TREES 

Summary

-by SHIRLEY BAUER

The poem ‘Trees‘ by Shirley Bauer revolves around the importance of trees in our lives. The poet lists out all the purposes of trees in our daily lives. Trees serve as home to all birds. Birds build nests and lay eggs on tree tops. Trees can even serve children by helping them have fun when they play games. They can hide behind their tree trunks when they play hide and seek. They trap kites which children fly around. As for adults, they do not recognise the tree’s worth even when they enjoy all the benefits. They organise tea parties and enjoy the shade that it provides when it is hot in summer. They do not pay attention to trees in winter. They make tree houses by reshaping trees. They make swings and even cut out its branches for timber. Unlike the trees, they discriminate between an apple and pear tree. When it is autumn and the leaves fall, the mothers think about adoring the beauty and painting the scene. The fathers think about collecting the leaves together and making money by selling it.

Conclusion

Poem The Trees is the voice with a body engaged in the activities and sensing intrusions that are not organic to the conventions of a nature poem. This is actually an unnatural poem that narrates the struggle of a population of trees to escape the confined surrounding of a greenhouse.

NCERT SOLUTIONS

Questions (Page No. 84)

(Working with the Poem)

Question 1. What are the games or human activities which use trees, or in which trees also ‘participate’?

Answer: The games or human activities which use trees or in which trees also participate are:

• Trees are used by children to hide while playing hide and seek.
• Children make tree houses to play.
• Adults have their tea parties under the shade of the trees.
• Adults also use them as a scene to paint.

 Question 2.

1. “Trees are to make no shade in winter.” What does this mean? (Contrast this line with the line immediately before it.)
2. “Trees are for apples to grow on, or pears.” Do you agree that one purpose of a tree is to have fruit on it? Or do you think this line is humorous?

Answer:

1. Trees provide shade during the scorching summer. During winter, trees shed their leaves as people enjoy sun during winters. Hence, trees are to make no shade in winter.
2. Yes, I agree that one purpose of a tree is also to provide fruits and eatables. Humans receive a lot of eatables from trees.

Question 3. With the help of your partner, try to rewrite some lines in the poem, or add new ones of your own as in the following examples.

Trees are for birds to build nests in.

Trees are for people to sit under.

Now try to compose a similar poem about water, or air.

Answer: Air is for people to breathe in.

Air is for kites to fly high in the sky.