NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English (First Flight) Poem 7: The Trees

Complete solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Poem 7 – “The Trees” by Adrienne Rich: an original summary, the central theme, word meanings and every Thinking about the Poem question answered in full. The questions are reproduced exactly as they appear in the NCERT First Flight textbook, while all explanations and answers are written originally by ClearStudy in clear, exam-ready English.

Class: 10 Subject: English Book: First Flight Type: Poem (Poem 7) Author: Adrienne Rich Session: 2026–27
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About the poet

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) was born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. She was a highly influential American poet, essayist and thinker, and the author of nearly twenty volumes of poetry. She is widely described as a feminist and a radical poet, and much of her work explores themes of freedom, identity, oppression and the relationship between human beings and the natural world. In “The Trees”, she famously uses trees as a symbol of living things that long to escape confinement and reclaim their natural place – a recurrent image in her poetry.

Summary

“The Trees” describes a strange and quietly dramatic movement: trees that have been kept inside a house are slowly breaking free and going back to the forest. The poem opens with the image of a forest that has long stood empty – so empty that no bird could sit in it, no insect could hide there, and the sun could not even rest its ‘feet’ in the shade of leaves. The poet tells us that this barren forest will soon be full of trees by morning.

Through the night, the trees struggle to free themselves. Their roots work hard to loosen from the cracks in the veranda floor, their leaves strain toward the glass, and their small twigs grow stiff with effort. The poet compares the long, cramped branches moving under the roof to newly discharged patients stumbling, half-dazed, toward the doors of a clinic – weak but eager to leave.

The speaker sits inside the house with the doors open to the veranda, writing long letters in which she ‘scarcely mentions’ this remarkable departure of the forest from the house. The night is fresh, the full moon shines in an open sky, and the smell of leaves and lichen still drifts in like a voice. Her head is full of whispers that will fall silent by tomorrow. In the final lines, the glass breaks, the trees stumble forward into the night, winds rush to meet them, and the moon – now ‘broken like a mirror’ – scatters its light in the crown of the tallest oak. The trees have at last regained their freedom and their rightful home in nature.

Theme & message

The central theme of the poem is the conflict between human beings and nature, and the irrepressible urge of all living things to be free. The trees, taken indoors for ‘interior decoration’ while real forests are cut down, represent nature that has been captured and confined by human beings. Their slow, determined escape shows that nature cannot be imprisoned forever – it will struggle and break out to reclaim its place. On a deeper, symbolic level, Adrienne Rich uses trees as a metaphor for human beings, especially women, who break free from the narrow, decorative roles forced on them by society to live fully and freely. The poem celebrates resistance, renewal and the unstoppable power of the natural, free spirit.

Word meanings

Word / phraseMeaning
to disengage themselvesto separate or free themselves
strainmake efforts to move; stretch with effort
bougha (large) branch of a tree
shufflingmoving repeatedly and slowly from one position to another
lichencrusty patches or bushy growth on tree trunks/bare ground (a fungus-alga association)
verandaan open, roofed porch along the outside of a house
exertiongreat physical effort
long-crampedkept squeezed in a tight space for a long time
discharged(here) officially allowed to leave (a hospital)
half-dazedpartly confused or unsteady
departurethe act of leaving
scarcelyhardly; barely
whisperssoft, quiet sounds or voices
stumblingmoving unsteadily, almost falling
crown(here) the topmost branches and leaves of a tree
oaka large, strong, long-living tree

Thinking about the Poem

1. (i) Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest.

ANSWERIn a treeless forest, the three things that cannot happen are:(a) no bird could sit (there is nowhere for birds to perch),(b) no insect could hide (there is no shelter for insects), and(c) no sun could “bury its feet in shadow” (there are no leaves to cast a shade in which sunlight can rest).

(ii) What picture do these words create in your mind: “… sun bury its feet in shadow…”? What could the poet mean by the sun’s ‘feet’?

ANSWERThese words create a picture of bright sunlight falling through the leaves and branches of trees onto the forest floor, where it forms patches of light and patches of shade. The shade is possible only when there are trees to block some of the light.By the sun’s ‘feet’, the poet means the long rays or beams of sunlight that reach down to the ground. Just as a person can dip or ‘bury’ their feet, the sunbeams seem to sink into the cool, shadowy patches under the trees. In a treeless forest there is no shade, so the sun has nowhere to ‘bury its feet’.

2. (i) Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves, and their twigs do?

ANSWERIn the poem the trees are inside the house – they have been kept indoors, with their roots stuck in the cracks of the veranda floor.During the night, they struggle hard to free themselves and move out to the forest: the roots work to disengage (loosen) themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor; the leaves strain (push) toward the glass; and the small twigs grow stiff with exertion (effort).

(ii) What does the poet compare their branches to?

ANSWERThe poet compares the long-cramped boughs (branches) shuffling under the roof to newly discharged patients – people just let out of a hospital who move half-dazed and unsteady toward the clinic doors. Like such patients, the branches are weak from being confined for long, yet they slowly and eagerly move toward freedom.

3. (i) How does the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this change?

ANSWER(a) At the beginning of the third stanza: the moon is described as whole and bright – “the whole moon shines / in a sky still open”. It is a calm, undisturbed, fresh night.(b) At the end: the moon is “broken like a mirror”, its pieces flashing in the crown of the tallest oak.What causes this change: the trees finally break out of the house – the glass breaks and they stumble forward into the night. As the freed trees rise up tall, their topmost branches and leaves come between the speaker and the moon, breaking up its reflected light so that it appears scattered, as if the moon itself were shattered like a mirror.

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

ANSWERWhen the trees move out, the house is left empty and lifeless. The smell of leaves and lichen, which once filled the rooms like a voice, fades away. The whispers in the speaker’s head – the living presence of the trees – will be “silent” by tomorrow. The glass breaks as the trees push out, and the house is left without the freshness and life that the trees had given it; nature has returned to where it belongs, leaving the human dwelling bare.

(iii) Why do you think the poet does not mention “the departure of the forest from the house” in her 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.)

ANSWERThe poet “scarcely” mentions this departure in her letters probably because the event is so strange, sudden and deeply significant that ordinary words cannot capture it – and she may even feel a quiet sense of guilt or embarrassment about it.As the question suggests, human beings are often silent about important happenings that are too unexpected, too overwhelming, or too uncomfortable to put into words. The escape of the trees is really nature breaking free from human control; on a deeper level it may stand for any living being (or any woman) breaking out of confinement. The poet’s near-silence shows how people tend to ignore or avoid speaking about such momentous, almost revolutionary changes, treating them as if they were too private or too startling to discuss openly.

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 ‘break out’?

ANSWERYes, the poem clearly presents a conflict between man and nature. Human beings have taken the trees indoors to decorate their houses, while real forests are being cut down outside. The trees are therefore shown as ‘imprisoned’, and they struggle all night to ‘break out’ and return to the forest where they belong.This is very similar to Leslie Norris’s poem A Tiger in the Zoo, where a magnificent tiger is locked in a concrete cell and longs for the freedom of the jungle. In both poems, a powerful and beautiful part of nature is confined by humans and yearns to be free. The difference is that the caged tiger remains trapped and helpless, “ignoring visitors” in quiet rage, whereas Rich’s trees actually succeed in escaping – the glass breaks and they stumble out into the night. Both poems criticise the way humans cage nature for their own pleasure.

(ii) On the other hand, Adrienne Rich has been known to use trees as a metaphor for human beings; this is a recurrent image in her poetry. What new meanings emerge from the poem if you take its trees to be symbolic of this particular meaning?

ANSWERIf the trees are read as a metaphor for human beings, the poem takes on a powerful new meaning about freedom from oppression. The trees kept indoors for decoration become a symbol of people – especially women – who are confined to narrow, ‘ornamental’ roles within the four walls of the home and are not allowed to grow or express their true nature.Their long, hard, night-long struggle to disengage their roots, strain toward the glass and finally break out then represents the human (and feminist) fight against suppression – the determination to break free of social restrictions, reclaim one’s identity and live a full, natural life. The breaking of the glass and the trees stumbling into the open night become an image of liberation and self-assertion. (Another possible meaning: the poem can also be read as nature’s renewal and the inevitable return of the wild, however hard humans try to tame it.)

5. You may read the poem ‘On Killing a Tree’ by Gieve Patel (Beehive – Textbook in English for Class IX, NCERT). Compare and contrast it with the poem you have just read.

ANSWERSimilarity: Both poems are about trees and the relationship between human beings and nature, and both show that the life-force in a tree is powerful and not easy to destroy or confine.Contrast: In Gieve Patel’s On Killing a Tree, human beings are shown deliberately and cruelly destroying a tree – it must be uprooted from the earth completely, because the tree’s roots are the source of its strength and it will keep growing back otherwise. The tone is harsh and the focus is on how much effort it takes to kill a living, deeply-rooted thing.In Adrienne Rich’s The Trees, the trees are not being killed but have been confined indoors, and the poem celebrates their successful escape and return to freedom. Patel’s poem stresses the tree’s rootedness and the violence of destroying nature, whereas Rich’s poem stresses nature’s irrepressible longing for freedom and its triumphant break for liberty. Together they show two sides of the man–nature conflict: one of destruction, the other of resistance and renewal.

Extra questions

Short answer (30–40 words)

1. Why was the forest empty in the first stanza?

ANSWERThe forest was empty because its trees had been removed and kept inside houses for decoration. With no trees, no bird could sit, no insect could hide, and the sun could find no shade – so the forest stood bare and lifeless.

2. What does the breaking of the glass signify?

ANSWERThe breaking of the glass marks the moment the trees finally escape from the house. It signifies the triumph of nature (or the human spirit) over confinement – the barrier between captivity and freedom is shattered, and the trees move out into the open night.

3. How does the speaker react to the trees leaving the house?

ANSWERThe speaker sits calmly inside, doors open to the veranda, writing long letters in which she ‘scarcely’ mentions the departure. She seems oddly silent and detached about this momentous event, as if it is too strange or uncomfortable to put into words.

4. Why does the poet compare the boughs to ‘newly discharged patients’?

ANSWERAfter being cramped indoors for a long time, the branches are weak and stiff. Like patients just released from a hospital, they move slowly, half-dazed and unsteady, yet eagerly – toward freedom. The comparison stresses both their weakness and their determination to leave.

5. What role does the moon play in the poem?

ANSWERThe moon witnesses the trees’ escape. At first the ‘whole moon’ shines in an open sky, suggesting calm and freshness. By the end it appears ‘broken like a mirror’ as the freed trees rise and break up its light – reflecting the dramatic change brought by their liberation.

Long answer (100–120 words)

6. “The Trees” is both a literal poem about trees escaping a house and a symbolic poem about freedom. Discuss.

ANSWEROn the literal level, the poem describes trees that have been kept indoors for decoration slowly freeing themselves at night and returning to the forest. Their roots loosen from the veranda cracks, their leaves and twigs strain forward, and finally the glass breaks and they stumble out into the night, while real forests outside lie empty. On the symbolic level, the trees stand for any living being – especially human beings, and women in particular – trapped in narrow, decorative, restricted roles. Their long struggle to break out mirrors the fight against oppression and the deep human longing for freedom and identity. Thus Rich blends a vivid picture of nature reclaiming itself with a powerful message of liberation, resistance and renewal.

7. Compare the treatment of confinement and freedom in ‘The Trees’ and ‘A Tiger in the Zoo’.

ANSWERBoth poems deal with nature confined by human beings and its longing for freedom. In A Tiger in the Zoo, the mighty tiger is locked in a small concrete cell; he paces in ‘quiet rage’, ignores visitors and stares at the stars, but remains helplessly trapped – freedom stays only a dream. In The Trees, the confined trees are also restless, but they actively struggle all night and finally succeed in escaping into the forest. Thus, both poets criticise the way humans cage nature for their own pleasure, and both show nature’s yearning to be free. The key difference is the outcome: the tiger’s captivity ends in frustrated helplessness, while the trees achieve a triumphant liberation, giving Rich’s poem a more hopeful, victorious tone.

MCQs & Assertion–Reason

1. Who is the poet of ‘The Trees’?

(a) Robert Frost   (b) Adrienne Rich   (c) Leslie Norris   (d) Gieve Patel

2. Where are the trees at the beginning of the poem?

(a) In the forest   (b) In a garden   (c) Inside the house   (d) On a hill

3. What do the roots of the trees do during the night?

(a) Grow deeper   (b) Disengage from the cracks in the veranda floor   (c) Dry up   (d) Absorb water

4. The long-cramped boughs are compared to:

(a) soldiers   (b) newly discharged patients   (c) dancers   (d) prisoners

5. What is the speaker doing while the trees move out?

(a) Sleeping   (b) Writing long letters   (c) Watering plants   (d) Cutting branches

6. By the end of the poem, the moon is described as:

(a) full and bright   (b) hidden by clouds   (c) broken like a mirror   (d) blood-red

7. The pieces of the broken moon flash in the crown of:

(a) the tallest oak   (b) a pine tree   (c) a banyan   (d) a palm

8. ‘Lichen’ in the poem refers to:

(a) a kind of bird   (b) crusty growth on tree trunks/ground   (c) a type of glass   (d) a flower

9. The escape of the trees is mainly a symbol of:

(a) destruction   (b) freedom from confinement   (c) fear   (d) decoration

10. Adrienne Rich is best described as a:

(a) war poet   (b) feminist and radical poet   (c) nature-only poet   (d) children’s poet

Answer key: 1-(b)   2-(c)   3-(b)   4-(b)   5-(b)   6-(c)   7-(a)   8-(b)   9-(b)   10-(b)

Assertion–Reason – choose: (a) A and R both true, R explains A; (b) A and R both true, R does not explain A; (c) A true, R false; (d) A false, R true.

1. Assertion (A): The forest in the first stanza was empty.

Reason (R): The trees had been taken indoors and kept inside houses.

2. Assertion (A): The branches move like newly discharged patients.

Reason (R): After long confinement, the branches are weak and unsteady yet eager to leave.

3. Assertion (A): The moon appears broken like a mirror at the end of the poem.

Reason (R): Clouds completely cover the moon during the night.

4. Assertion (A): The poet scarcely mentions the departure of the forest in her letters.

Reason (R): The event is so strange and unexpected that she stays almost silent about it.

5. Assertion (A): ‘The Trees’ can be read as a poem about human freedom.

Reason (R): Adrienne Rich often uses trees as a metaphor for human beings in her poetry.

Answer key: 1-(a)   2-(a)   3-(c)   4-(a)   5-(a)

Exam tips

Score better in ‘The Trees’

  • Remember the two levels of meaning: literal (trees escaping a house back to the forest) and symbolic (human/feminist freedom from confinement). Mention both in long answers.
  • Learn the key images for extract-based questions: “sun bury its feet in shadow”, boughs like “newly discharged patients”, and the moon “broken like a mirror” in the crown of the “tallest oak”.
  • Be ready to compare the poem with A Tiger in the Zoo (man vs nature, confinement vs freedom) and On Killing a Tree (destroying vs freeing nature).
  • Quote only short phrases from the poem; never copy long passages. Always explain the device (metaphor, simile, imagery) in your own words.

FAQs

What is the central message of ‘The Trees’ by Adrienne Rich?

The poem shows the conflict between humans and nature and the strong urge of all living things to be free. Trees confined indoors break out and return to the forest, symbolising nature’s – and humanity’s – longing to reclaim freedom and identity.

Why does the moon look ‘broken like a mirror’ at the end?

As the freed trees rise tall, their topmost branches come between the speaker and the moon and break up its light, so it appears scattered, as if the moon itself were shattered like a mirror.

What do the trees symbolise in the poem?

Literally, they are house plants escaping to the forest. Symbolically, they stand for living beings – especially women – who break free from narrow, decorative, restricted roles to live full and free lives.

Questions are reproduced verbatim from the NCERT First Flight textbook; the summary, explanations and answers are written originally by ClearStudy. Short quoted phrases are used only for poem analysis.

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