The Trees

 The Trees Poem Explanation Notes

The trees inside are moving out into the forest,

the forest that was empty all these days

where no bird could sit

no insect hide

no sun bury its feet in shadow

the forest that was empty all these nights

will be full of trees by morning.

All night the roots work

to disengage themselves from the cracks

in the veranda floor.

The leaves strain toward the glass

small twigs stiff with exertion

long-cramped boughs shuffling under the roof

like newly discharged patients

half-dazed, moving

to the clinic doors.

I sit inside, doors open to the veranda

writing long letters

in which I scarcely mention the departure

of the forest from the house.

The night is fresh, the whole moon shines

in a sky still open

the smell of leaves and lichen

still reaches like a voice into the rooms.

My head is full of whispers

which tomorrow will be silent.

Listen. The glass is breaking.

The trees are stumbling forward

into the night. Winds rush to meet them.

The moon is broken like a mirror,

its pieces flash now in the crown of the tallest oak.

By ADRIENNE RICH

In the first stanza, the poetess says that the forest is the actual home of trees. So, all the trees are moving into the forest, which was empty for a long time. Here, trees are used as a metaphor by the poetess to show how drastically humans have destroyed the forests. They have cut down the trees to fulfil their needs and have confined these trees to the walls of their houses. But now, these trees have started their movement and are moving towards the forest. Since the forest was empty, no birds could sit on the branches of trees, no insects could hide in the trees, and the sunlight could never disappear under the shadow of the trees. However, now that the trees have started moving, the empty forest will be filled by the trees by the next morning.

The second stanza explains the effort put in by trees to free themselves from the boundaries of humans’ houses. The poetess says that the roots of the trees work all night to separate themselves from the cracks of the veranda floor. The leaves of the tree try to put pressure on the glass so that they can break the glass ceiling. The small stems of the tree have become hard due to the continuous effort to free themselves. The long branches of the tree have shrunken because of the less space available for them to expand under the roof. Trees move slowly from home and look like newly discharged patients from the hospital. They are a little confused while moving to the clinic door as they are not able to believe that they are coming back to their actual home in the forest.

In the third stanza, the poetess says that she sits inside the home on the veranda and keeps the doors open. She writes long letters in which she hardly mentions the departure of trees to their empty forest. It’s night time, and the moon is shining in the sky. The poetess can smell the odour of leaves and lichen coming to her. The smell of trees reaches her in a similar way as a voice reaches a room.

In this stanza, the poetess listens to the whisper of the trees leaving the house. The trees reach the empty forest the next day, and the house becomes silent. Now, the poetess can hear the sound of glass breaking. As the glass breaks, the trees move in a hurry, due to which they fall on each other. The trees feel that the wind is blowing faster as it wants to meet them soon. The trees are so tall that they break the moon into pieces like a mirror. Now, the moon looks like a crown on the head of the oak trees.

We hope the explanation and summary of the “CBSE Class 10 English First Flight The Trees” must have helped students understand the context of the poem in detail. Students can also find essays on some familiar topics, such as Essay on Republic Day and Essay on Constitution of India, and prepare well for their English exam. 

QUESTION ANSWER

The Trees

Thinking about the Poem (Page 100-101)

Question 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 listed below:

(a) the sitting of a bird on trees,

(b) the hiding of insects on the trees,

(c) the sun burying its feet in the shadow of the forest.

(ii) The sun’s ‘feet’ refers to the heat and rays of the sun that fall on the ground. Since there are no trees,

there will be no shadow, the sun rays will fall on the ground directly. However, in a forest full of trees, the

shadow hides the sun rays and it appears that the sun is burying its feet in the shadow of the trees in the

forest.

Question 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 confined within the limits of the poet’s house. Their roots work all night to

separate themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor. The leaves make attempts to move towards the

glass and exert pressure to break it, while the small twigs get stiff and tight with exertion.

(ii) The poet compares the ‘long-cramped’ branches shuffling under the roof to newly discharged patients

from a hospital who look half-disoriented and confused after suffering long illnesses as they move

towards the clinic doors. The large branches of the trees become cramped under the roof as they want to

be set free so that they are able to spread themselves fully in the open air outside.

Question 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?

(iii) 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? Think about this again when you answer the next set of questions.)

Answer:

(i) At the beginning of the third stanza, the poet mentions that the full moon is shining in the open sky in

the fresh night. Towards the end of the stanza, she describes that the moon breaks into many pieces just

like a cracked mirror and shines on the heads of the tallest oak trees. As the trees move outside from her

home, they cover some moonlight and it can be seen only in small portions. This justifies the fact when

the poet says that the moon has broken into pieces.

(ii) When the trees move out of the house, the glasses break and the smell of leaves and lichen still reach

the rooms of the house like a voice.

(iii) The poet scarcely mentions about “the departure of the forest from the house” in her letters because

human beings generally don’t care for nature in the first place. Hence, she thinks that nobody would be

interested to know how hard the trees are trying to set themselves free. She also mentions that if humans

would have really cared for the trees, they would never think of destroying them. Therefore, we can

understand that the poet could feel the whole beauty of trees moving back to the forest and she was

immensely happy to realise it.

Question 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’?

(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?

Answer:

The poem may connote different meanings to different readers. The poet tries to explain two different

things using the same metaphors in the poem.

(i) Yes, the poem presents a conflict between man and nature. Humans have always had the tendency to

damage or harm nature without even realizing the usefulness and the benefits that mankind derives from

it. They do mass deforestation which disturbs the environmental balance and results in destruction of

natural scenic beauty. Man try to contain plants and trees within limited spaces that deny their natural

freedom. Due to this reason, the branches of the trees want to spread themselves and feel the fresh air

outside. Similarly, in the poem ‘A Tiger in the Zoo’, the poet shows that animals which are kept in cages

are unable to enjoy their freedom as even they want to be set free and run around freely in the open space.

(ii) If trees have been used as a metaphor for human beings, then it could be said that just like trees,

humans would also like to break away from the shackles of their busy schedules and restricting

boundaries that life puts on them. Although men strive harder in their daily routines to earn a living, they

don’t always have the privilege to enjoy its benefits. Modern life brings in a lot of physical comfort, but

also has its equal share of drawbacks. Hence, even man wants to break free from all his tasks and enjoy the peaceful nature out in the open just like the trees. Question 5: You may read the poem ‘On Killing a Tree’ by Gieve Patel (Beehive – Textbook in English for Class IX, NCERT).