Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 5 – Trees Important Question Answers from Kaleidoscope Book Poetry

Class 12 English (Elective) Trees Question Answers – Looking for questions and answers for CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 5 – Trees? Look no further! Our comprehensive compilation of important questions will help you brush up on your subject knowledge. Practising  Class 12 English question answers can significantly improve your performance in the exam. Improve your chances of scoring high marks by exploring Poem 5 – Trees now. The questions listed below are based on the latest CBSE exam pattern, wherein we have given NCERT solutions to the chapter’s extract-based questions, multiple choice questions and Extra Question Answers 

Also, practising with different kinds of questions can help students learn new ways to solve problems that they may not have seen before. This can ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and better performance on exams. 

 

 

Related: 

 

Trees Textbook Questions (NCERT Solutions)

Responding to the Poem

1. What imagery does the poet use to delineate Summer’s day more picturesquely than any painter could?
Ans. The poetess uses the imagery of a painting in the last stanza to describe the incompetence of every artist to portray nature’s beauty in a painting as it is too profound to be painted. The poetess feels that it’s almost cruel to see the beauty of a summer day in nature because no artist, even someone as skilled as Anthony Van Dyck, a portrait painter, could ever fully capture its magnificence in a painting, essentially lamenting the limitations of art in representing the sheer beauty of the natural world. 

2. What do you understand by ‘Psalteries of Summer’?
Ans. The tune of miniature creatures like bugs and birds during summers is compared to Psalteries, a medieval musical instrument. The sounds are pleasing to the ear but aren’t fully satisfying even when they are at their most beautiful, as it leaves the poetess to crave for more.

3. In which lines are creatures attributed with human qualities? How does this add to the beauty of the Summer’s Day?
Ans. In the lines ‘Far Psalteries of Summer –/ Enamoring the Ear/ They never yet did satisfy’, the poetess referred to the miniature creatures like birds and bugs creating a tune, giving them the human qualities of a performer playing Psalteries. The poetess has also described the bird’s gossips(‘A Bird sat careless on the fence –/One gossiped in the Lane’) and the snake charmed to her gossips(‘On silver matters charmed a Snake/Just winding round a Stone’), giving them a human qualities to show harmony among them.

4. How would you explain the image of the ‘Hindered Flags’?
Ans. The bright flower opens up the outer green part of the flower, formed by the sepals and rises high in the air by the stem. The flower rises high like the wrapped flag whose hem carries the ‘Spices’(dry petals) and is raised high in the sky when its rope is pulled.

5. Why are the pronouns referring to the sun capitalised?
Ans. Emily Dickinson has used unconventional capitalisation to personify the Sun as an individual. The Sun is eternal and can choose when to appear and hide. The sun is considered God, in the world of nature created by Emily Dickinson, in whose sunshine other natural elements flourish.

6. Give examples from the poem to show that great poetry is a result of close observation of natural phenomena.
Ans. Emily Dickinson has strong observational skills. She notices small details in everything she sees. When she talks about a sunny day, she has included many elements of its beauty. She doesn’t just focus on the Sun; she also mentions other natural elements to enhance nature’s beauty. She has described not only the sunlight but also the sounds and movements around it. This shows that her poetry ‘Trees’ comes from the careful observation of nature.

Trees: Grammar Exercises 

Language Study

You came across ‘dulcimer’ in the poem ‘Kubla Khan’. Did you note down ‘Psaltery’ as another musical instrument? They are very similar. Look up the illustrations for the two in an illustrated dictionary. Find out in what ways they are different from one another.
Ans.

Basis  Dulcimer  Psalteries 
How to play Strike strings with hammers Pluck strings with fingers or plectrum
Shape Usually trapezoidal Typically “pig snoutaped
Frames Heavier frames Lighter frames
String tension Higher string tension Lower string tension

 

CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 5- Trees Extra Question and Answers

Answer the following questions.

Q1. What does the poetess mean by the ‘Estates of Cloud’?
Ans. The clouds are vast enough to shroud the sun forever from view, except the sun desires to come out and shine to let the orchards grow.

Q2. Describe the imagery used to describe a flower’s growth?
Ans. The bright flower opens up the outer green part of the flower, formed by the sepals and rises high in the air by the stem. The flower rises like the wrapped flag whose hem carries the spices and is raised high in the sky when its rope is pulled.

Q3. What does the poet want to convey through the reference to Vandyke’s Delineation?
Ans. Emily Dickinson feels that it’s almost cruel to see the beauty of a summer day in nature because no artist, even someone as skilled as Anthony Van Dyck, a portrait painter, could ever fully capture its magnificence in a painting, essentially lamenting the limitations of art in representing the sheer beauty of the natural world. 

Q4. What are the miniature creatures doing?
Ans. There are miniature creatures like bugs and birds who create a tune pleasing to the ears. With it, the sun brings everything to life.

Q5. How are the trees described by the poetess?
Ans. The trees are swaying with the wind. It’s swaying has been compared to the tassels, as the wind hits it, they are swaying in the other direction. 

 

Class 12 Trees Multiple Choice Questions

 

Q1. Which season is the speaker talking about?
A. Winter
B. Summer
C. Spring
D. Autumn
Ans. B. Summer

Q2. How did the ‘Psalteries of Summer’ perform?
A. Conundrum of noises
B. Pleasant and satisfied
C. Pleasing yet unsatisfied, craving for more
D. Unpleasant and unsatisfied
Ans. C. Pleasing yet unsatisfied, craving for more

Q3. Which of the following is NOT a natural element?
A. Sun
B. Vandyke’s Delineation
C. Birds
D. Miniature Creatures
Ans. B. Vandyke’s Delineation

Q4. Which natural element has been given an agency(a character’s capacity and freedom to make choices and take actions) in the poem ‘Trees’?
A. Sun
B. Clouds
C. Trees
D. Flower
Ans. A. Sun

Q5. Who is the poet of the poem ‘Trees’?
A. John Milton
B. Emily Dickinson
C. William Blake
D. Charles Dickens
Ans. B. Emily Dickinson

Q6. What is the poetic device used in the lines, ‘Bright Flowers slit a Calyx/And soared upon a Stem’?
A. Symbolism
B. Allusion
C. Alliteration
D. Imagery
Ans. D. Imagery

Q7. Who is listening to the bird’s gossip?
A. Flower
B. Flags
C. Snake
D. Sun
Ans. C. Snake

Q8. Who are referred to as ‘the Psalteries of Summer’?
A. Flag
B. Miniature Creatures
C. Sun
D. Estates of clouds
Ans. B. Miniature Creatures

Q9. What does the reference to ‘Estates’ describe about the clouds?
A. Vastness
B. Merely
C. Weight
D. Height
Ans. A. Vastness

Q10. What is the rhyming scheme of the poem ‘Trees’?
A. AABB
B. ABCB
C. ABCC
D. ABAB
Ans. B. ABCB

Q11. What poetic device is used in the lines, ‘Like Hindered Flags – Sweet hoisted –’?
A. Simile
B. Alliteration
C. Repetition
D. Symbolism
Ans. A. Simile

Q12. Who is compared to the hoisted flags?
A. Birds
B. Flowers
C. Clouds
D. Sun
Ans. B. Flowers

Q13. What is carried in the Hem of the flag?
A. Spices (dry petals)
B. Cloves
C. Stone
D. Tassels
Ans. A. Spices

Q14. Who was gossiping in the Lane?
A. Bird
B. Sun
C. Flowers
D. Snake
Ans. A. Bird

Q15. What are the clouds compared to?
A. Estates
B. Psalteries
C. Tassel
D. Flags
Ans. A. Estates

Q16. Who has enfolded the Sun?
A. Flower rising high in the sky
B. Flags
C. Trees
D. Clouds
Ans. D. Clouds

Q17. Who is referred to in the lines, ‘Except it were a whim of His’?
A. Flowers
B. Clouds
C. Sun
D. Trees
Ans. C. Sun

Q18. Who is sitting on the fence?
A. Flags
B. Flowers
C. Snake
D. Bird
Ans. D. Bird

Q19. What are the Trees compared to?
A. Flags
B. Tassels
C. Psalteries
D. Estates
Ans. B. Tassels

Q20. Who is Vandyke?
A. Dancer
B. Poet
C. A painter who painted portraits
D. Playwright
Ans. C. A painter who painted portraits

CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 5 Trees Extract-Based Questions

Answer the extract-based questions.
A. The Trees like Tassels hit – and – swung –
There seemed to rise a Tune
From Miniature Creatures
Accompanying the Sun –

Q1. What are trees compared to in the given stanza?
Ans. The trees sway with the flow of the wind and their swaying has been compared to the movement of tassels. As the wind hits them, they sway in the other direction.

Q2. Whose tune is referred to in the given context?
Ans. There are miniature creatures like bugs and birds who create a tune pleasing to the ears.

Q3. Who was accompanying the Sun in the poem?
Ans. The miniature creatures accompanied the Sun.

Q4. What does the poetess mean by ‘Tassels hit – and – swung –’?
Ans. The trees were swaying with the flow of the wind. The tree’s movement has been compared to the tassels; as the wind hits them, they sway in the other direction.

Q5. Who are the ‘Miniature Creatures’ referred to here?
Ans. The ‘Miniature Creatures’ are bugs and birds.

B. Far Psalteries of Summer –
Enamoring the Ear
They never yet did satisfy –
Remotest – when most fair

Q1. What are considered ‘Psalteries of Summer’?
Ans. The sound of miniature creatures like birds and bugs is considered ‘Psalteries of summer’.

Q2. What does the poetess mean by ‘Remotest – when most fair’?
Ans. The sounds of the miniature creature are pleasing to the ear but aren’t fully satisfying even when they are at their best, as their beauty leaves the poetess to crave more.

Q3. Were the sounds of ‘Psalteries of Summer’ pleasing to the Ear?
Ans. Yes, the sound of the ‘Miniature Creatures’, considered ‘Psalteries of Summer’, is pleasing to the Ear.

Q4. What does the poetess mean by ‘They never yet did satisfy –’?
Ans. The sounds of ‘Miniature Creatures’ are pleasing to the ear, but aren’t fully satisfying even when they are at their most beautiful, as their beauty leaves the poetess to crave for more.

Q5. What is the poetic device used in ‘Enamoring the Ear’?
Ans. The poetic device used in the line ‘Enamoring the Ear’ is Assonance.

C. The Sun shone whole at intervals –
Then Half – then utter hid –
As if Himself were optional
And had Estates of Cloud
Sufficient to enfold Him
Eternally from view –
Except it were a whim of His
To let the Orchards grow –

Q1. What does the given stanza describe about the Sun?
Ans. The Sun shines brightly in the sky at certain times and then gets shrouded halfway by the clouds, only to be fully hidden by them. The vast clouds belong to the Sun, who could choose when to come out or hide from the view.

Q2. What does the poetess mean by the phrase ‘Estates of Cloud’?
Ans. The clouds are vast enough to shroud the sun forever from the view, except the sun desires to come out and shine to let the orchards grow. The ‘Estates’ symbolise the vastness of the clouds.

Q3. Whose whims have been referred to?
Ans. The Sun’s whims have been referred to here as he has been given agency to come out and shine.

Q4. What does the poetess mean by ‘Sufficient to enfold Him’?
Ans. The clouds are vast enough to shroud the Sun forever from view, except the sun desires to come out and shine to let the orchards grow.

Q5. What is the poetic device used in the line, ‘The Sun shone whole at intervals –
Then Half – then utter hid –’?
Ans. Imagery is used in the lines ‘The Sun shone whole at intervals –/Then Half – then utter hid –’

D. A Bird sat careless on the fence –
One gossiped in the Lane
On silver matters charmed a Snake
Just winding round a Stone –
Bright Flowers slit a Calyx
And soared upon a Stem
Like Hindered Flags – Sweet hoisted –
With Spices – in the Hem –

Q1. What happens after the sun comes out to shine?
Ans. The bird gossips and the snake listens to her gossip when the sun comes out to shine. The flower shoots up, reaching for the sky.

Q2. Describe the imagery used to describe the flower?
Ans. The bright flower opens up the outer green part of the flower, formed by the sepals and rises high in the air with the stem.

Q3. Explain how the flowers are compared to flags in the poem ‘Trees’.
Ans. The bright flower opens up the outer green part of the flower, formed by the sepals and rises high in the air by the stem. The flower rises high like the wrapped flag whose hem carries the ‘Spices’(dry petals) and is raised high in the sky when its rope is pulled. The poet creates an image of the dry petals scattered in the air and spreading fragrance.

Q4. What poetic device is used in the line ‘Like Hindered Flags – Sweet hoisted –’?
Ans. A simile is used in the lines ‘Like Hindered Flags – Sweet hoisted –’.

Q5. What does ‘Spices’ represent?
Ans. The ‘Spices’ represent the dry petals in the hem of the flags. The poet creates an image of the dry petals scattered in the air and spreading fragrance.