Hornbill - 11 English, Poem -3, The Laburnum Top - Ted Hughes, The poem, Glossary, Summary, Questions and Answers, The Poem - The Laburnum t...
Hornbill - 11 English, Poem -3,
The Laburnum Top - Ted Hughes,
The poem, Glossary, Summary, Questions and Answers,
The Poem -
The Laburnum top is silent, quite still
In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.
Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup
A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.
Then sleek as a lizard, and alert, and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Of chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings,
The whole tree trembles and thrills.
It is the engine of her family.
She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask
Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings
She launches away, toward the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty.
Glossary-
1. laburnum - a short tree with yellow flowers and poisonous seeds.
2. goldfinch - a small singing bird with yellow feathers.
3. twitching - a sudden short jerking.
4. chirrup - a short, high-pitched sound made by a small bird.
5. startlement - surprise, amazement.
6. sleek - smooth and glossy.
7. abrupt - sudden and unexpected.
8. chitterings - make a chattering sound.
9. tremor - an involuntary quivering movement.
10. barred - prohibited.
11. stokes - to fuel the fire.
12. eerie - strange and frightening, uneven.
Summary -
The poem, "The Laburnum Top" is written by the poet, Ted Hughes, and it has two main characters, the tree of Laburnum and the bird Goldfinch as symbols of life and activities. The first three lines represent the autumn season which is a symbol of dullness, negativity, and a pessimistic way of life because of the lack of movements and silence on the tree.
In the next lines, the tree becomes suddenly active because of the arrival of the bird Goldfinch, as she enters the tree to feed her nestlings and hatchlings. The whole tree trembles with joy and happiness, and becomes energetic and full of life. Here the bird is represented as the engine of the family, and her family as the machine, as without an engine, the machine becomes dead. So, it is an optimistic way of life.
The poem describes how the tree becomes alive, active, and joyful when the bird Goldfinch enters the tree. The bird completely transforms the tree with its simple but natural activities and as soon as the bird leaves, it becomes silent as before its entry.
The tree represents the pattern of a dull life, and the bird represents a cheerful and active life the moral is that our presence should be worthy enough to change dullness into full of action and life. Moreover, how crucial is the role of the leader in the family? Also how nature transits from one phase to another, and the beauty of nature, has been very well described in the poem. '
Find Out -
1. What laburnum is called in your language?
Ans - In Hindi, it is called as," Amaltas".
2. Which local bird is like the goldfinch?
Ans - " Indian Lutino Ringneck" is a local bird-like goldfinch.
Think it out -
1. What do you notice about the beginning and end of the poem?
Ans - At the beginning and end of the poem, the tree remains calm, quiet, motionless, and inactive, only it changes after the appearance of the bird goldfinch.
2. To what is the bird's movement compared? What is the basis for the comparison?
Ans - The bird's movement is compared to that of a lizard because when the bird goldfinch enters the laburnum tree, its movements are exactly like a lizard as sleek, abrupt, and alert.
3. Why is the image of the engine evoked by the poet?
Ans - The engine is the main source of energy for any machine to work or run and the bird is the only source of energy for its family. Without the bird, its family can not survive as the machine can not run or work in the absence of the engine.
4. What do you like the most about the poem?
Ans - I like the simple but effective presentation of the poem, it's short in length yet it narrates a great and inspiring theme. The poet compared the bird's movement with the lizard and its activities and liveliness that transformed the tree and how the presence of the bird makes the difference.
5. What does the phrase, "her barred face identity mask"?
Ans - The bird Goldfinch's face always remains covered, and the tree has yellow coloured leaves because of the autumn season, and the bird has yellow feathers, so it is difficult to locate the bird on the tree, so whenever it shows her face, it is sort of an identity mask of the bird.
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