Poem 8 - The Trees

We, at UrbanPro, are a dedicated team and we offer a web-based platform which acts as an interface between the students and experienced teachers. Our main objective is to help the students better themselves.

NCERT First Flight is the prescribed CBSE book for both English Prose and Literature. So help students such as you, solve questions of Class 10 English Literature chapters, we have come up with answers and solutions. For a better understanding of this chapter, read on.

The eighth chapter in the poetry section of the NCERT First Flight Textbook- The Trees is a poem written by the American poet Adrienne Rich.  You can find The Tree Poem Questions Answers and The Trees Class 10 Solutions here at Urban Pro.

The Trees Class 10 Solutions

Summary:

In the poem, the poet personifies trees and shrubs kept in a glasshouse. The trees are homes to birds who make their nests on them. They are an invaluable part of the ecosystem which has every creature dependent on them, including insects. The poet narrates the tale of breaking out and return of the trees into the forest- uprooting their roots throughout the night. The tree works silently to escape from the glasshouse- from the straining of leaves- to the exertion of force by the twigs. She compares the escape of the trees with the departure of patients from a medical treatment clinic- who are half-dazed due to the effects of medication, but still eager to explore the world outside.

The poet mentions that she is astutely observing the details of the situation but won’t be recording anything down in her long letters and asks the observer to listen carefully as a change is about to occur while the glass panes are about to break. The trees will be found in the forests again. It is to be observed from the last stanza that the poet might be referring the trees as a metaphor for humans, symbolically referring to change the way they live their daily lives and be one with nature.

The poet Adrienne Rich is known to use trees as metaphors for human beings. We can draw out the fact that human beings are often imprisoned in their world due to the shackles of the daily routine busy life. They are subjected to immense peer pressure and the desire to succeed and achieve everything. Eventually, they need to break free from this chain and be one with nature to find peace, joy and relief.

The Tree poem questions & answers

Synopsis

“The trees …trees by morning”

The poet describes in the first stanza that the trees trapped inside the house/glasshouse are revolting and moving towards the forest, in the wilderness of nature. Inside a house, birds cannot sit on tree branches. Insects cannot hide in the barks of trees. In the green expanse of the forest, the sun “buries its feet in the shadow of trees”- the rays of the sun touch the leaves of the trees and reach the ground. The first line shows kinesthetic imagery.

“All night …to the clinic doors.”

The trees are in the house (or the glasshouse) where the poet resides. She imagines them executing and planning a quiet rebellion. The roots move all night, trying hard to detach themselves from the cracks on the verandah floor. The leaves try to reach towards the glass as the small branches and twigs are stiff with exertion. The poet compares the ‘long cramped’ branches to newly discharged patients who are still dizzy due to heavy medication but are happy to leave the medical facility.

“I sit inside, …..voice into the rooms”

The poet, in the third stanza, describes the moon as a full moon shining brightly in the night sky. She mentions the fact that she is supportive of the silent rebellion of the trees who have moving out of the house at night. She gets a bit nostalgic about the smell of leaves and kitchens but understands that moving out of the trees into the trees is essential.

“My head is full of…of the tallest oak.”

At the end of the poem, the poet compares the moon to the broken pieces of a mirror.

The change is caused due to the trees moving away from the poet’s house and into the forests. The trees have grown, and their branches rise quickly towards the top, blocking the moon and resulting the moon to be seen from various positions. The moon is represented as a shattered mirror from the top of the branch. When the trees move out, the glasses stay broken, and the smell of lichens enter the room of the house.

To find detailed explanations, question and answers and more, refer to The Trees Poem Class 10 PDF.