Trees Summary and Line by Line Explanation
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 5 – Trees Summary, Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings from Kaleidoscope Book Poetry
Trees Summary – Are you looking for the summary, theme and lesson explanation for CBSE 12 English (Elective) Poem 5 – Trees from English Kaleidoscope Book Poetry. Get Lesson summary, theme, explanation along with difficult word meanings
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 5- Trees
-Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson’s poem Trees celebrates the beauty and energy of nature on a warm summer day. The poem uses vivid imagery and a gentle rhythm to describe the delicate movements in the natural world. Through her careful word choice, Dickinson helps the readers to imagine the sights and feelings of a sunny landscape.
Related:
Trees Summary
The trees are moving with the flow of the wind. Their movement is like tassels swaying in the opposite direction when the wind blows. Small creatures like insects and birds create melodies. The Sun brings everything to life. The sounds of insects and birds during summer are like the music from psalteries, an old musical instrument. These sounds please the speaker’s ears but can still feel incomplete, even when beautiful. Sometimes, the Sun shines brightly in the sky; other times, it is partly covered by clouds and at times completely hidden. The large clouds belong to the Sun, which decides when to appear. These clouds can cover the Sun for a long time, but it is the Sun’s choice to shine and help the orchards grow. A bird sat on the railing and chatted along the narrow path. A snake wrapped around a stone is attracted to the bird’s trivial talk. A bright flower blooms and opens its green outer parts, rising high on its stem. The flower stands tall like a flag raised high in the sky by its rope. The speaker shares that there is more to say than she has already said, but can not express it all. It’s unfair to see the beauty of a summer day in nature because no artist, even someone as skilled as Anthony Van Dyck, can fully capture its splendour in a painting. This shows that art has limits in representing the true beauty of the natural world.
Summary of the Poem Trees in Hindi
पेड़ हवा में घूम रहे हैं। जब हवा चलती है तो उनकी गति विपरीत दिशा में झूलती टसेल्स की तरह होती है। कीड़े-मकोड़े और पक्षी जैसे छोटे जीव धुन बनाते हैं। सूर्य सब कुछ जीवंत कर देता है। गर्मियों में कीड़ों और पक्षियों की आवाज़ें साल्टरियों के संगीत की तरह होती हैं, जो एक पुराना संगीत वाद्य है। ये ध्वनियाँ वक्ता के कानों को खुश करती हैं लेकिन फिर भी अपूर्ण महसूस कर सकती हैं, तब भी जब वे सुंदर हों। कभी-कभी, सूरज आकाश में चमकता है; कभी-कभी, यह आंशिक रूप से बादलों से ढका होता है, और कभी-कभी, यह पूरी तरह से छिपा होता है। बड़े बादल सूर्य के होते हैं, जो तय करता है कि कब दिखाई देना है। ये बादल लंबे समय तक सूरज को ढक सकते हैं, लेकिन यह सूरज की पसंद है कि वह चमकें और बागों को बढ़ने में मदद करें। एक पक्षी रेलिंग पर बैठा और संकरे रास्ते पर बातचीत कर रहा था। एक पत्थर के चारों ओर लपेटा हुआ एक सांप पक्षी की तुच्छ बातों की ओर आकर्षित होता है। एक चमकीला फूल खिलता है और अपने हरे बाहरी हिस्सों को खोलता है, अपने तने पर ऊंचा होता है। फूल अपनी रस्सी से आकाश में एक झंडे की तरह ऊँचा खड़ा है। वक्ता ने कहा कि वह और भी बहुत कुछ कहना चाहती हैं लेकिन यह सब व्यक्त नहीं कर सकती हैं। प्रकृति में गर्मी के दिन की सुंदरता को देखना अनुचित लगता है क्योंकि कोई भी कलाकार, यहां तक कि एंथनी वैन डाइक जैसा कुशल व्यक्ति भी, एक पेंटिंग में इसकी भव्यता को पूरी तरह से कैद नहीं कर सकता है। इससे पता चलता है कि प्राकृतिक दुनिया की वास्तविक सुंदरता का प्रतिनिधित्व करने में कला की सीमाएँ हैं।
Themes of the Poem Trees
The Beauty of Nature
The poem celebrates the beauty and vibrancy of nature. Emily Dickinson observes every small activity happening in nature and its inhabitants. She has beautifully used poetic devices to describe nature. She feels that no artist is competent enough to portray the profound beauty of nature.
Harmony Between Natural Elements
Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘Trees’ vividly portrays the friendly connections between natural elements like the sun, clouds, trees, birds, snakes, flowers, and animals. It shows the harmony among the natural elements.
Trees Poem Explanation
Stanza:
The Trees like Tassels hit – and – swung –
There seemed to rise a Tune
From Miniature Creatures
Accompanying the Sun –
Word meanings:
tassels: a group of short threads or ropes held together at one end, used as a hanging decoration on hats, curtains, furniture, etc.
swung: move or cause to move back and forth or from side to side while suspended or on an axis.
miniature: very small of its kind.
accompanying: provided or occurring at the same time as something else.
Explanation of the above stanza—The poet says that the trees are swaying with the flow of the wind. Their swaying has been compared to the movement of tassels, as the wind hits them, they sway in the other direction. There are miniature creatures like bugs and birds, which create a tune. With it, the Sun brings everything to life. Here, Emily Dickinson has used imagery to portray nature’s beauty in its brilliance. She observes the beauty of nature as the sum of its natural elements. Moreover, this stanza shows harmony in nature. The miniature creatures accompanying the Sun give a personification aspect to the miniature creatures.
Stanza:
Far Psalteries of Summer –
Enamoring the Ear
They never yet did satisfy –
Remotest – when most fair
Word meanings:
Psalteries: an ancient and medieval musical instrument like a dulcimer but played by plucking the strings with the fingers or a plectrum.
enamoring: be filled with love for.
remotest: distant
Explanation of the above stanza—The tune of miniature creatures like bugs and birds in summer is compared to that of Psalteries, a medieval musical instrument. The sounds are pleasing to the ear but aren’t fully satisfying even when they are at their best. The reference to Psalteries gives a human-like quality to miniature creatures. The Assonance in ‘Enamoring the Ear’ adds a musical aspect to this stanza. The miniature creatures’ sounds are too pleasing to the ears that the poetess craves for more.
Stanza:
The Sun shone whole at intervals –
Then Half – then utter hid –
As if Himself were optional
And had Estates of Cloud
Word meanings
utter: completely
optional: voluntarily or free
estates: ownership or belonging; an extensive area of land in the country, usually with a large house
Explanation of the above stanza— The Sun shines brightly in the sky at certain times, then it gets hidden, interrupted halfway by the clouds, only to get fully hidden. The vast clouds belong to the Sun, who could choose when to come and go. Unless the Sun desires to let the orchards grow. Emily Dickinson portrays the Sun’s position at different times. The Sun is personified as eternal and has the agency to appear or hide, which isn’t given to the other elements of nature. The reference to the cloud’s vastness through ‘Estates’ means that the Sun is personified as a human and clouds are like ‘Estates’ whose ownership belongs to him.
Stanza:
Sufficient to enfold Him
Eternally from view –
Except it was a whim of His
To let the Orchards grow –
Word meanings
enfold: surround
eternally: lasts forever
whim: a sudden desire or change of mind, especially unusual or unexplained.
orchard: a piece of enclosed land planted with fruit trees.
Explanation of the above stanza— The clouds are vast enough to shroud the Sun forever from view, except that the Sun desires to come out and shine to help the orchards grow. The pronoun ‘His’ used for the Sun gives him an eternal aspect. The Sun has been given the agency to appear or hide, which isn’t given to the other elements of nature. The orchards flourished in the Sun’s grace. The reference to the ‘whims’ of the Sun gives it a human-like aspect.
Stanza:
A Bird sat careless on the fence –
One gossiped in the Lane
On silver matters charmed a Snake
Just winding round a Stone –
Word meanings
fence: a barrier, railing,
Lane: a narrow path
winding round: twist or wrap something around another thing, or follow a course that forms a loop
Explanation of the above stanza— The bird sat on the railing and gossiped in the narrow path. The snake with a silver tone crawling on the stone seems to be wrapped around it. It is attracted to the bird’s irrelevant gossip. The bird’s carelessness and gossiping nature give it a human-like aspect. Moreover, the snake being ‘charmed’ by the bird’s gossip has been personified. Emily Dickinson has used anthropomorphism(the tendency to see or think of non-human things in terms of human qualities) to describe ‘Stone’ as a human being. The imagery is used to describe the harmony between the animals and birds.
Stanza:
Bright Flowers slit a Calyx
And soared upon a Stem
Like Hindered Flags – Sweet hoisted –
With Spices – in the Hem –
Word meanings
slit: a long, narrow cut or opening.
calyx: the outer part of a flower formed by the sepals
soared: to fly or rise high in the air.
hindered: obstruct
hoisted: raise (something) using ropes and pulleys
spices: dry petals
hem: the edge of a piece of cloth
Explanation of the above stanza— 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. 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.
Stanza:
’Twas more – I can not mention –
How mean – to those that see
Vandyke’s Delineation
Of Nature’s – Summer Day!
Word meanings
’Twas: it was
delineation: the action of describing or portraying something precisely.
Vandyke: a famous painter who painted landscapes
Explanation of the above stanza— The speaker conveys that there is more to say about the beauty of nature than she has already spoken about, but she can’t mention it. It feels almost cruel to see the beauty of a summer day in nature because no artist, even someone as skilled as Anthony Van Dyck, who is 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. Here, Emily Dickinson reinforces Plato’s philosophy that ‘Art is thrice removed from reality’. According to this philosophy, art is considered a copy of a copy of the true reality, essentially making it three steps away from the ultimate truth, as it imitates the physical world which is already an imitation of the perfect forms in the realm of ideas; therefore, art is considered an illusion or mere imitation with no real connection to true knowledge. Emily mocked the famous painter for painting portraits rather than taking inspiration from nature and painting landscapes. However, no artist could paint nature’s brilliance.
Trees Poetic Devices
Alliteration
In alliteration, consonant sounds in two or more neighbouring words or syllables are repeated to grasp the reader’s attention, making them focus on a particular line or section. Emily Dickinson poem ‘Trees’ has alliteration in line with ‘The Trees like Tassels’.
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind. The instances of simile in the poem ‘Trees’ are ‘Trees like Tassels’ and ‘Like Hindered Flags’.
Assonance
Assonance is a figure of speech that is characterised by the use of words with similar vowel sounds. Some instances where Emily Dickinson uses Assonance are ‘The Trees like Tassels’, ‘Enamoring the Ear’, and ‘Silver matters charmed a Snake’.
Consonance
Consonance is the poetic device that uses words with similar consonant sounds in a sentence or a particular context. Some of the instances where Emily Dickinson uses Consonance are ‘From Miniature Creatures’, ‘Psalteries of Summer’, ‘Orchards Grow’, ‘Silver matters charmed’, ‘Then Half – then utter hid’, ‘Winding Round a Stone’ and ‘Flags – Sweet Hoisted’.
Imagery
Imagery is a literary device that uses figurative language to evoke a sensory experience or to paint a picture for the reader with words. The imagery used in Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘Trees’ are ‘The Trees like Tassels hit – and – swung’, ‘The Sun shone whole at intervals –/Then Half – then utter hid’, ‘Sufficient to enfold Him’, ‘Bright Flowers slit a Calyx/And soared upon a Stem’ and ‘A Bird sat careless on the fence’.
Personification
Personification is a figure of speech used to attribute human characteristics to something that is not human. The sun is personified as eternal and has the agency to appear or hide, unlike other natural elements. The other natural elements are also personified, like flowers, birds, snakes, clouds, miniature creatures and trees.
Conclusion
The poem “Trees” by Emily Dickinson offers a reflection on the beauty of nature. This post is designed to help the students understand the poem better, providing explanations for difficult words to enhance comprehension. It also includes a summary of “Trees”, which will assist class 12 students in quickly reviewing the content.