education abroad. 

In England both sisters continued their French Studies. While living in Cambridge
between 1871-3 they attended the Higher Lectures for Women at the University. Toru Dutt
met and befriended Mary Martin, the daughter of Reverend John Martin of Sidney Sussex
College. The friendship that developed between the two girls at this time continued in their
correspondence after Toru’s return to India, until the time of Toru’s death.  Toru Dutt seemed
to have acquired a good set of acquaintances while attending the lectures at Cambridge. 

A collection of Toru Dutt’s correspondence includes her letters written from England
to her cousins in India. Toru Dutt was a natural linguist and in her short life became
proficient in Bengali, English, French and, later on, Sanskrit.  Although she died at an
exceptionally early age she left behind an impressive collection of prose and poetry.  Her two
novels, the unfinished Bianca or The Young Spanish Maiden written in English and Le
Journal de Mademoiselle d’Arvers, written in French, were interestingly based outside India
with non-Indian protagonists.  Her poetry comprises of A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields
consisting of her translations into English of French poetry, and Ancient Ballads and Legends
of Hindustan which compiles her translations and adaptations from Sanskrit literature.

Like both of her siblings, Toru Dutt died of consumption at a young age (only twenty-
one), on 30 August 1877.
Wikipedia

Our Casuarina Tree is a poem published in 1881 by Toru Dutt [Ancient Ballads and

Legends of Hindustan], an Indian poet. In this poem Toru Dutt celebrates the majesty of
the Casuarina Tree that she used to see by her window, and remembers her happy childhood
days spent under it and revives her memories with her beloved siblings.

Our Casuarina Tree is a nostalgic ode in which she celebrates the majesty of the tree. She is
grateful to the trees for holding previous memories of her childhood and for having
occasioned many happy moments. She remembers her dead siblings, brother Abju and sister
Aru, with whom she played under the tree. The poem has echoes of certain literary markers
of western poets and abundant images and symbols with rhyme schemes of all kinds that
make the poem musical. The tree represents nature; and nature offers consolation to the
grieving heart of the poet.

Summary

The poem begins with the description of the tree. The poet says that the creeper has wound
itself around the rugged trunk of the Casuarina Tree, like a huge Python. The creeper has left
deep marks on the trunk of the tree. The tree is so strong that it bears the tight hold of the
creeper. The tree is described as being gallant, and possibly brave, as very few trees could
survive in the strangle-hold of this creeper. The poet then goes on to describe the life that
thrives amidst every facet of the tree. The tree is metaphorically said as a giant due to its huge
size, strength and boldness. The Casuarina Tree is covered with creeper which bears red
crimson flowers which appear as though the tree is wearing a colorful scarf. Often at night,
the garden echoes and it seems to be jubilant and the song (of a nightingale) has no end; it
continues till dawn. At dawn when the poet opens her window she is delighted to see the
Casuarina Tree. Mostly in winters a gray baboon is seen sitting on the crest of the tree seeing
the sunrise with her younger ones leaping and playing in the tree's boughs. The shadow of the
tree appears to fall on the huge water tank. Toru Dutt says that it is not because of the
majestic appearance of the Casuarina Tree that it is dear to her heart and soul, but also that
she along with her siblings spent happy moments under it. Toru Dutt has brought out the
theme of nature as something that shares feelings with humans, that lightens the burden on
the heart. The poet continues with a description of how strong the image of the tree is, even
when in lands far away. Even in France and Italy (where the poet studied), she can hear the
tree's lament. The poet wishes to consecrate the tree's memory and importance for the sake of
those who are now dead - and looks ahead to her own death, hoping that the tree be spared
obscurity (or that no-one will remember it). She immortalizes the tree through this poem like
how Wordsworth sanctified the Yew trees of Borrowdale. She says "May Love defend thee
from Oblivion's curse'"- expressing her wish that love shield her tree against the curse of
forgetfulness(Oblivion), that the tree be remembered out of love and not because it cannot be
forgotten( Oblivion's curse, the inability to be forgotten).

Synopsis
Our Casuarina Tree is an autobiographical poem. While living abroad, she is pining for the
scenes of her native land and reliving the memories of childhood. In the first part of the poem
the poet depicts the Casuarina Tree trailed by a creeper vine like a huge python, winding
round and round the rough trunk, sunken deep with scars. It reached to the height touching
the very summit of stars. The Casuarina Tree stood alone unaccompanied in the compound. It
was wearing the scarf of the creeper hung with crimson cluster of flowers among the boughs
accompanied by the bird and swarms of bees humming around. The tree is dear to the poet
because it is the solo bond between the poet's past and present. When she recalls it a chain of
pleasant and poignant memories occur to her mind and again she tastes the flavour of her
childhood. In her imagination she is again transported to the golden age and hears the same
cries, laughter and noise of her sweet departed playmates. This tree reminds of her siblings
who used to play with her under it (Casuarina Tree).

Analysis

In this poem, Toru Dutt sings glories of the Casuarina tree and describes it in detail. On the
surface of it, it appears that it is all about the Casuarina tree, but actually the tree is just a
medium to link the poet's past with the present. The poet remembers the tree because of the
many happy memories of childhood days that are linked to it which are a source of comfort
and consolation to her in another country. The poem, therefore, underlines the importance of
memories in human life. The tree brings to her mind the memories of time when she used to
play under it in the company of her brother and sister, both of whom are already dead. She
was very close to her dead brother and sister named Abju and Aru respectively who loved the
Casuarina tree very greatly. So she loves the tree greatly. But lost in the memories of her
siblings who are now dead, she is looking forward to death as an acceptable thing. The
memories of her brother and sister bring tears into her eyes. She hopes that the tree will be
remembered for ever as the yew trees of Borrowdale immortalized by Wordsworth are still
remembered. She immortalizes the tree for the sake of her loved ones by writing a poem for
it.
Poemanalysis

‘Our Casuarina Tree’ by Toru Dutt celebrates her reminiscence of a happy childhood in
India with her beloved siblings.  It was published in her collection of
poems Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan in 1882. The tree is used as a symbolic
representation of the poet’s past memories and the rich tradition of Indian culture and
Philosophy, a prevalent idea present in Dutt’s poetry.

Summary

Toru Dutt’s ‘Our Casuarina Tree’ explores the poet’s childhood memories in India. Her
description of the tree expresses her pride on the tree for it remains strong despite the creeper
winding around like a python. From her description of its appearance, she moves on to
describe the activities happening around it in the next stanza. In the third stanza, she ensures
that the beauty of the tree is no more than an added gift, for her real connection with the tree
lies on the numerous happy memories she shared with it. In the stanza follows, she tells how
the tree manifests itself in the foreign land as she has seen it at her young age. Finally, in the
concluding part, she wants to honor the tree, therefore she makes an attempt to write a poem.
Also, she seeks Love’s support to preserve the tree from the affliction of time.

Form and Structure

‘Our Casuarina Tree’ by Toru Dutt is a poem of fifty-five lines, divided into five stanzas.
Eleven lines of each stanza consist of an octave (8 lines), following the style of a sonnet has
two quatrains (4 lines) with closed rhymes and a rhyming tercet. Thus, making the
overall rhyme scheme of the poem ‘ABBACDDCEEE FGGFHIIHJJJ KLLKMNNMOOO
PQQPRSSRTTT UVVUWXXWYYY’. Further, using a rhyming tercet (3 lines) rather than
the regular rhyming couplet (two lines) gives the impression of overflowing which mirrors
the speakers overflowing emotions towards her childhood memories and the Casuarina tree,
the center of the poem.

Poetic Devices

The poem ‘Our Casuarina Tree’ in itself is a symbolic representation of the poet’s memory
associated with the Casuarina tree. Using the subjective pronoun in the title suggests the
‘subjective’ tone of the poem. In the first stanza, the poet’s description of the creeper’s
stronghold on the tree, and the scare symbolically represent the impact of colonialism on
Indian Culture and Philosophy. The poem uses rich imagery which presents in the description
of the tree’s appearance, description of dawn, and the memory of her loved ones connected
with it. The metaphor used in the lines “The giant wears the scarf,” “trembling Hope,” and
“Time the shadow” and the similes’  “”LIKE a huge Python,” “baboon sits statue-like alone,”
and “The water-lilies spring, like snow enmassed,” that add beauty to the poem and instates
the poet’s feelings

Analysis, Stanza by Stanza

Stanza One
 LIKE a huge Python, winding round and round 

 The rugged trunk, indented deep with scars, 

 Up to its very summit near the stars, 

A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound 

 No other tree could live. But gallantly       

The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung 

In crimson clusters all the boughs among, 

 Whereon all day are gathered bird and bee; 

And oft at nights the garden overflows 

With one sweet song that seems to have no close,

Sung darkling from our tree, while men repose. 

The first stanza of ‘Our Casuarina Tree’ begins with the image of the tree. The poet
remembers the tree being wound by a creeper like a python. Its hold was too tight for it had
left the scar on the trunk. The poet further states that no other tree would have sustained this
hold, for it is too strong, but her tree did. Also, the ‘giant,’ the tree has proudly worn those
‘scars’ like a ‘scarf’, representing its strength. To further describe its strength, the poet says it
is filled with crimson flowers in every bough like a crown that invited birds and bees. Often
at night when the poet could not sleep she used to listen to the music that filled her garden as
if it has no end.

Stanza Two

When first my casement is wide open thrown 

 At dawn, my eyes delighted on it rest; 

 Sometimes, and most in winter,—on its crest 

A gray baboon sits statue-like alone       

 Watching the sunrise; while on lower boughs 

His puny offspring leap about and play; 

And far and near kokilas hail the day; 

 And to their pastures wend our sleepy cows; 

And in the shadow, on the broad tank cast         

 By that hoar tree, so beautiful and vast, 

The water-lilies spring, like snow enmassed.

The second stanza of ‘Our Casuarina Tree’ details the experiences of dawn which delighted
the poet. Every morning, as she opens her window, her eyes rest on the tree and ‘delighted.’
She presents the picture of the changing scene with seasons. Sometimes during other seasons,
and mostly during winter, she has seen a baboon sitting on the top branch like a statue
waiting to receive the first array of sunlight. Whereas, his ‘puny offspring’ plays around in
the lower branch of the tree. Along with this scenic beauty, the poet also experienced the
‘kokilas’ welcoming note. She has also observed the cows guided towards the pastures and
the water-lilies spring under the shadow of the hoar tree, like gathered snow.

Stanza Three

But not because of its magnificence 

 Dear is the Casuarina to my soul: 

 Beneath it we have played; though years may roll,       

O sweet companions, loved with love intense, 

 For your sakes, shall the tree be ever dear. 

Blent with your images, it shall arise 

In memory, till the hot tears blind mine eyes! 

 What is that dirge-like murmur that I hear       

Like the sea breaking on a shingle-beach? 

It is the tree’s lament, an eerie speech, 

That haply to the unknown land may reach. 

In the third stanza, the speaker turns more subjective in the memory associated with the tree.
She comments on why the tree will remain dear to her always. Besides the morning bliss, the
tree reminds her of the time she played with her siblings. The tree, blended with the memory
of them, gives her the images of the intense love they shared, leaving the poet in tears.   The
poet mourns for those departed souls as she thinks down the memory lane. And, she imagines
that the tree shares her lose which she hears as “dirge-like murmur” resembling the waves
breaking on a pebble beach.

Stanza Four
  Unknown, yet well-known to the eye of faith! 

 Ah, I have heard that wail far, far away       

 In distant lands, by many a sheltered bay, 

When slumbered in his cave the water-wraith 

 And the waves gently kissed the classic shore 

Of France or Italy, beneath the moon, 

When earth lay trancèd in a dreamless swoon:     

 And every time the music rose,—before 

Mine inner vision rose a form sublime, 

Thy form, O Tree, as in my happy prime 

I saw thee, in my own loved native clime. 

In the fourth stanza, the poet presents an in-depth connection with the tree. Through the
image of waves, she takes us to the foreign land which is “Unknown, yet well-known” where
the “waves gently kissed the classic shore”. Whenever this music of the waves touching the
waves rises, it arouses the memory of the tree in front of the poet’s eyes as she has seen in her
youth.

Stanza Five

 Therefore I fain would consecrate a lay       

 Unto thy honor, Tree, beloved of those 

 Who now in blessed sleep for aye repose,— 

Dearer than life to me, alas, were they! 

 Mayst thou be numbered when my days are done 

With deathless trees—like those in Borrowdale,       

Under whose awful branches lingered pale 

 “Fear, trembling Hope, and Death, the skeleton, 

And Time the shadow;” and though weak the verse 

That would thy beauty fain, oh, fain rehearse, 

May Love defend thee from Oblivion’s curse.

In the final stanza, the speaker wants to erect something in the honor of the casuarina tree.
For those who were beloved, who are resting in peace, loved it. She wants the tree to live
long like those trees of “Borrowdale” making a reference to Wordsworth’s “Yew-trees.”
Also, she makes an attempt to distinguish the trees of England from the Casuarina tree,
connecting to her varying emotions. The Casuarina tree stands for nostalgia, longing, and
memory, whereas the trees of England reflect her isolation. The final lines of the poem
underscore the idea of a poem as a written memory. The poet seeks “Love” to protect the tree
and her poem from time’s ravage.
"Our Casuarina Tree" - Critical Appreciation

“Our Casuarina Tree,” a poem written in English by the Indian writer Toru Dutt, celebrates
the majesty of the Casuarina Tree as the poet/speaker remembers her happy childhood days
spent under it and revives her memories with her beloved siblings.

The fact that the tree is associated, in the speaker’s mind, with other persons is already
foreshadowed in the poem’s title through the use of the word Our. The speaker’s perspective
is immediately more than merely her own: the title already implies that she thinks of the tree
as not simply hers but as belonging to others, too.

The opening image, which compares a large creeper crawling around the tree to a “huge
Python” (1), might at first seem dark and foreboding, but the image ultimately emphasizes the
great strength of the tree itself. For some readers, the tree symbolizes the ancient and
venerable culture of India, while the huge encircling creeper symbolizes the potentially
deadly influence of colonialism. Most immediately, though, the creeper itself seems to add a
kind of beauty to the tree; it, after all, is called a “scarf” (6), a word with fairly positive
connotations.

Although the creeper has left deep marks on the trunk of the tree, the tree is so strong that it
bears the tight hold of the creeper. The tree is described as being gallant, and possibly brave,
as very few trees could survive in the strangle-hold of this creeper. The tree is metaphorical
said as a giant due to its huge size, strength and boldness. The Casuarina Tree is covered with
the creeper which bears red crimson flowers that appear as though the tree is wearing a
colorful scarf. The poet then goes on to describe the life that thrives amidst every facet of the
tree.

Interestingly, it is only in the first line of the second stanza of her poem that Dutt brings in the
“I” which instantly connects it with the “Our” of the title of her poem. As the tone as well as
the approach is more subjective in this stanza, the Casuarina tree too seems much more than a
mere tree in the poet’s garden. Every morning, when the “casement is wide open thrown”,
two “delighted eyes” rest on it. And at times, “most in winter”, they gaze at a solitary “gray
baboon”, on the “crest”, watching the glorious sunrise while on the lower branches, in direct
contrast to this silent, “statue-like” creature is its playful “puny offspring” oblivious of
Nature’s magic and the serenity of the quiet morning. Gradually, as the sun rises, the
“kokilas” begin to greet the day with their song and a mesmerized speaker watches “sleepy”
cows that have not yet shaken off their lethargy, on their way to the pastures. But while they
plod on in search of food, our poet feasts her eyes on the beauty of their “hoar tree” and the
water-tank filled with white lilies, in full bloom, a soft, white carpet of snow.

But the beauty of the tree is no more than an added gift. Its actual importance lies in the fact
that it is a part of the poet’s existence, a reminder of family ties, of the warmth shared by
three siblings. The extent of her anguish, as, quite helplessly, she had to watch her brother
and sister die, may actually be felt. Yet, it is this silent acceptance of God’s Will that has kept
her verse free from the gloom generally associated with sorrow and death. Her brother died
when he was just a boy of fourteen, Aru was the next to go in 1874 and there was a time
when Toru too was coughing up blood and knew that the end was near. Hence, she could
have legitimately wallowed in self pity and wailed that the world was an unhappy place
where people just sit and hear each other groan. Instead, even when memory is heart-
wrenching and “hot tears” well up to blind her, Toru does not express any desire to fade “far
away” and “dissolve”. Their Casuarina tree does not make her long for “easeful” death.
Instead, even though its “timelessness” mocks the transience of the human world, the tree is
to her a support, a reminder of the joy she once experienced with Abju and Aru. So, with the
passion of a loving sister she remembers her “sweet companions” and cries, “For your sakes
shall the tree be ever dear!” Her brother and sister, though dead, are never too far away from
her and she does not wish to erase them from her memory. One feels that Toru may have
been influenced by Thomas Hood’s sobriety. He too had lost a brother to consumption but
in I Remember, I Remember he has contrasted, but with restraint, man’s mortality and the
seeming deathlessness of the Laburnum tree planted by James on his birthday. Toru Dutt may
have been much impressed by Hood’s simple, meaningful line, “The tree is living yet!” In the
closing line of the third stanza, she speaks of the “unknown” and unexplored territory that
Abju and Aru had entered, never to return.

The poet will not abandon the Casuarina tree even though it is a constant reminder of her
irreparable personal loss. Her eyes fill as she recalls the happy past and remembers the three
care-free children playing in the garden, under its branches. And the tree loyally responds to
her plaintive mood. With the poet, we strain our ears to hear the rustling of the leaves, the
“dirge-like murmur”, somewhat like the “murmuring” that Wordsworth once heard “from
Glaramara’s inmost caves”. Her tree, their tree, mourns her loss and the “eerie speech”, she
hopes, may reach the un-traversed terrain of the dead. Unfortunately, the comparison that
Toru draws between this moaning and the breaking of the waves on a shingle beach may
underline too boldly her reliance on poets of the West, on Matthew Arnold and
his Dover Beach in particular and may call into question, for a moment though, the
authenticity of her verse.

The opening line of the next stanza claims that the unknown is “yet well-known” as it can be
reconstructed/imagined or even viewed through “the eye of faith”. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar is
of the opinion that the fourth stanza of Toru Dutt’s poem “humanizes the tree, for its lament
is a human recordation of pain and regret…”  and the “tree’s lament”, which may reach the
land of the dead, transcends territorial boundaries and is heard by her in “distant lands” and
even on the “classic shores” of France and Italy. Toru’s description of both the silent Earth,
“tranced in a dreamless swoon”, bathed in the silver light of the moon and the “sheltered bay”
with its gently undulating waves is enthralling. For the sheer beauty of her verse, readers may
wish to overlook the fact that she has borrowed the “water-wraith” from William
Wordsworth's Yarrow Visited. September, 1814" which actually looked back to John
Logan’s The Braes of Yarrow. But the “water-wraith” of these British poets which give a
“doleful” warning and groan, has been substituted in Our Casuarina Tree by one that
slumbers in its cave. But, even while in a land so beautiful, whenever “the music rose”, her
mind’s eye would see “a form sublime”. Even on foreign soil, her Casuarina Tree would
appear before her “inner vision” just as she had seen it in her “own loved native clime”, and
also connect her even more strongly both with her native land and with the memory of her
dead siblings.

In the final stanza, the poet wishes to “consecrate a lay” in the Casuarina Tree’s honour. Yet,
interestingly, notwithstanding the depth of her feelings, Toru Dutt makes little or no attempt
to deify their Tree or bestow on it holy powers as Wordsworth does in The Oak of Guernica.
Instead, the Casuarina tree, standing in their garden, is a part of her existence and this poem is
her simple but sincere homage to a Tree loved also by Abju and Aru who now “repose” in
what she euphemistically calls a “blessed sleep”. She knows that soon she too will have to
bid farewell to this world and her only wish is that the tree should live forever and be
“numbered” amongst the “deathless”. Toru Dutt places the Casuarina tree beside
Wordsworth’s Yew tree, “pride of Lorton Vale”, standing in Borrowdale in the Lake District,
under whose branches “lingered pale”:

Fear, trembling Hope, and Death, the skeleton,

And Time the shadow (Yew Trees)

Literary allusions are abundant in this poem. In "Our Casuarina Tree," the first line uses
zoomorphism, describing the vine in animal terms (as a python). This is used to illustrate
movement, making the tree seem more actively alive and also, by implying movement, there
is a subtle indication of the process of time. This again is a simile comparing the creeper to a
huge, dangerous, python. Another simile compares the unmoving baboon to a statue. In the
last line of the second stanza, the speaker uses another simile to describe the water-lillies
"like snow enmassed."  

The line "the giant wears the scarf" is a personification of the tree. For the speaker, the tree is
a link to her past. The is again a metaphor of strength comparing the tree to a giant. In a way,
she treats the tree like a person that can "tell" (conjure) these memories as if it (the tree) could
speak and tell these stories. In the third stanza, the tree is personified again singing its
"lament" which might be the wind rustling through the leaves, a "dirge-like murmur"
mourning the loss of the past. Personification is used again in the next stanza. Examples are
the "eye of faith," "the waves gently kissed," and "the earth lay tranced in a dreamless
swoon." The speaker envisions nature (the tree, waves, the earth) as a living and maybe even
a conscious entity recalling (dreaming) links to the past.

“Like those in Borrowdale” is an allusion. The poet alludes to the Yew trees that William
Wordsworth wrote about, and therefore immortalized. Even if the aforementioned yew trees
were to die, they would live on, as anyone who read his poems would be able to see them.

The eleven-lined stanza in which the poem is written is a new and very successful
experiment. The poem is divided into five stanzas each made of 11 lines. The rhyme scheme
is : abba cdcd eee. This is a new scheme. It seems she has experimented, even thought it is so,
it is worthy. The sound system creates a very line rhythm through consonance and assonance.
Look this following phrase how sweet they are: “winding round and round” , “bird and bee”,
“with one sweet song”, “wide open thrown open”, “my eyes delighted”, “tree be ever dear”,
“unknown yet well known”.
Inner rhyming word, ending rhyme, eye-rhyme, pair word etc. really make the poem musical.

Most of the critics agree that “in the organization of poem as a whole and in the finish of
individual stanza, in its mastery of phrase and rhythm, in its music of sound and ideas: “our
Casuarina Tree” is a superb piece of writing.
‘Our Casuarina Tree’ As a Romantic Poem

The poem ‘Our Casuarina Tree’ by Toru Dutt is a beautiful symbolic poem harmonizing both
manner and matter in accurate proportion. The Casuarina tree is a physical entity and
a psychological entity of the poet’s mind. The tree reminds Toru Dutt of her childhood. In the
poem, the tree also symbolizes the rich tradition of Indian culture, which played an important
role in shaping the poetic and aesthetic sensibility of the poet.

In Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”, the bird symbolizes the world of art and beauty. In Shelly’s
“To a Skylark”, the bird is the symbol of freedom and liberty. In Wordsworth’s poem “The
Yew Trees of Borrowdale”, where the yew tree is being immortalized since the poet has
many happy memories of childhood days surrounding the tree, which is a source of comfort
and consolation to him in another country in the same way as Casuarina tree. Wordsworth
sanctified the Yew trees of Borrowdale as he calls them ”deathless trees”.

Similarly, in Toru Dutt’s “Our Casuarina Tree,” the tree connotes nostalgic feelings and
memories of Toru Dutt. This is the tree under which she played with her beloved siblings
Abju and Aru. Thus, she has happy childhood memories from her golden past attached to the
tree.

In the first stanza of the poem, it is seen that the rugged trunk of the tree with a huge Python
winding round the rough trunk. The huge trunk of the tree is like a huge python. The trees
‘very summit near the stars’ also tells us about the immense height of the tree. The creeper
has intended deep with scars up to the top of the tree.

The rugged trunk of the tree bears the testimony of time, and the scars are the harsh realities
of life. The tree is so strong that

“the giant wears the scarf……”

means that it sustains the hold of the creeper, very few trees could survive in such a
circumstance. Despite such claustrophobic existence, the Casuarina tree stood determined to
reach the stars.

The poet depicts the Casuarina tree trailed by a creeper hung with red crimson flowers,
attempting to sap its strength. The creeper vine that bears red crimson flowers has winded the
trunk of the tree like a huge python. Similarly, the young Dutt’s were in the grip of the killer
disease tuberculosis.

The flowers of the tree are hung in crimson clusters, which represents life as an eternal joy.
Toru says that her Casuarina tree is a shelter for gathered birds and bees. The tree is alive
with the bees humming and the chirping of birds. This picture portrays free spirit, and
inheritance soothes its listeners and tranquilizes men who relax and rest as the bird sings.

The second stanza of the poem presents the image of the Casuarina tree and the be gray
baboon with its offspring. In winter, the gray baboon used to sit on one of the branches of the
tree watching the sunrise. On the lower branches, the baboon’s puny offspring leap about and
play.

Gradually, as the sun rises, the “kokilas” begin to greet the day with their song, and a
mesmerized Toru Dutt watches the “sleepy” cows that have not yet shaken off their lethargy
on the way to the pastures. The garden overflows with one sweet song that is sung by the tree.
The poet watches all these through her casements, which are senses through which she can go
back to reality.

The huge python winding round, creeper and baboon symbolize the negative forces of life.
Despite all the negativities, the tree provides shelter to them all. The poet sees the beauty of
their ”hoar tree” with her own eyes, and the ‘broad tank cast’ which is filled with water lilies
seemed like a deep snow carpet. The water lilies spring, which is the echo of cultural
exposure to western culture.

The Tree’s Lament

In the third stanza of the poem, the poet states that it is not the outward magnificence of the
Casuarina tree due to which she is so close to her. Rather the tree is a memory of the looming
existence of her identity. She shared how she played with her brother, sister, and friends
under the tree and how her happy childhood days were spent. These memories when flashes
back in her mind; it brings tears to her eyes.

The poet wishes to go back to her past and be united with her companions. She wants the tree
to be persistent in her memory. She is trying to experience her own identity with each feature
of the tree. The tree’s lament is the dirge-like murmur or that she hears.

The final stanza of the poem is highly philosophical. Toru Dutt observes,

“Unknown yet well-known to eyes of faith”.

Here the term “unknown” denotes not simply the native home of the poet but also the world
of the departed soul. A man who has the eye of faith can see the unknown as well.

She takes us to the ‘classic shore,’ i.e., foreign shores, which is the

”distant lands by many a sheltered bay”

that is of France or Italy, where ”waves gently kissed the shores”, ”When earth lay tranced in
a dreamless swoon”. This image of sea breaking evoked mourning in the poet’s mind.

In the poem, she is recalling the tree as she calls ‘O Tree’, ‘thy honor’ and her “own loved
native clime”, her own native land, India. She has rooted consciousness in her Indian sense.
The image of ‘unknown land’ suggests the land of death and also the foreign land.

Toru refers to the music of the tree as the music of the soul, which once attained, never dies
and continues to vibrate with the highest percipience in the mind of the seeker. Whenever
‘the music rose thy form’, her ‘vision rose’ that is, her mind’s eye would see a ”form
sublime”. The more she listens to the mournful song the tree listens to the mournful song of
the tree, the more she can sublime into it.

“Under whose awful branches lingered pale

Fear, trembling, hope and death, the skeleton,
And Time the shadow…….”

In the fourth stanza of the poem, Dutt absolutely transcends the mortal, materialistic and
mundane frame of mind and attains the power of love to overcome the negative forces of life
like death, darkness, terror, and fear. The words like trembling, hope, death, skeleton, and
oblivion state that a man of steadfast love and devotion never fears the blows of death. She
says,

“Though weak the verse That would thy beauty fain, oh, fain rehearse, May love
defend thee from oblivion’s curse”,

both ‘Oblivion’s curse and ‘time’s shadow’ refer to death.

“O sweet companions, loved with love intense,

For your sakes, shall the tree be ever dear?
Blend with your images, it shall arise
In memory, till the hot tears blind mine eyes!”

Toru does not express any desire to fade “faraway” and “dissolve” even when she is
constantly mourning, and her tears are almost blinding her. Their Casuarina tree does not
make her long for “easeful” death. Instead, even though its “timelessness” mocks the
transience of the human world, the tree is her support, a reminder of the joy that she once
experienced with Abju and Aru.

The poet gives us the transcendental vision of the Casuarina tree, and it becomes an
imaginary existence, a sense of belonging, power, authenticity, authority, and solace.

The poet’s words are short of describing the Casuarina tree, Toru Dutt wrote

“But not because of its magnificence

Dear is the Casuarina to my soul”

Toru Dutt’s Blending of Romanticism and Realism

It is her love that will confer the trees’ eternal identity. She is optimistic about getting
reunited with the lost souls in her life. In Toru Dutt’s writing, we find the combination of
orient and occidental. In the poem “Our Casuarina Tree”, we find there would be a blend of
romantics idealizing the beauty of nature. The sense of belonging is invested in the poem.
The sublimity of the tree in her consciousness and the strength of the tree are presented in the
poem.

The poet’s inner feelings are represented through the tree. The whole scene is in tune
with harmonious representation. In the poem, the tree is a nourishing psychological strength
that the poet needs eagerly. On the one hand, the poet wants to live her life as a
compassionate element, and on the other hand, she wants triumph like the tree.

The poet remembers the kind of serenity which pervaded her childhood and is eager to back
to those times. Toru Dutt has a rooted consciousness in her Indian sense. In a nutshell, Toru
Dutt’s poem ”Our Casuarina Tree” is incusing the idea of romanticism and realism.
Our Casuarina Tree: Summary

Our Casuarina Tree is a poem by Toru Dutt which is about the Casuarina tree that grew in
the poetess’ courtyard and her memories associated with it.

Summary

The poetess writes this in reminiscence of the Casuarina tree that grew in the courtyard of her
childhood home. The poem opens with a description of the tree, tall enough to make it seem
like it touches the stars, strong enough to continue growing despite scars on its trunk and
despite all this it provides support to a creeper. And yet she gives it the air of a gentleman
when she describes how the tree is forever adorned with flowers and birds and bees. Thus we
see the tree in her childhood was not only as a paragon of strength but gentle and loved by the
birds and bees.
She goes on to tell us about the mornings in her childhood when she would wake up to the
sight of the Casuarina Tree.

Come summer or winter, her morning would remain incomplete without the sight of the
Casuarina tree, often with a baboon sitting on its crest. She then paints a serene picture of the
morning with the kokilas singing, the cows on the pasture and the water lilies in the spring.
However, the figure of the Casuarina tree stands central in this picture, as it does in the
morning and even in the life of the poetess.

In the third stanza, the poetess tells us why she holds the Casuarina tree dear. It is not just the
magnificence of the tree that drew her to it, but there was an emotional bond to the tree as
well. It was under the shade of the tree that she and her friends played as children. Whenever
she saw the Casuarina tree she was reminded of her childhood and the time she spent with her
friends. She held her childhood friends in great regard and the tree was a symbol of the
experiences they had. It was for this very reason that she loved the Casuarina tree and would
remember her friends whenever she thought of it.

The poetess, in the fourth stanza, also talks of how the “lament” of the tree can be heard by
her even when she is far away, off the coasts of France and Italy. She hears this song
whenever she’s near the coasts, strolling under the moonlight, and is reminded of the
Casuarina tree. We may infer that in her moments of peace and calm her memory jogs back
to her childhood which is inextricably linked with the Casuarina tree and she draws up a
mental image of the tree as it existed in its prime, in her childhood. Here we can see that the
Casuarina tree is not only an integral part of her childhood and a symbol of her friendship
with her childhood friends, it is the only thing which has remained static. Each and every one
of her friends have moved on, including her, yet the Casuarina tree remains as it is. It is the
only thing that stands as a monument to their friendship.

Therefore, in the last stanza, she says she would gladly create a monument in the honour of
the tree, for that is how much the tree is beloved to her. She also wishes that the tree grows
for years to come and be counted in the list of the deathless trees of Borrowdale, which
sheltered death and even time. She finally wishes that her love become so strong that it saves
the Casuarina tree from its demise.

This poem consists of five stanzas of eleven lines each. The rhyme scheme is abba. The
poem, though written in 1881, it is written in plain English and is easy to understand.

Title

The title of the poem, i.e., Our Casuarina Tree refers to the Casuarina tree that grew in the
garden of the poetess. The tree is a fond memory of her distant childhood on which she
reminisces.

The title of the poem is “Our Casuarina Tree.” The Casuarina tree here is symbolic. It was the
tree under which the poetess and her friends played in their childhood. Thus it holds a special
place in the poetess’ heart. Even when all of them went their separate ways, the Casuarina
tree stayed as it was. It became the symbol of their everlasting friendship and thus became
dearer in the eyes of the poetess.

Setting

The poem is set when the poetess is abroad somewhere on the coast of France or Italy and is
reminiscing about her childhood spent in her garden, under the Casuarina tree, playing with
her friends and brothers.

Tone

The tone of the poem is one of remembrance and reminiscence. The poetess remembers her
childhood spent underneath the shade of the Casuarina tree as she played with her friends.
She misses her friends and misses the tree and her home where she grew up.

Theme

The theme of “Our Casuarina Tree” is about lasting friendships and lost childhood. While on
the surface it seems like the poem is only about the Casuarina tree, it is more about her
friendship with her childhood friends which she dearly misses. The Casuarina tree is a
symbol of their friendship and thus she writes an ode to it.
How does the poetess bless the Casuarina tree?

The poem "The Casuarina Tree" by Toru Dutt features the poetess blessing the Casuarina tree
in several ways.

Firstly, she blesses the tree for its beauty and strength, describing it as a "lovely tree" that
stands "majestic" and "proud." She also blesses the tree for the shade it provides, calling it a
"screen" that shields her from the sun's heat.

Secondly, the poetess blesses the tree for the memories it evokes. She recalls playing under
the tree as a child and listening to the sound of its leaves rustling in the wind. She blesses the
tree for being a "living joy" that has brought her happiness throughout her life.

Finally, the poetess blesses the tree for its longevity and endurance, hoping that it will
continue to thrive and bring joy to future generations. She sees the tree as a symbol of
continuity and tradition, and blesses it for its role in connecting past and present.

Overall, the poetess blesses the Casuarina tree for its beauty, strength, shade, memories, and
endurance, celebrating it as a living symbol of joy and continuity.

How has the casuarina tree been personified in the poem?

In Toru Dutt's "Our Casuarina Tree," the titular tree is personified through vivid imagery and
language, evoking a sense of companionship and emotional attachment towards the tree.
Through the use of first-person point of view and the recurring image of a "veil" that the tree
provides, the speaker personifies the casuarina tree as a nurturing and protective presence in
her life.

The poem opens with a description of the tree's physical appearance, which immediately sets
the tone for its personification. The tree is described as "massive," "mighty," and "dark,"
giving it a sense of power and strength. The speaker also notes that the tree is "enwreathed
with a shadowy foliage," which creates a veil-like effect, further emphasizing the tree's
protective quality.

As the poem progresses, the speaker's relationship with the tree becomes more apparent. She
describes how the tree has been a constant presence throughout her life, from her childhood
to her adult years. The tree has been a witness to the speaker's experiences, both joyful and
painful, and has provided her with comfort and solace.

The personification of the tree becomes particularly evident in the speaker's use of language.
For example, she refers to the tree as "my companion," "my nurse," and "my guardian."
These terms suggest a close relationship between the speaker and the tree, one that goes
beyond a simple appreciation for its physical beauty. By personifying the tree in this way, the
speaker is able to convey the depth of her emotional attachment to it.

Another example of the tree's personification can be seen in the speaker's description of the
sounds that the tree makes. She writes, "The murmur of the leaves and waves, / Or voice of
living beings, / Came never to me without thee." By attributing a voice to the tree, the
speaker imbues it with a sense of agency and personality. This further reinforces the idea that
the tree is not simply a natural object, but a living presence that plays an active role in the
speaker's life.

Throughout the poem, the tree is also associated with specific emotions and experiences. For
example, the speaker notes that the tree has been "a joyous playmate" in her childhood, and
that it has provided her with "a refuge for my weary brain" in her adult years. These
emotional associations help to further humanize the tree, making it feel like a relatable and
sympathetic character.

The recurring image of the "veil" that the tree provides is also significant in the
personification of the tree. The speaker notes that the tree's foliage "veiled the heaven of
blue / With a green and living net." This image suggests that the tree is a protective force,
shielding the speaker from the harsh realities of the outside world. The veil also represents a
sort of boundary between the speaker's inner life and the world around her, with the tree
serving as a bridge between the two.

In conclusion, Toru Dutt's "Our Casuarina Tree" personifies the titular tree through vivid
imagery and language. By referring to the tree as a companion, nurse, and guardian, and by
attributing it with a voice and agency, the speaker imbues it with a sense of personality and
emotion. The recurring image of the veil that the tree provides reinforces its role as a
protective presence in the speaker's life. Through these personifications, the tree becomes
more than just a natural object, but a deeply meaningful and significant presence in the
speaker's life.