Glimpses of India
The Trees
Interpret the images and meanings of 'The Trees'.
An empty forest. The poem begins with trees 'inside' a house moving out into the forest. Without trees, the forest is empty:
- no bird can sit;
- no insect can hide;
- no sun can 'bury its feet in shadow'. The sun's feet are its rays, which have no shade to rest in.
The struggle to get out (stanza 2). All night:
- the roots work to free themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor;
- the leaves strain toward the glass;
- the small twigs are 'stiff with exertion';
- the long, cramped boughs shuffle under the roof 'like newly discharged patients, half-dazed, moving to the clinic doors'. They are weak but eager to leave.
The poet does not mention it (stanza 3). She sits inside, doors open, 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 'reaches like a voice into the rooms'. Why say nothing? Perhaps because big, unexpected events are hard to talk about.
The breakout (stanza 4). 'My head is full of whispers which tomorrow will be silent.' 'Listen. The glass is breaking.' The trees stumble out into the night, and the winds rush to meet them. Now 'the moon is broken like a mirror': we see it in pieces, flashing in the crown of the tallest oak, because the trees now stand between us and the moon.
What could the poem mean? The book offers two readings and asks for more:
- Man and nature: trees kept indoors as decoration while forests are cut down break free. Compare it with 'A Tiger in the Zoo'.
- Trees as people: Adrienne Rich often uses trees for human beings, for example people, especially women, breaking out of a closed life.
Which do you prefer? Can you think of another?
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