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Page 1 The Trees Can there be 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 moon shines in a sky still open the smell of leaves and lichen still reaches like a voice into the rooms. Reprint 2024-25 Page 2 The Trees Can there be 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 moon shines in a sky still open the smell of leaves and lichen still reaches like a voice into the rooms. Reprint 2024-25 First Flight 78 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 Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. in 1929. She is the author of nearly twenty volumes of poetry, and has been called a feminist and a radical poet. to disengage themselves: to separate themselves strain: make efforts to move bough: branch shuffling: moving repeatedly from one position to another lichen: crusty patches or bushy growth on tree trunks/bare ground formed by association of fungus and alga. 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’? 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? 3. (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.) Reprint 2024-25 Page 3 The Trees Can there be 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 moon shines in a sky still open the smell of leaves and lichen still reaches like a voice into the rooms. Reprint 2024-25 First Flight 78 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 Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. in 1929. She is the author of nearly twenty volumes of poetry, and has been called a feminist and a radical poet. to disengage themselves: to separate themselves strain: make efforts to move bough: branch shuffling: moving repeatedly from one position to another lichen: crusty patches or bushy growth on tree trunks/bare ground formed by association of fungus and alga. 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’? 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? 3. (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.) Reprint 2024-25 The Trees 79 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? 5. You may read the poem ‘On Killing a Tree’ by Gieve Patel (Beehive – Textbook in English for Class IX, NCERT). Compare and contrast it with the poem you have just read. Homophones Can you find the words below that are spelt similarly, and sometimes even pronounced similarly, but have very different meanings? Check their pronunciation and meaning in a dictionary. • The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. • When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. • The insurance was invalid for the invalid. Reprint 2024-25Read More
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1. What are the main topics covered in the NCERT textbook "The Trees" for Class 10? |
2. How does the NCERT textbook "The Trees" explain the process of photosynthesis? |
3. What is the significance of trees according to the NCERT textbook "The Trees"? |
4. How does the NCERT textbook "The Trees" address the issue of deforestation? |
5. What are the conservation measures recommended by the NCERT textbook "The Trees"? |
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