Notes

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Trees
- Adrienne Rich
I. Summary
The poet talks about trees symbolically. They refer to women who have been
healed and are ready to move out of their houses to fulfil their primary purpose –
to renew the forest of mankind. As women have remained indoors, the forest has
become empty, the birds and insects rendered shelter less. The Sun’s rays do
not have the tree trucks and leaves to fall upon and thus, reach the earth.

The poet says that the forest will be full of trees the next morning. The roots of
the trees are working hard to separate from the floor of the veranda where they
have remained fixed. The leaves and branches are moving towards the glass
windows. They are desperate to move out just like a newly discharged patient
who has not recovered completely, moves to the exit door of the hospital in a
hurry.

The poet is sitting in her house with the doors of the veranda open. She is
writing letters but does not mention this movement of the trees. It is night time,
the sky is clear and a bright moon is visible. She can smell the leaves and lichen
which seem to be calling out desperately.

In the night the trees are struggling to come forward in the forest. Their
encounter to come out from the house has broken the glass. The trees are
moving out and the fast blowing wind embraces them. As the trees have reached
the forest, the tall and strong oak tree overshadows the moon and it seems that
the moon has been broken into several pieces.

Gr 10/English/Notes/First Flight/U5/Ch4/5 October 2024

II. Poetic devices

Stanza 1

1. Personification: Sun bury it’s feet. Sun has been personified.

2. Enjambment: Continuation of a sentence to the next line (the forest that
was…… trees by morning).
3. Anaphora: 2 lines begin with ‘no’
4. Imagery: “The trees inside are moving out into the forest” – shows kinestatic
imagery/visual imagery

Stanza 2

1. Enjambment: continuation of sentence to the next line (the leaves strain…….

Half dazed)

2. Simile: trees compared to patients (like newly discharged patients)

3. Personification: twigs and boughs have been personified.

Stanza 3

1. Alliteration: ‘long letters’ forest from’ ‘sky still’ ‘leaves and lichen’

2. Enjambment: continuation of sentence to the next line (doors open….the

house)

3. Imagery: the poet has tried to create a scene in which she is observing all the
things happening (the night is fresh……into the rooms)

Stanza 4

1. Simile: The moon is compared to a mirror (Moon is broken like a mirror)

Gr 10/English/Notes/First Flight/U5/Ch4/5 October 2024

III. Short answer questions

1. 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?’
Ans: The sun’s feet are the rays of sun that reach the earth after falling on the
leaves of the trees and finally, reach the earth’s surface.
2. Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves, and
their twigs do?
Ans: The trees are in the poet’s house. The roots are working hard to remove
themselves from the cracks of veranda. The leaves are making an effort to reach
towards the glass in order to come out and the twigs are making attempts to set
themselves free and reach the forest.

3. What does the poet compare their branches to?

Ans: The poet uses the word long cramped for the branches. She says that the
branches are trying hard to come out of the roof. She then compares them with
newly discharged patients who are trying to move out in their half consciousness.

4. How does the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the third
stanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this change?
Ans: The poet describes the moon as a full moon in the beginning of the third
stanza but at the end of the stanza, she describes it to be broken into pieces.
The change in the moon is because of the trees. The trees that earlier were in the
poet’s house have now reached the forest. Their long branches have cast a
shadow on the full moon and now it appears to be broken into pieces like a
mirror.

5. Why do you think the poet does not mention “the departure of the forest
from the house” in her letters? Could it be that we are often silent about
important happenings that are so unexpected that they embarrass us?

Gr 10/English/Notes/First Flight/U5/Ch4/5 October 2024

Ans: The poet did not mention the departure of the forest from her house
because it is a part of human nature to ignore the important matters of their life.
We all know that trees are so important for our survival on earth. But still
human beings are cutting them for making profits without even thinking of the
aftermath.

6. 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’?
Ans: Yes, the poem presents a conflict between man and nature. Man is causing
deforestation by cutting down the trees for his own use. On the other hand, he
decorates his house with the trees. We are damaging our environment without
even thinking about the end results. By clearing up the forests, we are
endangering ourselves. So is with the animals too. We are ruining their natural
habitat and killing them for our fun or food but on the other hand, we are
keeping them in the cages on the pretext of safeguarding them by making
sanctuaries and zoos. So, it is true that we are in a direct conflict with nature
and making the other living beings prisoners, be it the trees or animals.

7. 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?
Ans: If trees are to be taken as a symbol for human beings, then the poem will
define the efforts of humans to free themselves from the clutches of the desire to
achieve everything. All the human beings are under a constant pressure of being
at the top in every field. Either they are forced by their own desire of doing so or
there is a constant peer pressure on them. So, the human beings will set
themselves free from this race and try to live a happy and peaceful life.

Gr 10/English/Notes/First Flight/U5/Ch4/5 October 2024

Gr 10/English/Notes/First Flight/U5/Ch4/5 October 2024