The Trees

                                  THE  TREES 

INTRODUCTION  OF POEM 

INTRODUCTION  OF POET

About the poet

Adrienne Rich was an American poet, essayist and activist. She was  born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. in 1929 and died in 2012. She is the author of nearly twenty volumes of poetry, and has been called a feminist and a radical poet. ‘Diving into the Wreck’ is considered to be one of her most famous poems.

POEM 

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.

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.

THEME  OF THE POEM

The theme of the poem is freedom and struggle for liberty. As a nature poem the poet represents the conflict between man and nature and nature’s yearning for freedom. As a feminist poem it represents women’s struggle for equality in patriarchal society.

WORD.    MEANINGS 

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.

disengage themselves– to separate themselves

veranda – the space attached to the house right outside it

strain– make efforts to move

twigs – topmost parts of the branches

stiff – hard

exertion – pressure

cramped – shrunk

boughs – larger branches of trees

shuffling –  moving repeatedly from one position to another

half-dazed – half asleep or shocked

scarcely –hardly

departure – leaving a place

lichen– crusty patches or bushy growth on tree trunks/bare ground formed by association of fungus and alga.

whispers – low voices

stumbling – walking unsteadily

flash – shine brightly

oak – a large strong tree

Literary devices

Message  of poem 

The theme of the poem is freedom and struggle for liberty. As a nature poem the poet represents the conflict between man and nature and nature’s yearning for freedom. As a feminist poem it represents women’s struggle for equality in patriarchal society.

POETICE DEVICES 

POEM  IS FREE VERSE. 

Personification – (Giving characteristics of humans to animals or inanimate objects)

The trees inside are moving out – trees have been personified

no sun bury its feet in shadow – the sun has been personified

small twigs stiff with exertion – the twigs have been personified

The trees are stumbling forward – the trees have been personified

Anaphora – When two consecutive lines begin with the same letter

no insect hide

no sun bury its feet in shadow

Simile – direct comparison using ‘as’ and ‘like’

i) like newly discharged patients (trees are compared to patients)

ii) The moon is broken like a mirror (moon is compared to a broken mirror)

Alliteration– (repetition of same sound in proximity)

Long letters – ‘l’ sound has been repeated

Forest from – ‘f’ sound has been repeated

Sky still         -‘s’ sound has been repeated

Leaves and lichen – ‘l’ sound has been repeated

Metaphor – indirect comparison

Trees – metaphorically represent suppressed women

Forest – is an extended metaphor of struggle of women in the patriarchal society

Enjambment – a sentence continuing in the next line without punctuation

i) 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.

ii) The leaves strain toward the glass

small twigs stiff with exertion

long-cramped boughs shuffling under the roof

like newly discharged patients

half-dazed,

iii) All night the roots work

to disengage themselves from the cracks

in the veranda floor.

iv) doors open to the veranda

writing long letters