Laburnum Top Class 11

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Saraswati International School

The Laburnum Top
SummaryY
In The Laburnum Top' poem, the poet says that he saw a Laburnum
tree in the daytime of September. The treetop was silent and still
It was the autumn season and all the seeds of the tree had fallen.
The poet has used the word yellow' to refer to the leaves and
sunlight. Yellow colour symbolizes silence, death and beauty. He
describes the tree with reference to the yellow colour.
A Goldfinch bird comes to end the death-like silence of the tree

and returns life to it. There is a sudden chirrup of sound. The bird
was rapid, alert and precautious like a lizard. She sits on the
branches of the tree. She moves towards the thick end of the
branch like a lizard. As she did so, her young ones started chirping
and vibrating their wings. They were excited and joyous. This
resulted in the tree to shake and tremble.
The poet gives two contradicting scenarios of the tree. First one is
that the tree is mostly in a death-like stillness and silence and the
second one is that the tree offers shelter and protection to the
young Goldfinches. The tree serves as an engine to the family of the
Goldfinch. Only the dark coloured striped face of the mother
Goldfinch is visible as her yellow body camouflages behind the yellow
leaves of the Laburnun tree.
The bird starts sliding to the end of the branch after offering food
to her young ones. After this, it sweetly chirps and flies away in the
blue, infinite sky. This makes the Laburnum tree silent and death
like again.
The poem highlights the fact that both the bird and the tree are
important for each other's survival. It is a kind of mutualism which
exists between the two. The Laburnum Top explanation shows that
the laburnum tree is vital to the Goldfinch bird as it provides
shelter to its young ones. The bird and its young ones are important
to the tree since they provide the tree with life. The melancholic
silence eludes with the arrival of the bird.
Questions & Answers:

1. What is the bird's movement compared to? What is the basis for
the comparison?
Ans. The goldfinch's movement in the poem has been compared to

the movement of a lizard because she was abrupt, sleek and alert.
These kinds of movements are observed in a lizard. When the bird
arrived at the tree and moved to the thick side of the branch to
feed her young ones, her behaviour resembled that of a lizard.
2. What is common between the starting and ending of the poem

with respect to the Laburnum tree?
Ans. At the beginning and the ending of the poem, the Laburnum
tree stood still and silent. There was no life to it. It was all silent
until the Goldfinch returned to the tree.
3. Why is the image of the engine evoked by the poet?
Ans. The engine serves as a source of power that runs a machine.

The bird Goldfinch is compared to the engine in the poem as she is
the feeder of her family. Just like a machine cannot work without an
engine, the young finches can't survive without her.
4. Why Does Ted Hugh Compare Laburnum Trees to a Machine?

Ans. Ted Hughes compares a laburnum tree to a machine due to the
influence of industrial revolution. Advent of machines has slowed
down the exchange of energy between elements of nature, making
the world mechanical and dull.
Trees are being uprooted and replaced with concrete buildings and
giant towers, leaving no space for agriculture. Poet gives the
impression of machines as he finds himself trapped in a world of
devices with no room to interact with Mother Nature.
5. What is the Significance of Yellow in the Poem?
Ans. In this poem, colour yellow finds dominant spot as the poet
tries to set an atmosphere of death and silence. The Laburnum tree
stands tall with its beautiful yellow flowers brightening the visuals.
Goldfinch bird perches along the tree fluttering with its yellow
feathers further symbolising activeness.
At the same time, in the first stanza, yellow portrays death and
silence with the image of fallen leaves. Ted Huges by using this
simple colour forms a melancholic atmosphere where a sad tree tries
to survive by interacting with nature and surroundings.
3. Why do you like the Poem?
Ans. This poem gives an outlook on the sweet interaction between

elements of nature. Ted Huges, also known as an animal poet,
personifies the movements of the tree and bird. Energy exchange
becomes the central theme of this poem. Here a small bird depends
on a tree for survival; on the other hand, the tree becomes livelier
at the presence of a bird even during the dull September
The laburnum tree portrays the hardship of human life, which is
described as pictorially. Moreover, the poet compares the movement
of lizards with the Goldfinch bird who is sleek and active.

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PDF Labu ... Qs).

Saraswati International School

A Goldfinch bird comes to end the death-like silence of the tree

Questions & Answers:

Ans. The goldfinch's movement in the poem has been compared to

2. What is common between the starting and ending of the poem

3. Why is the image of the engine evoked by the poet?

Ans. The engine serves as a source of power that runs a machine.

4. Why Does Ted Hugh Compare Laburnum Trees to a Machine?

5. What is the Significance of Yellow in the Poem?

3. Why do you like the Poem?

Ans. This poem gives an outlook on the sweet interaction between

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