The Trees Summary: A Poem by Joyce Kilmer

Adrienne Rich was a poet, essayist, and feminist in America. She was born on 16th May 1929. Some of her popular works include ‘Woman Born’, ‘One Lies, Secrets and Silence’, and ‘When We Dead Awaken’. She was awarded the Shelley Award from the Poetry Society of America in 1971.

Theme

The theme of the poem for Class 10 is that trees are not very happy with the activities of human beings. The crux of the poem is the conflict between man and nature. A plant is brought inside the house when it is a sapling but as it grows, it gets suffocated with the limited space available. So, it departs to feel free. The trees are thus moving out from the poet’s house to the forest to free themselves. Humans must understand that their actions are impacting negatively on nature and mend their ways before it's too late. 

Summary of ‘The Trees Poem’ for Class 10

The poem The Trees’ is about plants that we use for decorating our house. These plants are grown in small pots and pans to beautify houses. Human beings have confined nature within their four walls. They have uprooted trees from the large forests and kept them in artificial glasshouses. This poem portrays how humans have harmed nature for their selfish needs.

The poem, ‘The Trees’ written by Adrienne Rich is about decorative pants. These plants are grown within the four walls and in no way, they can help the birds and insects. Birds cannot sit on the branches and the insects cannot hide in them. They don’t give any shade. Their twigs are stiff. Their boughs are like a newly discharged patient. They are devoid of light. Their leaves rush towards the glass window for light because they feel suffocated in their small pots and pans. The poet is sitting inside her room. She is writing long letters. It is the night time and she can sense the smell of the leaves and lichen reaching inside her room. The poet has a strong feeling of desire that these trees should make all efforts to get light and air. 

‘The Trees’ is an extended metaphor--- the trees are indeed people, specifically, females who need healing or having been healed, are now ready for their true purpose, renewing the empty forest. 

Explanation by Stanzas

In the first stanza, the trees described are either decorative plants kept inside a house or are shown only in a painting or picture. So, there is no place for birds to sit and insects have no place to hide because they are not real trees. Due to the absence of the forest, the sun has no shadow to cool its feet and so the trees are moving out to the forest. Now, as the plants in the house are moving out, the forest that was empty all these days will be full of trees the next morning. 

In the second stanza, the poet says that in the night, the roots work to free themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor so that they could move out. The leaves are making efforts to move towards the glass, perhaps in search of light. The twigs have become stiff as they try to pull themselves towards the light. The boughs of the trees are compared to newly discharged patients, who are anxious and depressed. As soon as they recover, they are eager to move out of the clinic doors. In the same way, the plants in the pot feel suffocated and they are eager to move out of the house in the hope of finding the light. 

In the third stanza, the poet says that she is sitting inside her house and writing long letters. In those letters, she does not mention how trees are struggling to come out of her house. She stares at the fresh night where the full moon was shining brightly in the sky. The poet further says that as a voice in the room, the smell of the leaves and fungus is still prevalent. 

In the last stanza, the poet says that there are many thoughts going on in the poet’s mind, which will be silenced by tomorrow morning. The poet can hear the sound of glass breaking and the trees moving out of the house at night, and the wind seems to welcome them. The poet says that the moon in the sky looks like a broken mirror because it is partially covered by the branches and the leaves. These broken pieces of the moon look as if they are crowning the oldest oak tree.

The Trees Summary - Introduction

Adrienne Cecile Rich was a famous American poet, essayist, and feminist. She is remembered for her contributions to poetry during the second half of the 20th century. In Baltimore, Maryland, she was born to pathologist Arnold Rice Rich and Helen Elizabeth, a concert pianist and composer. She was from a Jewish family with two younger sisters. Rich's first collection of poetry, A change of the world, earned her Yales series of younger poets award. She received a Guggenheim fellowship to study at Oxford for a year after graduation. Rich married Alfred Haskell Conrad, an economics professor at Harvard University. While in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she published her second volume, The Diamond Cutters. Rich's famous poems include The Trees, Necessities of Life, Leaflets, and The Will to Change. Her poems earned her several awards, including the Lifetime achievement award, the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and the National poetry association award.

The Trees Summary - Explanation per stanza

The first stanza tells that forest is trees' natural habitat. So the trees planted indoors start moving toward a forest to get freedom. The poem further talks about the destroyed forests that lack trees, birds, insects, sunlight hiding in shadows and life. The poet has used trees as a metaphor to explain how humans have destroyed the forest. The poet feels that the empty forest will be full by morning with the trees moving.

The second stanza tells how the trees work throughout the night to achieve their freedom mission. They work all night to move through cracks on the veranda floor. The leaves pressure glass to break through the ceiling, and the small twigs stiffen due to continuous pressure exertion. The long branches have shrunk due to the cramped space. The trees move slowly away from home and look like newly discharged patients from the hospital. They, just like the patients, get confused while moving to the clinic door. They cannot believe that they are approaching their natural habitat.

The third stanza talks about the poet who sits inside her house on the veranda writing long letters while keeping the doors open. In the letters, she hardly mentions the departure of the trees to the empty forest. Yet, at night time and with the moon shining in the sky, the poet can smell the odor of the leaves and lichen moving towards her. The smell of the trees reaches her in a way similar to a voice reaching a room.

In the last stanza, the poet listens to the whisper of the trees leaving the house. The trees manage to reach the empty forest the next day, and silence occurs in the house. The poet then hears the sound of glass breaking. The glass breaks as the trees move in a hurry; they fall on each other in this process. The trees feel the fast-blowing wind that comes to meet them. The length of the trees makes the moon break into pieces like a mirror. Now the moon seems like a crown fitting on the head of the oak trees.