The Trees By Adrienne Rich
Can there by a forest without trees? Where are the trees in this poem, and where do they go?
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 room 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.
ADRIENNE RICH
The Trees Summary
Explanation of the Poem
Stanza 1
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.
Explanation
The speaker of the poem observes that the trees in his house are moving outside into the forest which has been empty for a long time. It is important to understand that the destroyed forests and the false nature that humans have tried to keep in their houses. Since the forest outside was empty, no birds could sit on the branches of trees, no insects could hide in the trees and sunlight could never disappear under the shadows of the trees. the speaker tells that the empty forest will be full of trees by the next morning.
Stanza 2
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.
Explanation
It seems like the trees work silently in the night in order to complete their mission of getting free from the boundaries of the house. Therefore, they work all night to free themselves through the cracks of the veranda floor. The leaves of the trees try very hard to put a lot of pressure on the glass so that they could break it. The small twigs have become very hard due to applying so much pressure to free themselves. The larger branches of the trees that have shrunk because of being inside the walls and under the roof, where they cannot grow much. They try to move slowly from there and look like newly discharged patients from a hospital, who become half-shocked on coming to the outside world.
Stanza 3
I sit inside, door 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.
Explanation
The speaker, who could be the poet herself, sits in her house, the doors of which open to the veranda. She is writing long letters. She hardly mentions in her letters about the trees that are moving out to the empty forest. The poet presents a conflict between man and nature. man uses plants for interior decoration cuts trees to make a house for himself. Through these lines the poet is indicating towards a possible rebellion by nature against man as they strive to go outside the house into the open in a full moon night where the moon is shining in the open sky and the night is very fresh. The poet can smell the leaves and lichens coming from the trees that reach her room like a voice.
Stanza 4
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.
Explanation
The speaker listens to the sounds coming from the leaves and lichens of the trees. These sounds will not be there in the morning as the trees will move out to the forest in the night and will not be in the house by morning. Now, the speaker can hear the glass breaking due to the efforts of the twigs. As the glass breaks, the trees hurry outside and and in doing so, they fall on each other and get struck at different places. As the trees go in the open, it seems like the wind is moving fast towards them to meet them. The tall trees can finally stand straight as they are free. They are so tall that the have broken the moon into pieces like a broken mirror. The moon now sits like the crowns on the heads of the tall oak trees. Again, the use of moon is an imagery to show that between the ground and the sky stands the trees, and one can only look at parts of the moon, and not the full moon, from under the trees.
Central Idea of Poem
The poem ‘The Trees’ by Adrienne Rich shows the conflict between man and nature. With the growth and development of society, human beings have used nature for their own benefit and caused a lot of harm to it. The poet wants to give the message that the presence of a few trees inside our homes does not become equal to nature, it is a very false idea of nature. Real nature is outside, in the forests that we have destroyed.
The poem tells us how the trees want to break free from the walls that humans have put around them, and go out in the forest.
Poetic Devices Used in the Poem
Simile : When comparison is used between two words using ‘like’ or ‘as’.
- Like newly discharged patients
- Still reaches like a voice into the rooms.
- The moon is broken like a mirror.
Imagery : Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses.
- Its pieces flash now in the crown of the tallest oak.
Word Meanings
empty : vacant, hollow, missing
bury : cover something so that it is visible
disengage : get free
veranda : the space right outside the house but attached to it
strain : make a lot of effort
twigs : the topmost part of branches
stiff : hard
exertion : pressure
cramped : shrunk
boughs : larger branches of a tree
shuffling : slow dragging motion without lifting feet, changing place
half-dazed : half-shocked/ or half asleep
scarcely : hardly
departure : leaving, starting of something like train
lichen : crusty patches on tree trunks
whispers : low hushing voices
silent : quite
stumbling : walk unsteady
rush : hurry
flash : shine
oak : the name of a tree
Questions and Answers
NCERT Solutions
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 – the sitting of a bird on trees, the hiding of insects and the sun burying its feet in the shadow of the forest.
ii) The sun’s ‘feet’ refers to the rays of the sun that fall on the earth. When there is no shadow on the ground, because there are no trees, the rays fall directly on the ground. In a forest with trees, the shadow hides the sun rays and it seems that the sun is burying its feet in the shadow that fall from the trees.
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 trapped in the poet’s house. Their, roots work all night to disengage themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor. The leaves try very hard to move towards the glass and put a lot of pressure on it so that it breaks, while the small twigs get stiff with exertion.
ii) The poet compares the branches to newly discharged patients of a hospital. The large branches of the trees become cramped (bent) due to the roof above them, and when they get free they rush stumblingly to the outside world. While doing so, they look half-shocked like the patients, who wait for a long time to get out of the hospital.
Question 3 : i) How does the poet describe the moon: a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and b) at its end?
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 says that the full moon is shining in the open sky in the fresh night. At the end of the stanza, she describes that the moon breaks into pieces like a broken mirror and shines on the heads of the tallest oak trees. As the trees move outside, they cover some of the shine of the moon and it can be seen only in parts. This is why, it seems that the moon has broken into pieces.
ii) When the trees move out of the house, the glasses break and the whispers of the trees vanish, leaving the house silent.
iii) The poet hardly mentions about “the departure of the forest from the house” in her letters because it is humans, who did not care for nature in the first place. So, maybe, the poet now thinks that nobody would be interested in knowing about the efforts that the trees are making in order to set themselves free. If other men cared about the trees, they would not have destroyed them. It seems that this whole beauty of trees moving back to forests can be seen and felt only by the poet.
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 : Do it yourself.
Extra Questions
Extract Based Questions
Read the following extracts carefully and choose the correct option.
Question 1 :
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
i) In the poem where are trees found?
a) In the garden
b) In the forest
c) In the house
d) All of them
ii) The trees are found useful for
a) the birds
b) the insects
c) the wild animals
d) Both (a) and (b)
iii) what types of plants are mentioned in the poem?
a) Painted plants
b) Real plants
c) Decorative plants
d) Both (a) and (c)
iv) Which word in the stanza mean ‘unoccupied’?
a) Inside
b) Empty
c) Hide
d) Full of
Answer :
i) c) In the house
ii) d) Both (a) and (b)
iii) d) Both (a) and (c)
iv) (b) Empty
Question 2 :
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) According to the poet what is the actual place for trees?
a) Inside house
b) Garden
c) large forests
d) Schools
ii) How are the small twigs of these plants?
a) Green
b) Stiff
c) Soft
d) All of these
iii) What does the use of ‘stiff’ and ‘roots trying to free themselves’ suggest here?
a) Trees are kept at wrong place
b) Trees not growing properly
c) Trees require open large space
d) Both a) and c)
iv) What are the ‘boughs’ compared to?
a) A newly admitted patient
b) Newly discharged patient
c) A very sick patient
d) All of the above
Answer :
i) c) Large forests
ii) b) Stiff
iii) d) Both (a) and (c)
iv) b) Newly discharged patient
Question 3 :
I sit inside, doors open to the veranda
writing long letters
in which I scarcely mention the departure
of the forest from the house.
i) Why is the forest stumbling out of the house?
a) It is not actually happening
b) Poetess visualizes trees in the forest
c) Trees can not move themselves
d) Both (a) and (b)
ii) What is the poet doing?
a) Planting more trees
b) Writing long letters
c) Reading a book
d) Gazing at the stars
iii) Which word will be antonym of ‘frequently’ in these lines?
a) Mention
b) Seldom
c) Scarcely
d) Only just
iv) What is the theme of the poem?
a) Greed of man
b) Conflict between man and nature
c) Negativity impact of decorative platns
d) All of the above
Answer :
i) d) Both (a) and (b)
ii) b) Writing long letters
iii) c) Scarcely
iv) b) Conflict between man and nature
Question 4 :
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.
i) Whose whispers are mentioned here?
a) Of trees
b) Sound of wind blowing
c) Both (a) and (b)
d) None of the above
ii) Why are tree stumbling forward?
a) Want to move out
b) Have grown big
c) Can’t be contained inside the house
d) Both (b) and (c)
iii) Which word is synonym of ‘slip’ or ‘loose one’s balance’?
a) Muddle
b) Rush
c) Stumble
d) Flash
iv) Which poetic device has been used in the line ‘The moon is broken like a mirror’?
a) Metaphor
b) Alliteration
c) Simile
d) Personification
Answer :
i) c) Both (a) and (b)
ii) d) both (b) and (c)
iii) c) Stumble
iv) c) Simile
Short Questions and Answers
Question 1 : Why are the trees moving outside?
Answer : The trees are moving outside because they want to set themselves free from the walls and roofs that humans have put around them. They belong to the forest and that’s why they are making efforts to go there.
Question 2 : What changes would the departure of the trees bring to the forest?
Answer : The departure of the trees to the forest would result in the birds sitting on their branches again, insects hiding in them and the sun burying its feet under the trees’ shadows. The empty forest will become full of trees and there will be balance in nature.
Question 3 : What efforts do the trees make to get free?
Answer : The roots of the trees work all night to disengage themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor. The leaves exert a lot of force on the glasses to break them and the twigs become stiff with exertion.
Question 4 : Where are the trees kept? Why are they kept there?
Answer : The trees are kept inside for interior decoration and they have been kept there by human beings who have destroyed their natural home, the forests. Humans as such do not have any love for the trees.
Question 5 : In the poem ‘The Trees’ where are the trees? What are their roots, twigs, etc trying to do?
Answer : In this poem ‘The trees’, the poet tells us that trees or plants have been used inside the houses of human beings as part of interior decoration. The roots and twigs of trees are trying to disengage from the cracks in the veranda floor. They work all night to move to the forest. The leaves exert a lot of force on the glasses to break them and twigs become stiff with exertion. The poet wants to give the message that keeping the trees inside homes is like keeping them in a prison.
Long Questions and Answers
Question 1 : The trees in the poem stretch out their branches, break barriers and struggle hard to move out in open in their natural environment. Analyse the efforts that one puts in to break away captivity and strive for freedom.
Answer : For anyone, freedom is much more important than any kind of comfort, growth or development. Even, when we have all the riches in the world but no freedom, we do not really have anything. Freedom is the most wanted thing in this world. A bird in golden cage also does not feel happy.
When it is freed, it flies chirpy and happy. And those, who live with bare minimum necessities but are able to live freely are always the happiest. Just like the trees in the poem, freedom is gained after a lot of effort. For example, the freedom movements of countries all around the world, where people give up their lives to get freedom.
Question 2 : A conflict between man and nature is going on. In this civilization pursuit men are disregarding the natural growth of plants and trees. In total confinement, nature also rebels against civilization and becomes destructive. Elaborate.
Answer : In the conflict between man and nature, man has caused much harm to nature. With civilization, man has learnt to acquire a lot of material goods but forgotten the importance of nature and cut down large forests, killed animals, destroyed water bodies and done several other such acts. But, man wrongly judges nature to be weak, , while nature is the most powerful.
No matter how much technologically advanced we become, we can never present any natural disaster from taking place. Such destructive forms of nature like flood, earthquake, volcanoes, tornadoes, etc, teach man that the real power lies with nature and it can do anything. Moreover natural calamities are a reminder to man that by spoiling nature, man is inviting threat to his peaceful existence as nature will lash back at man only in the form of more rains, global warming etc.