Now thatyou have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poemmight mean. Here are two suggestions. Can you think of others?
(i) Doesthe poem present a conflict between man and nature? Compare it with ATiger in the Zoo. Is the poet suggesting that plants andtrees, used for ‘interior decoration’ in cities whileforests are cut down, are ‘imprisoned’, and need to‘break out’?
(ii) Onthe other hand, Adrienne Rich has been known to use trees as ametaphor for human beings: this is a recurrent image in her poetry.What new meanings emerge from the poem if you take its trees to besymbolic of this particular meaning?
(i) Howdoes the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the thirdstanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this change?
(ii) Whathappens to the house when the trees move out of it?
(iii) Whydo you think the poet does not mention “the departure of theforest from the house” in her letters? (Could it be that we areoften silent about important happenings that are so unexpected thatthey embarrass us? Think about this again when you answer the nextset of questions)
(i) Whereare the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves andtheir twigs do?
(ii) Whatdoes the poet compare their branches to?
(i) Find,in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treelessforest.
(ii) Whatpicture do these words create in your mind: “... sun bury itsfeet in shadow...”? What could the poet mean by the sun’s‘feet’?
Now thatyou have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poemmight mean. Here are two suggestions. Can you think of others?
(i) Doesthe poem present a conflict between man and nature? Compare it with ATiger in the Zoo. Is the poet suggesting that plants andtrees, used for ‘interior decoration’ in cities whileforests are cut down, are ‘imprisoned’, and need to‘break out’?
(ii) Onthe other hand, Adrienne Rich has been known to use trees as ametaphor for human beings: this is a recurrent image in her poetry.What new meanings emerge from the poem if you take its trees to besymbolic of this particular meaning?
(i) Howdoes the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the thirdstanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this change?
(ii) Whathappens to the house when the trees move out of it?
(iii) Whydo you think the poet does not mention “the departure of theforest from the house” in her letters? (Could it be that we areoften silent about important happenings that are so unexpected thatthey embarrass us? Think about this again when you answer the nextset of questions)
(i) Whereare the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves andtheir twigs do?
(ii) Whatdoes the poet compare their branches to?
(i) Find,in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treelessforest.
(ii) Whatpicture do these words create in your mind: “... sun bury itsfeet in shadow...”? What could the poet mean by the sun’s‘feet’?