The Laburnum Top Summary: A Poem by Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes' "The Laburnum Top" is a captivating poem that paints a vivid picture of a seemingly ordinary scene – a goldfinch perched on a laburnum tree. However, beneath the surface lies a profound exploration of life, death, and the intricate connections between nature and existence. This summary aims to equip students with the tools to navigate the poem's rich tapestry, delving into its themes, imagery, and symbolism to unravel its hidden complexities.

Summary of The Laburnum Top

The summary of Laburnum top will help students learn this poem in an uncomplicated manner. In Hindi, Laburnum is known as Amaltas. The poem Laburnum Top by Ted Hudges revolves around a Laburnum Tree and a Goldfinch bird. The theme of the poem is the symbiotic relationship between the two. It describes the Laburnum Tree during the early autumn. The summary of Laburnum top will help students learn this poem in an uncomplicated manner. 

The laburnum tree looks pretty in the yellow September light. The tree was yellow, silent and dead-like. He describes the yellow leaves and seeds that have loosened from the tree. It was made alive again by the goldfinch bird and her young ones chirping on its branches. She entered the tree like a lizard- smooth and rapidly. The poet describes that the Laburnum tree looked extremely pretty in the yellow September light. 

The mother Goldfinch keeps flying to find food for her young ones. She feeds her nestlings and moves away to other branches. As soon as she flies back into the sky, there is an elusive silence on the Laburnum tree. Once again, the laburnum tree quiets down as it was before her arrival. 

Summary of The Laburnum Top Class 11 prepared by Vedantu is a concise and explained form of the poem which will help students to understand the poem better.

The Laburnum Top Explanation

The poem starts by describing the Laburnum tree. The top of the Laburnum tree is still and silent. It was a motionless afternoon of autumn September light. The poet wants to portray the symbiotic relationship between the Laburnum tree and The Goldfinch. During the days of early autumn, the leaves of the tree have turned yellow and the seeds have fallen on the ground. He describes the whole scenario of the tree in yellow colour. The tree was standing still and there was death-like silence in September.

The tree appears to be still fleetingly until a goldfinch perches on its branch. The life-less tree again gets back to life on the arrival of the Goldfinch bird. Due to the arrival of the bird, the tree produces a chirruping sound. He compares the agility, speed and vigilance to that of a lizard. She arrives swiftly into the tree with a dark striped face. 

The yellow and black markings of the bird looked peculiar. While she came towards her younger ones, they started making chattering noises and vibrations with sings, making a sound like a machine. She comes to feed her young ones on the tree. The tree starts to shake because of the movement of the birds and her younger ones. The tree is their shelter. 

She hides behind the yellow leaves of the tree. Her dark striped face was visible as the body was yellowed in colour. As soon as the mother returns, the tree seems to come back to life. It seems like the entire activity of the bird that keeps the tree alive. She moves to the other side of the branch in a lizard-like movement. After feeding her young ones, she flies back to the sky, the death-like silence and stillness return to the tree. 

The Laburnum Top Line by Line Explanation

In The Laburnum Top poem summary, the poet says that he saw a Laburnum tree in the daytime of September. The tree looks lifeless and motionless. The treetop was silent and still. It was the autumn season and all the seeds of the tree had fallen. The poet has used the word ‘yellow’ to refer to the leaves and sunlight. The yellow colour symbolises silence, death and beauty. He describes the tree with reference to the yellow colour. The poet uses this colour to describe the whole scene perfectly.

In the summary of The Laburnum Top, a Goldfinch bird comes to end the death-like silence of the tree and returns life to it. The peak of the tree is calm and quiet in autumnal September sunlight. There is a sudden chirrup of sound, and it breaks the silence. The tree started up like a machine. There was an intrusive noise of twittering arid the tree seemed to shiver with joy. The bird was rapid, alert and precocious like a lizard. She rapidly enters the tree and sits on the branches of the tree. She added life to the tree-like engine. She moves towards the thick end of the branch like a lizard. As she did so, her young ones started chirping and vibrating their wings. The engine of her family responds to the calls, and after fueling it, she moves out. They were excited and joyous. This resulted in the tree shaking and trembling.

In Laburnum Top explanation, the poet gives two contradicting scenarios of the tree. The first one is that the tree is mostly in a death-like stillness and silence and the second one is that the tree offers shelter and protection to the young Goldfinches. Both the bird and the tree existed with an association for their survival. The tree serves as an engine to the family of the Goldfinch. She brings food for her babies and moves to the other branch. Only the dark-coloured striped face of the mother Goldfinch is visible as her yellow body camouflages behind the yellow leaves of the Laburnum tree.

The mysterious, low whistle fluttering of the goldfinch brings back tranquillity like it was before. The bird starts sliding to the end of the branch after offering food to her young ones. After this, it sweetly chirps and flies away in the blue, infinite sky. This makes the Laburnum tree silent and death-like again.

The Laburnum Top Summary highlights the fact that both the bird and the tree are important for each other’s survival. The Laburnum tree and the goldfinches depict the symbol of life and fluctuations. The poet wants to convey the importance of living with each other. The tree’s life was seemingly dull and inanimate, but the goldfinch’s arrival makes it meaningful and worth living.

 It is a kind of mutualism that exists between the two. The Laburnum Top explanation shows that the laburnum tree is vital to the Goldfinch bird as it provides shelter to its young ones. The bird and its young ones are important to the tree since they provide the tree with life. The melancholic silence eludes with the arrival of the bird. The entire activity of the goldfinch is responsible for the tree to become spirited.

Conclusion

To sum the whole summary, we learn how the Laburnum tree came back to life upon the arrival of the goldfinch, which describes how sweet and interdependent the relationship they have, in between and how they both play such important roles in their lives. The laburnum tree gives shelter to the bird and the chicks and, in turn, takes away its dead silence.