Poem 1: The Heart of the Tree (Workbook Answers)
Treasure Trove
Poem 1
The Heart of the Tree
(Workbook Answers)
Extract 1
Answer 1: The poet is asking the question to the readers. By planting trees,the man plants a friend of sun and sky, and a flag of breezes free.
Answer 2: The tree is suggested as a friend of sun and sky because one day it will grow tall and appear to reach the sky. The tree is a friend of the sun as the tree depends on sunlight to carry out photosynthesis, to make its food.
The tree is again compared to a flag of free breeze. Like a flag flutters freely in the breeze, the leaves of the tree flutter and provide a soothing, cool breeze to us.
Answer 3: Same as Answer 2
Answer 4: The shaft of beauty means "the pillar of beauty". The tree is compared to the shaft.
Answer 5: Beginning the poem with a question creates curiosity in the minds of the readers. The figure of speech used here is known as Hypophora or Antipophora.
Extract 2
Answer 1: The soft song that a mother bird sings to her young ones is known as the mother-croon of bird. The song is sung in a hushed voice to provide a peaceful and soothing atmosphere to the young ones.
Answer 2: The faint light at the end of the day, after the sun has gone down is known as twilight. It is a happy twilight because the mother-bird is singing.
Answer 3:
(a) high tone in music
(b) song of heaven
The treble adds to the harmony of the universe.
Answer 4: Examples of metonymy: "happy twilight heard"; "the treble of heaven's harmony". In this extract, it refers to the association of the birds with the tree.
Answer 5: (Do yourself)
Extract 3
Answer 1: The poet gives the following benefits of planting trees:
(a) They provide cool shade
(b) They provide tender rain
(c) They bear seeds for the future generation.
When the plants grow big in size they provide cool shade.
Answer 2: (Write yourself. Describe the process of transpiration.)
Answer 3: The trees bear seeds and buds for future generations. With each passing year, the trees grow and one day they die and are replaced by new trees. When a man plants a tree, an entire forest grows for his future generations. In this way the man plants the forest's heritage.
Answer 4: The trees bear seeds and buds. They will provide shade, rain, fruits and other materials to the future generations in the same way they are providing to the current generation.
Answer 5: The expression 'unborn eyes' indicates the future generation that is yet to be born. They will see the benefits of the trees planted by the present generation.
Extract 4
Answer 1: The figure of speech used here is metonymy.
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called not by its own name, but rather by some other words. Other examples of metonymy in the poem are: 'cool shade', 'a friend of sun and sky'.
Answer 2: The man who plants the trees foresees the welfare of the society when he plants the trees. The planter's work is a blessing because we obtain food, wood, pure air and other materials from the trees. It is a blessing on the neighbourhood of the man who plants the trees.
Answer 3: The man who plants a tree, holds all the growth of our land by providing the economic, commercial and aesthetic benefits of the tree for mankind.
Answer 4: A nation's growth depends on planting trees as the land without trees would become barren. The growth of a land depends on its environment, the wellness of its citizens and its commercial relations with other countries. All these benefits are possible only with the plantation of trees.
Answer 5: "The Heart of the Tree" is an appropriate title. The heart is one of the most important organs in the entire human body. Likewise, a tree has certain qualities, which are as essential as the human heart, for survival. As the heart maintains human life; so does the tree maintain the plant and animal life on the earth. 'The heart', thus signifies the most important quality of the trees.