Prayer of the Woods Summary and Explanation
PSEB Class 12 English Poem 1 Prayer of the Woods Summary, Theme, Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings from A Rainbow of English Book
Prayer of the Woods Summary – Are you looking for the summary, theme and lesson explanation for Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class 12 A Rainbow of English Book Poem 1- Prayer of the Woods. Get Lesson summary, theme, explanation along with difficult word meanings and poetic devices.
PSEB Class 12 English Poem 1 – Prayer of the Woods
(Anonymous)
The poem is about the importance of wood in our lives and the prayer of the woods when a human being passes by the woods.
- Prayer of the Woods Summary
- Prayer of the Woods Summary in Hindi
- Prayer of the Woods Theme
- Prayer of the Woods Poem Explanation
- Prayer of the Woods Poetic Devices
Related:
- Prayer of the Woods Question Answers
Prayer of the Woods Summary
The woods tell us, the readers, how important they are and what resources they provide. When we put the wood on fire in the fireplace, we get warmth on the cold winter nights. During the summer season, we can escape the harsh rays of the sun under the cool shade of the trees. If we get thirsty, we can take the fruits growing on them and eat them. With the timber of woods, we make houses with good supporting beams. We can also make tables, beds, boats, doors, cradles, coffins, and even useful tools like a garden hoe. The uses are endless. Additionally, the greenery and attractive flowers add to the beauty of nature. The woods are kind and generous, and they are willing to help humans in exchange for just one request- for the humans to not hurt them or overuse or misuse the resources they provide.
Summary of the Poem Prayer of the Woods in Hindi
जंगल हमें, पाठकों को, बताते हैं कि वे कितने महत्वपूर्ण हैं और वे क्या-क्या संसाधन प्रदान करते हैं। जब हम चिमनी में लकड़ियाँ जलाते हैं, तो हमें सर्दियों की ठंडी रातों में गर्मी मिलती है। गर्मियों के मौसम में, हम पेड़ों की ठंडी छाया में सूरज की तीखी किरणों से बच सकते हैं। प्यास लगने पर, हम उन पर लगे फलों को तोड़कर खा सकते हैं। लकड़ी की लकड़ियों से हम मज़बूत बीम वाले घर बनाते हैं। हम मेज़, पलंग, नाव, दरवाज़े, पालने, ताबूत और यहाँ तक कि बगीचे की कुदाल जैसे उपयोगी उपकरण भी बना सकते हैं। इनके उपयोग अनगिनत हैं। इसके अलावा, हरियाली और मनमोहक फूल प्रकृति की सुंदरता में चार चाँद लगा देते हैं। जंगल दयालु और उदार होते हैं, और वे इंसानों की मदद करने के लिए तैयार रहते हैं, बस एक ही विनती के बदले में – कि इंसान उन्हें नुकसान न पहुँचाएँ या उनके द्वारा प्रदान किए गए संसाधनों का अति प्रयोग या दुरुपयोग न करें।
Theme of the Poem Prayer of the Woods
The poem centers on the importance of wood or trees. The poet clearly and concisely explains the contribution of wood to the strong foundation of human civilization. The woods are personified as being kind and generous givers of natural resources. The poet imagines the wood as having thoughts and feelings, and what they would pray for whenever they saw a human being passing by the woods. The poem highlights the concerns of deforestation and the overuse of natural resources in a subtle manner.
Prayer of the Woods Poem Explanation
I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights, the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun, and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on.
I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table, the bed on which you lie, and the timber that built your boat.
I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead, the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin.
I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty. ‘Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer:
Harm me not.
Word-meanings:
hearth: the floor at the bottom of a fireplace
draught: one continuous action of swallowing liquid
quenching: drinking so that you no longer feel thirsty
beam: a long, sturdy piece of squared timber or metal used to support the roof or floor of a building.
hoe: a garden tool with a long handle and a blade used for removing weeds
homestead: a house with land and buildings around it; especially a farm
cradle: a small bed for a baby that can be pushed gently from side to side
coffin: a box in which a dead body is buried
ye: plural form of ‘thou’, used in ancient English
Poem Explanation: The poem is written with freeverse, meaning that it has no rhyme scheme. Throughout the poem, the poetic device of personification is used to personify wood to have thoughts and identify itself as a generous, kind, and beautiful human. The wood is also personified to have feelings and wishes, that it has the ability to pray and ask for something. The poetic device called metaphor is widely used to compare the personified wood to various things indirectly. In the first stanza, the personified wood is indirectly linked to the hearth. Wood is used in a fireplace to produce fire. Therefore, wood is said to be the provider of heat and warmth on cold winter nights. The personified is then said to be the shade that welcomes other humans under it and protects them from the scorching heat of the sun in the summer season. Another poetic device is used in ‘summer sun’, called alliteration. The wood’s fruits are refreshing and juicy. The juice is like a continuous stream of cool liquid that helps a traveller fulfill his thirst and continue his journey to his destination. In the second stanza, the personified wood is compared to the different things where wood is used in construction. These constructions include house, table, bed, and boat. In the third stanza, the personified wood compares itself to the handle of the hoe, which is a gardening tool used to remove weeds. It compares itself to the door of a homestead, a place where the house is surrounded by land and occasionally, a farm. The cradle, which is used to rock and soothe a baby, is also made of wood. The coffin, where a corpse is laid down to be buried six feet under the ground, is also made of wood. In the second last stanza, wood describes itself to be the ‘bread of kindness’. Bread is a food item made from flour, which can be used to make a variety of savoury and sweet treats. Similarly, the wood is kind and generous, and allows humans to use its resources in whatever way they please. Wood, like bread, can be used to make a variety of useful items. Some of the items are the ones that have been mentioned in the poem, like the handle of a hoe, doors, tables, supporting beams of houses, cradle, coffin, and many more. Wood describes itself to be the ‘flower of beauty’, because it carries alluring flowers on its branches which attract not only humans but a variety of other wildlife. The poem ends with a prayer made by the wood. The wood requests humans not to harm it. Therefore, the wood is happy to help humans and wants to share its resources, but it feels pain when humans overuse and abuse wood to fulfill their greed and selfish purposes. The wood wants humans to use its resources smartly and wisely.
Prayer of the Woods Figures of Speech:
- Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound, usually initial consonants of words, in any sequence of words.
Example: summer sun - Metaphor is a figure of speech in which there is an indirect, implied, hidden comparison between two things that share a common quality.
Examples: I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty - Personification is a figure of speech by which animals, abstract ideas, or inanimate things are referred to as if they were human. Wood has been personified when it speaks and prays to passers by.
Conclusion
This post gives a summary and explanation of the poem from PSEB Class 12 A Rainbow of English textbook – Prayer of the Woods. Students can check out the summary and prepare the lesson quickly with the help of this post.