THE LABURNUM TOP

-Ted Hughes
Vikram Singh Nagore 1
About the poet
Edward James Hughes, popularly
known as Ted Hughes (17 August
1930 – 28 October 1998) was a
British poet, translator, and
children's writer. He served as
Poet Laureate from 1984-1998.
His love for nature and animals
permeates most of his works.
He was also the husband of an
equally renowned poet and
author, Sylvia Plath.

Vikram Singh Nagore 2

 THEME
‘The Laburnum Top’ describes a mutual
relationship between a laburnum tree which is
large, beautiful but quite alone and a goldfinch
which is active beautiful but without shelter. The
tree gives shelter to the bird and its young ones,
and in turn, the bird takes away its dead silence.
The poem points out the importance of living
with each other, and lending a helping hand to
others.
Vikram Singh Nagore 3
 SYNOPSIS

Stanza 1
The Laburnum Top is silent, quite still
In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.
The poem starts with a description of
the Laburnum tree whose top was still
and silent. Its leaves had turned yellow
and seeds had fallen down. It was a
daytime in the month of September
when the tree was standing still and
death-like.
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 Stanza 2

Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup

A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.
Then sleek as a lizard, and alert, and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Of chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings –
The whole tree trembles and thrills.
It is the engine of her family.
She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch –end
Showing her barred face identity mask
Vikram Singh Nagore 5
The lifeless tree becomes alive with the arrival of
the goldfinch bird. She came to feed her
younger ones who are on the thickness of the
branch. The tree is her shelter. She arrives at the
end of the branch with the chirping sound. She
further moves to the other side of the branch
with rapid and precautionary movement like a
lizard. As soon as she arrives, her younger ones
start chirping like a machine and vibrating and
flapping their wings. The death-like tree
becomes alive and it trembles and shakes. 6
S
T
A
N
Z
A Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings
She launches away, towards the infinite
3
&
4 And the laburnum subsides to empty.

Vikram Singh Nagore 7

After feeding them, she flies to the other
side of the branch. Her dark coloured face
with the yellow body was barely visible
as she vanished behind the yellow leaves.

She flew away in the sky, leaving the tree

death-like again.
Vikram Singh Nagore 8
THANK

YOU
Vikram Singh Nagore 9