1. Why are the tree moving out into the forest?
In the poem, the tree are presented as a metaphor for human beings. As humans value freedom, nature can’t be subdued and controlled by man. The trees have been brought to the artificial glasshouses.
The natural habitat of trees is the forest. Therefore, after a long and hard struggle, they are coming out of the artificial barriers. They are marching victoriously towards the forest which is their original habitat.
2. What will be the condition of a treeless forest?
No one can imagine a forest without trees. They are the life-line of a forest. Without trees, there will be no activity of birds, insects as well as of the sun. The birds will have no place to perch on. The insects will have no place to hide in. Even the scorching sun will lose the shade to cool itself in the absence of trees.
3. Why is the poetess hopeful that the empty forest will be full of trees by the morning?
The poetess is quiet optimistic. The natural barriers to contain and subdue nature created by man will be broken. The trees which have been deprived of their natural habitat will struggle to free themselves from the clutches of man. The struggle of these trees will not go in vain. By morning, they will be marching victoriously to the forest. The forest will be full of trees by morning.
4. Describe the struggle of the roots, leaves, small twigs and long boughs of free themselves and break open the artificial barriers created by man.
Every part of the confined trees rises in revolt and struggle hard to free itself. The roots struggle all night to break free from the cracks in the veranda floor. The leaves struggle to come out of the glass. Small twigs have become hard due to overwork. Long cramped boughs are trying to break open the roof and come out.
5. Describe the comparison between boughs and the newly discharged patients in the last lines of the second stanza.
Freedom is the common theme. The cramped branches of the trees put in the artificial glasshouses, want to be free. They are shuffling hard to come out in the open. They want to be free. Similarly, the newly discharged patients are impatient to escape to freedom. They don’t want to be confined to the beds of the hospital. They run towards the doors of the hospital to have a taste of freedom again.
6. Why doesn’t the poetess make any mention of the struggle waged by the trees to free themselves to move towards the forest in her long letters?
The poetess in sitting inside her room writing long letters. She is witnessing what is going on in her house. The struggle of the leaves, twigs, boughs and roots of the trees to free themselves takes place in her presence. However, she ignores such a historical event. Perhaps she id shocked and embarrassed by the sudden and unexpected happenings.
7. Describe the pleasant night when ‘the forest’ departed from the house.
The struggle was going on. The trees were struggling to depart to the forest, their natural habitat. But outwardly the night was fresh. The full moon was shining in the open sky. The smell of leaves and lichen was reaching into the room like a voice.
8. What are the whispers that fill the head of the poet?
The head of the poetess is full of whispers. These are the whispers of the silent struggle that is going on in her house. The trees have been waging a heroic struggle to free themselves from the bondage of man. They are moving to their original home – the forest. The poetess is a witness to all that is happening in the house.
9. Describe the sound and fury of the victorious march of the trees to the forest.
Now the silent struggle gets more vocal and visible. The artificial glasshouse that imprisoned them has been broken to pieces. The trees are stumbling forward towards the forest. Winds rush in to meet them. Even the full moon is covered by the full grown up oak tree. Only a fragmented moon is visible through its expanding leaves and boughs.
10. Why is the full moon broken to pieces like a mirror in the last lines of the poem?
previously it was a peaceful night hiding the struggle that was going on silently. The moon was full. The full grown up tree like oaks with their boughs spreading out all around have obstructed the sigh of the moon. The full moon is fragmented and partly visible only through the top boughs and leaves of a huge oak tree.
11. What is the massage that the poetesses want to give to the readers through the poem ‘Trees’?
Adrienne Rich uses trees as a metaphor for human beings, more particularly women. In a male dominated society, nature, represented by tress and forests, is struggling to escape itself from the onslaughts of man to destroy it. The victorious march of the trees gives a message of hope that nature can’t be tamed or subdued by the onslaughts and arrogance of man.
12. What changes can be seen in the moon during the course of the poem “The Trees”?
Initially, it was full moon shining in a clear sky. Them the moon is broken like a mirror. Its rays fall on the top of an oak tree. The branches of an oak fragment the full moon. It is broken into pieces like a mirror.
13. What are the tree things that can’t happen in a treeless forest?
The three things that can’t 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.
14. In the poem, ‘The Trees’, where are the trees? What are their roots, twigs, etc. trying to do?
In the poem ‘The Trees’, the trees lie in the veranda of the poet’s house. The roots try to free themselves from the cracks of the veranda’s floor. The twigs are trying to come under the roof and the leaves try to come near the glass.
15. What happens to the house when trees move out of it?
When the trees move out of the house it becomes silence everywhere. The leaves of the trees are fallen all around. It makes the poet restless.