The Trees

Page No: 100 Thinking about the Poem

1. (i) Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a
treeless forest.
(ii) What picture do these words create in your mind: “... sun bury
its feet in shadow...”? What could the poet mean by the sun’s
‘feet’?
Answer: (i) The three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest are –
one, the birds cannot perch on the trees; the insects cannot hide
themselves and three, the rays of the sun cannot form any shadow.
(ii) These words create an image of the sun shining brightly with no trees
to obstruct the passage of its rays. The sun’s feet have been
metaphorically used for is rays. The rays of the sun filter though the
branches of the trees creating a pattern of shade and light. But in the
absence of trees, there is no cool shade.

2. (i) Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their
leaves and their twigs do?
(ii) What does the poet compare their branches to?
Answer: (i) In the poem, the trees are in the unnatural environment of
the small, cramped spaces of the houses or other buildings. The
particular tree fighting to go out is grown in the veranda of the narrator’s
house.

Their roots work all night to disengage themselves from the cracks in the
veranda floor. The leaves make efforts to move towards the glass
enclosure to break it and move out into the open space. Similarly, the
twigs have been cramped for a long time and ultimately move towards
freedom.
(ii) The poet compares the ‘long-cramped’ branches that have been
shuffling under the roof to newly discharged patients who walk
unsteadily towards the door as they are still under the impact of
anesthesia or medicines. The branches also have cramped under the roof

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and want to get out into the open to spread themselves in fresh air.

3. (i) How does the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of
the third stanza, and
(b) at its end? What causes this change?
(ii) What happens to the house when the trees move out of it?
Answer: (i) In the beginning of the third stanza, the moon is shown to
be full and whole shining in the open sky in the fresh night. However, at
the end of the stanza, she describes the moon as broken into many
pieces such as a shattered mirror. This change is caused by the trees
that have made their way from her home to outside. Their branches
have risen into the sky, blocking the moon, such that the moon seems to
be broken into many pieces. These pieces can be seen flashing at the top
of the tallest oak tree.
(ii) When the trees move out of the house, their impact is still felt. The
verandah floor is left cracked and the glass is shattered. However, the
fragrance of the leaves and lichen and the sounds of the birds and
insects and the rustling of the leaves still linger in the mind of the poet,
which she feels will soon fade away.

Page No: 101

4. Now that you have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask
what the poem might mean. Here are two suggestions. Can you
think of others?
(i) Does the poem present a conflict between man and nature?
Compare it with 'A Tiger in the Zoo'. Is the poet suggesting that plants
and trees, used for ‘interior decoration’ in cities while forests are cut
down, are ‘imprisoned’, and need to ‘break out’?

Answer: (i) Yes, the poem presents a conflict between man and nature.
While nature is more free and unbounded, man prefers to live in bounded
spaces and also wants to curb nature. He uses plants for interior
decoration of houses, cuts trees to make a house for himself, kills
animals for food or other purposes and cages them in zoo. In all these
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ways, man curbs nature and denies plants and animals the freedom in
which they should live. The poem shows that trees and plants are
rebelling against man as they strive to work their way out into the open.
For instance, in the poem 'A Tiger in the Zoo', the poet presents the fact
that animals feel bounded by cages. They can only take a few steps inside
the cage, whereas they really want to run and leap into the open. This
signifies the fact that plants and animals feel caged and want to break
out from the imprisonment at the hands of humans.

(ii) On the other hand, Adrienne Rich has been known to use trees as
a metaphor for human beings: this is a recurrent image in her
poetry. What new meanings emerge from the poem if you take its
trees to be symbolic of this particular meaning?

Or
What is the symbolic significance of the poem ‘The Trees’? (8 Marks)

The poem is certainly an allegory and has two layers of meanings. Trees
have been treated both literally and symbolically. In fact, Adrienne Rich,
the great feminist, has frequently used trees to symbolize human beings,
particularly women. She has raised her voice against the exploitation of
women in male- dominated, patriarchal societies. She is against slavery –
whether of natural objects or of human beings.

In the poem, the tree which has been grown in the unnatural
environment of a house, craves for freedom so that it can go back to the
open environment of the forests. All the parts of the tree – the roots,
leaves, twigs and boughs try to break free from the stifling space. The
narrator is confident that the tree will move out to the forest and attain
freedom.
The poem, on the deeper level, is a voice against the exploitation and
domination of weaker human beings by the stronger ones. All human
beings should have a right to grow and live freely in the open

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environment. It is cruel to enslave and exploit other human beings. No
human being wants a life of slavery. If suppressed and dominated, the
down-trodden people are likely to rebel and throw away the chains of
slavery. The chains of class, caste, race, and gender imprison human
beings. But ultimately the sufferers try to break the shackles to claim
their right to equality which they achieve through collective struggle.
The trees particularly symbolize women who have suffered domination
and slavery in the male –chauvinistic society and want to escape to the
world of freedom. However, they have now raised voice against their ill –
treatment by men and are fighting for their freedom and equality.

EXTRA QUESTIONS
THEME
The poem can be read at various levels as it has a number of sub-texts. On the
superficial level, the poem deals with the theme of the conflict between Man and
Nature. Man tries to curtail the freedom of nature by removing natural objects
from their natural habitat and thus disturbs ecological balance. Nature always
strives for its freedom and tries to break free from the confinement imposed on it
by human beings. The trees, plants and animals require a free environment for
their proper growth. On a deeper level, the poem also emphasizes the need of
giving freedom to people of all genders, races and classes. Particularly, the poem
metaphorically emphasizes the need of freedom for women who have been
subjugated to slavery in the patriarchal society.
MESSAGE

The message of the poem is loud and clear. It is not easy to suppress nature,
animals or human beings. You may confine the, suppress them, obstruct their
growth, restrict their freedom and progress, but they will find a way to break free
of all their shackles and charter their own path of freedom and glory. Trees
symbolize human beings, particularly women. When trees come together, they
make a forest-a world of their own, a world of freedom and equality for all.
Similarly when women come together, they make a movement, they create a
united front of resistance, regeneration and renaissance. Nothing and nobody
can stop the growth of natural objects and human beings. Therefore, instead of
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stilting their growth by suppressing them it is essential to provide them a
conducive environment.
TITLE
The title ‘The Trees’ is very simple, brief and relevant because the poem deals
with trees, though they are treated not only literally but also symbolically. The
title does not point out the theme of the poem- the conflict between man and
nature. Nor does it give even an idea that the indoor trees are treated as
symbolic of the dominated, exploited, and enslaved people, particularly women
who have been the victims of injustice and slavery in the male- chauvinistic
society. But the title arouses the curiosity of the readers about what the poet
wants to convey through the poem.

REFERENCE TO CONTEXT
I) All night the roots work
to disengage themselves from the cracks
in the veranda floor.
(a) How do the roots work all night?
Ans The roots are shown to be striving all night to free themselves from the
concrete floor of the house. In their struggle, they have caused cracks in the
veranda floor and are jutting out of them.
(b)Why do the roots want to ‘disengage themselves’?
Ans The trees want to leave the cramped space of the unnatural habitat of the
house and move to the forest. They can move only if the roots are freed.
Therefore, the roots try hard to uproot themselves from the house.
(c)What might have caused cracks in the veranda floor?
Ans The struggling roots make a great effort to separate or detach themselves
from the ground and cause cracks in the veranda floor.
(d) Which poetic device has been used here?
Ans The poetic device used is personification. The roots are shown to be at work
like men.

II) Winds rush to meet them.

The moon is broken like a mirror,
its pieces flash now in the crown

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 of the tallest oak.

(a) What does ‘them’ refer to in the first line?

Ans In the first line, ‘them’ refers to the trees which have broken their
confinement and moved towards the forest. They are received warmly by the
winds in the forest.
(b) Why does the moon appear to be ‘broken’?
Ans The moon appears to be like a broken mirror as it is now being seen through
the leaves and branches of the tree.

(c) How was the moon shining earlier and why?

Ans Earlier the whole moon was shining as the trees were imprisoned in the
house and there were no leaves and branches to obstruct the view of the moon.
The trees had been removed from their natural habitat and there was nothing
between the ground and the moon.

(d) What does the crown of the oak imply?

Ans The ‘crown’ of the oak implies the top of the oak tree and the poet presents
the image of the moon throwing its light on its top. A crown is worn by a
king/queen on his/her head symbolizing the authority to rule. An oak is a
mighty tree and its top has been called the ‘crown’.

(e) Which poetic device has been used in ‘the crown/of the tallest oak’?
Ans The poetic device used here is metaphor as the top of the tree has been
compare to a crown without using the words of comparison ‘like’ or ‘as’.