The Trees – Important Questions

‘The Trees’ shows the conflict between man and nature. With the growth and development of society, human beings have used nature for their own benefit and caused a lot of harm to it. In order to use natural resources men have forgotten the importance of nature.

Important Question and Answer

Q. Read the lines given below and answer the questions that follow:

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.

  1. Where are the trees inside moving to?
    1. on road
    2. in plains
    3. on mountains
    4. into the forest
  2. Who cannot sit on the trees?
    1. monkeys
    2. birds
    3. children
    4. fishes
  3. Which word here means ‘hide from view’?
    1. bury
    2. disengage
    3. shuffling
    4. boughs
  4. Who cannot hide in the trees?
    1. birds
    2. animals
    3. insects
    4. children

Answer

  1. into the forest
  2. birds
  3. bury
  4. insects

Q. What are the three things that can’t happen in a treeless forest?

Ans. The three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest are-the sitting of a bird on trees, the hiding of insects and the burying of sun’s feet in the shadow of the forest.

Q. Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, leaves and twigs do?

Ans. The poem by Adrienne Rich is referring to the trees grown indoor for their aesthetic beauty. The poet imagines that the trees are stifled in confined places and struggle to move in the open towards their natural habitat. The roots make a deliberate effort to disentangle themselves from the cracks in the floor while the leaves and twigs exert themselves to break the glass barrier of the window and emerge into the open.

Q. What does the poet compare the branches of the trees to?

Ans. The poet compares the boughs and branches of the trees to the newly discharged patients moving out of the clinic doors in a half dazed condition, stifled under the strain of confinement. They are desperate to stretch themselves in the open and get a breath of fresh air.

Q. How does the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this change?

Ans. As the poet watches the night sky from the window overlooking the verandah, the moon is full, shining brightly in the open sky. As she imagines the trees moving out of the house, she envisions the moon light rippling over the crown of the oak tree and she metaphorically compares it to moon, being broken into several pieces and each piece reflecting its light separately.

Try aiPDF, our new AI assistant for students and researchers

X