On Killing a Tree

1.0About the Poet

Gieve Patel (born on 18 August 1940) is an Indian poet, playwright, painter, as well as a practising physician. He belongs to a group of writers who have subscribed themselves to the 'Green Movement' which is involved in an effort to protect the environment. His poems speak of deep concerns for nature and expose man's cruelty to it.

2.0Central Idea

The poet through this poem ironically conveys a profound message to the readers of saving trees. He ironically conveys a message that we should not cut trees. He says that trees are living beings just like human beings or any other form of life. Throughout the poem, the poet has described various effective steps to completely kill or destroy a tree. He is truly trying to stop the killing of trees by sensitising people towards importance of trees in our life by the effective use of irony in the poem.

3.0The Steps

The poet says that it takes much time to kill a tree. Simple strike of a knife won't kill it. The tree has grown slowly consuming the earth (earth's nutrients). The descriptions given by the poet indicate the tree as a parasite which keeps consuming the earth. It feeds upon the earth's crust by eating up all its nutrients, thereby, destroying its fertility. Leaves keep coming/sprouting out of its leprous hide. The poet here means to say that smaller evils keep issuing from bigger ones.

4.0Cruelty of Men

The poet says that the tree must be pulled out of the anchoring earth - trees are hold securely and tightly with the help of the roots in the earth. So, if we want to kill the tree, we need to kill its very source from which it originates - i.e., the roots. And for this particular purpose we need to tie a tree by a strong rope and then pull it out of the earth's cave by using our full strength and then chop it entirely. Here again continuing with its symbolic technique, the poet says that in order to get rid of the deep rooted evil, we must know its source, expose it and kill it entirely with our full strength.

Likewise, if we want to bring an evil to its very end, we need to find its very source to be rooted out. We need to drain away all the life and strength from it. We must not let it linger in the society. We must not provide it (evil) any other chance of survival.

5.0Poetic Devices used in Poem

• Enjambment - It is a literary device in which a line of poetry carries its idea or thought over to the next line without a grammatical pause. Example Rising out .................. sunlight, air, water,
• Imagery - The creation of any sensory effect to create scenes in the poem Example The poet has given the detailed visual description about the growth of the tree in the last six lines of the stanza.
• Metaphor - It makes a comparison between two non-similar things. Examples leprous hide (The poet has compared the discoloration of bark with the skin disease 'leprosy' in humans) The bleeding bark (The poet has compared the tree sap to human blood)
• Repetition - Repetition is using a word, phrase, or clause a number of times with the purpose of emphasis or to provide unity to the poem. Examples And pulled out - snapped out Or pulled out entirely,
• Personification - It means to give human quality to an object or a non-living thing. Example The poet has personified the trees by using the word 'bleeding' for them.

6.0Recall

• It is not easy to kill a tree. It takes much time.
• A tree grows on earth, feeds on its crust, absorbs years of sunlight, air and water.
• 'Hack and chop' do not kill tree. It wounds the barks and makes them bleed.
• The real strength of the tree lies in its roots.
• The roots are the most sensitive parts of the tree.
• When the roots are pulled out, they are white and wet.
• The sun and the air harden and wither the exposed roots of the tree and kill it.