"On killing a Tree" is a poem which is emphathatic to Trees. The Poet gives emphasis on not to destroy trees. He equate it with "killing" a human being.He says that by taking nutrients and water from soil and air and sunlight from environment, it develops a strong trunk and gets numerous leaves.
Merely cutting the trunk of the tree does not kill it. When a tree is cut, the sap flows out just like a wounded man bleeds. Once the wound heals, new branches and tiny leaves grow from there which grow which grow into tree.
In order to destroy a tree, it has tobe uprooted. The roots which are white in colour and are damp due to moisture that they get from the soil are hidden in a pit in the earth. These roots are the most sensitive part of tree as they bind it to the earth. In order to kill the tree, these roots have to be detached from soil.
Once the roots are detached, tree starts dying. It withers, dries up with the action of heat and wind, twists, hardens and finally, dies.
Difficult Word Meaning
Jab:sudden rough blow
Leprous hide:Discoloured bark
Hack :cut roughly by striking heavy blow
Anchoring Earth:trees are held securely with the help of the roots in the earth
Snapped out:Chopped out
Scorching and chocking: the drying up of the tree after being uprooted
Explanation
"It takes much time to kill a tree,
Not a simple jab of the knife
Will do it, it has grown
Slowly consuming the earth
Rising out of it, feeding
Upon its crust, absorbing
Years Of sunlight, air, water,
And out of it's leprous hide Sprouting leaves'
Explanation
A simple cut does not destroy a tree. A tree grows gradually. It is rooted in the soil. A plants takes Nutrition from the soil to grow into a big tree. The tree is firmly bound with the soil. It takes in sunlight, water and air to grow into a strong trunk and have numerous leaves.
Stranza (2)
So hack and chop
But this alone won't do it.
Not so much pain will do it
The bleeding bark will heal
And from close to the ground
Will rise curled green twigs
Miniature boughs
Which if unchecked will expand again
To former size."
Explanation
Human cut and chop the bark of trees into many pieces but it is not sufficient to distroy it. The point of the tree which gets cut gives out sap just like a human being bleed. After sometimes, this would heals and from there new branches start growing again.
Stanza (3)
"No
The root is to be pulled out-
Out of the anchoring earth:
It is to be roped, tied
And pulled out -snapped out
Or pulled out entirely,
Out from the earth cave,
And the strength of the tree exposed
The source, white and wet,
The most sensitive, hidden
For years inside the earth."
Explanation
The poet says that in order to kill the tree, it has to be uprooted. One has to separate the tree from the earth which support it. The roots of the bind the tree with the soil in the pit of the earth. From there, the most sensitive and hiden part of the tree-the roots are white in colour and are damp.
Stanza (4)
"Then the matter
Of scorching and choking
In sun and air
Browning, hardening
Twisting, withering
And then it is done.
Explanation
Once the tree has been uprooted, then gradually it withers and dries up with the action of heat and wind. The trunk will become brown, twist and will harden. Finally tree will die this way.
Poetic devices used in Poem
(1)Metaphor
A metaphor is figure of Speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characterstics. Metaphors are used to dramatize thoughts to emphasize and elevate the expression to a higher intensity.Examples :
Leprouus hide -Leprous is used to define scaly skin caused by an infectious disease. The poet here means that the skin of the tree looks leprous, mesning rough and scaly.
Bleeding bark.:The poet means the sap of the fluid in a tree, which oozes out when tree is cut down. He compares the sap to the human blood here.
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