THE TREE POEM OF FIRST FLIGHT -Analysis /CRITICAL APPRECIATION
The Tree is a poem about plants which we use to decorate our homes. Those plants are used to decorate homes and are produced in tiny pots. Nature has been imprisoned by humans inside the walls. They removed trees from huge woods and placed these in the man-made greenhouse. This poem depicts how mankind has ruined nature in order to satisfy its own personal ambitions.
Adrienne Rich’s poem “The Trees” is all about a pair of ornamental plants. These crops are placed within four walls and do not benefit birds or insects in any manner. Birds are unable to perch on the trees, and insects are unable to shelter among them. Glasses don’t provide any sort of shade. Their branches are rigid and brittle. Their twigs resemble those of a recently released patient. They don’t have any sunlight. Because they are suffocating in their tiny pots and pans, their branches race towards to the glass panel seeking light. Inside her room, the poet is sitting. She is composing lengthy letters. It’s late at night, and she can detect the scent of leaves and lichen creeping into her room. The poet seems to have a tremendous wish for such trees to make every attempt to obtain air and light.
‘The Trees’ is a metaphor in which the trees represent people, specifically females who are in need of healing or who have been healed and are now ready to fulfill their true purpose of renewing the barren forest.
Stanzas’ Explanation of The TREE
1ST STANZA
The trees defined in the first stanza are either interior decoration plants kept within a home or only depicted in artwork or pictures. As a result, because they are not true trees, there is no location for birds to rest and insects to conceal. The sun has no shadow to cool its feet because there is no forest, so the trees are moving out to the forest. Now that the houseplants have moved out, the forest that has been devoid of trees for the past few days will be densely forested the next morning.
2nd STANZA
The trees appear to be working silently at night to complete their mission of breaking free from the confines of the house. As a result, the tree’s roots work all night to break free from the cracks in the Veranda floor. The tree leaves try really hard to put too much pressure on the glass panel in order to break it and get outside. Due to the excessive pressure used to liberate themselves, the small twigs are becoming extremely hard. Because they are inside all the walls and under the roof, where they cannot grow much, the bigger parts of the trees have started to shrink and buckled. Trees try to transfer slowly from that, resembling new fully discharged hospital patients who are half-shocked upon entering the outside world.
3rd STANZA
The poet claims to be sitting inside her house, penning long letters, in the third stanza. She doesn’t explain how trees are trying to get out of her house in those letters. She looks up at the clear night sky, where the full moon shines brightly. The scent of the leaves and fungus, according to the poet, is still present like a voice in the room.
4th STANZA
The poet writes in the final line that there are many thoughts running through his mind right now, but that they will be quiet by tomorrow morning. At night, the poet can hear glass shattering and trees moving out of the home, and the wind seems to welcome them. The moon in the sky, according to the poet, appears to be a fractured mirror because it is partially obscured by the branches and leaves. The moon’s broken bits appear to be crowned the world’s oldest oak tree.
SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS FROM THE POEM- THE TREE BY Adrienne Rich
- Analyze the poetry “The Trees” symbolism.
Trees are used as a metaphor for humans by the poet. Underneath the pressure and dependency, people feel stifled and miserable. They aspire for freedom. They fight injustice, enslavement, and exploitation in order to be free and independent. The trees likewise want to go to the forest after being imprisoned. As a result, they are a fitting symbol for humans.
Central idea- “The Trees'”
The clash between man and environment is the fundamental theme of the poem. A plant is delivered, When it’s a sapling, inside the house. However, when it matures into a tree, it becomes smothered by the few resources available. There is space available. As a result, it leaves one to feel liberated. As a result, the tree is spreading out to take up the now-vacant space. Man’s reckless tree felling has created a forest. People must be able to comprehend the negative effect of their behavior on the environment and make necessary changes before it is too late.
- What and why does the poetess relate the bough to?
The tree branches are long and suffocating. Because the boughs travel out of the clinic doors in the same semi-dazed state as the people who have recently been discharged, the poet compares them to the patients who have recently been discharged and are moving out of the clinic doors.
where are the trees are right now? What are the functions of their roots and leaves?
The trees are currently inside the house. The roots strive to break away from the gaps in the soil.The leaves try to migrate towards the glass on the veranda floor, possibly in search of something light. As they try and draw themself towards the sunlight, the little branches become rigid.
- Why is the moon described differently at the start and the end of the third stanza?
The poet claims that one may see the entire moon at the start of the third stanza brightly in the wide sky, but in the end, the moon appears to be shattered like a mirror, and its pieces are scattered over the sky. The moon breaks into fragments like a broken mirror and shines on the heads of the tallest oak trees. The shifting of the trees outside is the cause of the transformation.
- What is the relationship between the changing phases of the moon and the thinning of the trees?
With the removal of the trees, the moon also alters its appearance. It looks like a full, closed body in a treeless environment. However, as the trees spread out into the woods, the moon looks like a shattered mirror. Its parts shine brightly on even the tallest trees.
What does the poet make a comparison between their branches and patients?
The poet compares the tree branches to hospital patients who have just been discharged. The roof above them bends the big branches of the trees, and when they are free, they run stumblingly to the outside world.
- where are the trees? What are the functions of their roots, leaves, and twigs?
Ans: The poet’s dwelling is surrounded by trees in the poem.
Their roots work all night to expel themselves from the veranda floor’s fissures. The leaves strive to push their way closer to the glass and exert a lot of pressure on it. The moon is described by the poet as follows:
The poet says at the start of the third stanza that the full moon is shining in the open sky on a fresh night.
- What happened to the home once the trees have moved out?
When the trees leave the home, the glasses shatter, and the trees’ whispers fade away, leaving the house silent.
- What image does “… sun bury its feet in the shadow…” conjure up in mind? What does the poet mean when he says the sun has “feet”?
Answer: The sitting of a bird on trees, the sheltering of insects, and the sun burying its feet in the forest’s shade are three phenomena that cannot occur in a treeless forest.
The sun emits heat, and the offered phrases conjure up an image of the scorching sun cooling its toes in the forest’s cool shadow. The beams that reach the earth are referred to be the sun’s “feet.”