Q3 of 39 Page 100

What happens to the house when the trees move out of it?

When the trees move out of the house, the glass gets broken and the winds rush to meet the trees which are stumbling forward in the night. However, the poet feels that the smell of the leaves of the trees and lichens still reaches the rooms of her house.


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2

What does the poet compare the branches to?

 3

How does the poet describe the moon:

(a) At the beginning of the third stanza, and

(b) At its end? What causes this change?

 3

Why do you think the poet does not mention “The departure of the forest from the house” in the letters? (Could it be that we are often silent about important happenings that are so unexpected that they embarrass us? Think about this again when you answer the next set of questions.)

 4

Now that you have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poem might mean. Here are two suggestions. Can you think of others? (i) Does the poem present a conflict between man and nature? Compare it with A Tiger in the Zoo. Is the poet suggesting that plants and trees, used for ‘Interior decoration’ in cities while forests are cut down, are ‘imprisoned’, and need to ‘breakout’?