Short Answer Type Questions
Q1. How does the Laburnum tree appear in September?
Ans: In an autumnal September afternoon the laburnum top looks quiet and very still in the sunlight. A few leaves have begun to turn yellow and all the seeds have fallen, so the tree appears comparatively bare and motionless, giving an impression of calm and retirement.
Q2. How does the poet, Ted Hughes, portray the arrival of the goldfinch on the end of branch of laburnum tree?
Ans: Ted Hughes shows the goldfinch's arrival as sudden and vivid. The bird chirps sharply, makes quick, lively movements and appears unexpectedly to settle on the very tip of a branch. Its arrival creates a striking contrast with the earlier stillness of the laburnum top and feels like a small, surprising interruption of silence.
Q3. Describe the movement of the goldfinch in the laburnum tree.
Ans: The goldfinch first perches at the end of a branch and watches attentively. Then, with a sudden but smooth motion, she slips into the thicker part of the tree. Her movement is lizard-like-quiet, swift and skilful-hopping and sliding through twigs and leaves with small, precise actions.
Q4. What happens when the goldfinch enters the thickness?
Ans: As the goldfinch moves into the thick foliage, the laburnum seems to come alive. A burst of short, high-pitched chattering, wing-shakes and quavering calls is set off, so that the branches tremble slightly. Hughes compares this sudden activity to a machine starting up, suggesting a quick, energetic rush of sound and movement within the tree.
Q5. What do you think the goldfinch does in the thickness of the laburnum tree?
Ans: Inside the thickness the goldfinch appears to call and move among the branches, producing a burst of twittering and wing-shakes. It seems to rouse or join other birds there-perhaps signalling to mates or young, or searching for food-and its activity briefly fills the tree with excited sound before it departs.
Q6. How does the goldfinch depart from the laburnum tree?
Ans: The goldfinch gives sudden, delicate whistles and chirps that are bright and slightly startling. Then she springs forward from the branch and soars upward into the sky, leaving the laburnum top once more silent and still.
Long Answer Type Questions
Q1. Give a brief account of the sounds and movement of the goldfinch on the laburnum top.
Ans: The goldfinch arrives with a sudden chirp and perches at the very tip of a branch. After a short, watchful pause she slips into the centre of the tree with quick, smooth movements that Hughes likens to a lizard. As she moves through the thick foliage, a rapid sequence of short, high-pitched chattering and quavering notes erupts; her wings give slight shakes and the whole top trembles with excitement, as if a machine has been switched on. This energetic disturbance suggests the bird is greeting or rousing other birds inside the tree; after a brief while she breaks out with a series of whistles and springs into the air, leaving the laburnum top calm and silent once again.
