NOTES PREPARED BY
ASHAQ HUSSAIN BHAT
TEACHER SCHOOL
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
JAMMU AND KASHMIR
Lesson-13: On Killing a Tree:
(Gieve Patel)
Thinking About the Poem:
Q.1 Growth of a tree is a long process; killing of a tree is a longer process. Do you agree?
Ans: Yes, the growth of a tree is along process and the killing of a tree is a longer process. It takes many years to a tree to grow but several years to kill it completely
Q.2 How has the tree grown to its full size? List the words suggestive of its life and activity.
Ans: The tree has grown to its full size by consuming the earth's crust and observing years of sunlight, air and water. Words like growth, consuming, sunlight, air and water suggests its life and activity
Q.3 What does the poet mean the bleeding barks/ what makes it bleed?
Ans: The part of the tree where it has been chopped and the sap is oozing is the bleeding bark. Hacking and chopping make the tree bleed.
Q.4 The poet says 'No' in the beginning of the third stanza. What does it signify?
Ans: The poet says no, in the beginning of the third stanza by which he means to say that a tree can't be killed even by hacking or chopping until and unless it has to be uprooted completely.
Q.5 What does the poet mean by the earth-cave?
Ans: The part of the earth which holds the roots of the tree is being referred as the earth-cave.
0.6 What according to the poet can kill a tree?
Ans: It takes a long time to kill a tree. A tree can be killed by uprooting it completely and left to wither in the sun for along time.
Q. 7 How do you find the style employed by the poet in the poem?
Ans: The poet has used a critical style about the man's efforts to kill the trees. The poet very critically says that the process of killing tree is a longer process than its growth
Literary Devices:
1: Beginning with the title, what are the words and images that are suggestive of violence in the poem?
Ans: The words and images that are suggestive of violence in the poem are as
01.Kill a tree
02. Job of the knife
03.Hack and chop
04. The bleeding bark
05. Pulled out
06.Roped, tied
07. Snapped out
08.Strength of the tree exposed
09. Hardening, twisting and withering
10. Scorching and choking.
Central Idea of the poem
The central idea of the poem, "On Killing a Tree", composed by Gieve Patel is that the growth of the tree is a long process but killing of the tree is longer process. It takes a long time to grow a tree but longer time is needed to kill a tree. Actually tree is symbol of an evil. We can't destroy an evil until and unless it's very source is found out, exposed and destroyed. To kill an evil, its source has to be rotted out.
Summary of the poem:
The poem, "On killing a tree", composed by
Geive Patel is about the process of killing a tree. The poet says that it takes much time to kill a tree. One can't kill a tree by a single job of the knife as the tree has grown by consuming earth, sunlight, water and air from many years. The tree should be hacked and copped completely. Its twigs can grow into the size of former bought if they are left unchecked. To kill the tree, its roots have to be pulled out from the earth. It has to be tied with a rope and pulled out. Its roots should be left in the sun and the air to dry. It should be left there until it browns, hardens, twists and withers. Only then the tree can be said to be really killed.
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