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Question
(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)
Solution
(i) In the beginning of the third stanza, the poet says that the whole moon is 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, which is why 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, the glass gets broken and the smell of the leaves and lichens still reaches the rooms of the house.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest.
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’?
Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves and their twigs do?
What does the poet compare their branches to?
Now that you have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poem might mean. Here is one suggestion. Can you think of others?
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’?
Now that you have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poem might mean. Here is one suggestion. Can you think of others?
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 following questions in 30-40 words :
What are the three things that can't happen in a treeless forest?
|
The trees inside are moving out into (The Trees) |
i. Complete the sentence appropriately. (1)
It is clear that Personification is the poetic device used for ‘No sun bury its feet….’ because ______.
ii. The poet has used a poetic device in the given lines. What effect does she wish to create by its use? (1)
| …no bird could sit no insect hide no sun… |
- emphasis
- comparison
- rhyme
- humour
iii. State whether the following statement is TRUE or FALSE: (1)
The extract uses trees as a symbol for conservative people.
iv. Select the appropriate option to complete the sentence, according to the extract. (1)
The idea of a forest that has been ‘empty all these days’ is ______.
- unnatural
- scary
- magical
- legendary
v. How does the use of enjambment impact this extract?
- It forces frequent pauses.
- It simplifies the meaning.
- It builds momentum.
- It makes the lines lyrical.
