EnglishCBSE Class 10 · Chapter 7

The Trees Class 10: Summary, Themes and Poetic Devices

Updated 14 October 2026 · Fact-checked

The Trees is a free-verse poem by Adrienne Rich in First Flight. Trees kept inside a house struggle all night and break out to refill an empty forest. The board tests it through poetry extracts (MCQs, one-word answers and 30-40 word inferences), 3-mark short answers and 6-mark long answers on freedom, confinement and nature.

What The Trees is about

The Trees is a poem by the American poet Adrienne Rich, prescribed in First Flight, the Class 10 literature reader. The textbook's author note says she was born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. in 1929, wrote nearly twenty volumes of poetry, and has been called a feminist and a radical poet. The poem is in free verse. In one line, it is about trees trapped inside a house that fight their way out, through a single night, to return to the forest where they belong.

In the board paper, the poem appears in Section C. You may get a poetry extract (Q7, one of two) with 1-mark MCQ, fill-in or very short parts and a 2-mark part answered in 30-40 words that asks for inference or analysis. It can also come as a 3-mark short answer (Q8, 40-50 words) or a 6-mark long answer (Q10, about 100-120 words). The long answer often asks you to go beyond the text, for example by linking the trees' escape to freedom in human life.

In real board papers: asked in 6 of the 21 board papers we hold (2023 to 2026), on average 1.4 marks per paper. See the questions

The Trees: explanation

In our own words, in the order of the text. Read the NCERT text itself too: the board quotes from it.

Stanza 1. The poem opens with a strange picture. The trees kept inside a house are moving out into the forest. That forest has been empty for days and nights. Without trees, no bird could sit there, no insect could hide, and the sun could not 'bury its feet in shadow'. The speaker is sure that by morning the forest will be full of trees again.

Stanza 2. All through the night, every part of the trees struggles to get free. The roots work to pull themselves out of the cracks in the veranda floor. The leaves strain towards the glass. The small twigs are stiff with effort, and the branches, cramped for so long, shuffle under the roof. The poet compares them to patients just discharged from hospital, still half-dazed, moving slowly to the clinic doors. The trees are weak and unsteady, but determined to leave.

Stanza 3. The speaker sits inside with the doors open to the veranda, writing long letters. In them she scarcely mentions that the forest is leaving the house. Outside, the night is fresh, the whole moon shines in a sky that is still open, and the smell of leaves and lichen reaches into the rooms like a voice.

Stanza 4. Her head is full of whispers that will be silent tomorrow. Then the mood shifts suddenly with one word: 'Listen.' The glass breaks. The trees stumble forward into the night, and the winds rush to meet them, as if welcoming them home. The moon, whole a moment ago, now looks broken like a mirror, and its pieces flash in the crown of the tallest oak. The breaking is not just destruction; it marks the moment of escape.

Central idea. On the surface, the poem shows trees kept indoors breaking out to return to the forest. The textbook asks whether trees used for 'interior decoration' in cities, while forests are cut down, are imprisoned and need to break out. The message is that nature cannot be held captive for ever; it will struggle and reclaim its place. The textbook also notes that Rich has used trees as a metaphor for human beings. Read this way, the trees can stand for people held back by confinement who finally break free. Given the author note calling her a feminist poet, many readers infer that the poem speaks especially of women's struggle for freedom. Either way, the poem is about the cost of confinement and the painful, determined struggle for liberty.

Themes and message

Freedom versus confinement

The trees inside the house are prisoners. Their roots are stuck in cracks, their branches are cramped under a roof, and glass stands between them and the open sky. Their escape is slow and painful, yet they never give up. The poem shows that every living thing longs for freedom, and that freedom often comes only after a long struggle. The breaking of the glass at the end is the moment the trees finally win their liberty. You can use this theme in any answer that asks about the poem's message.

From the text: The roots 'work / to disengage themselves from the cracks / in the veranda floor', the boughs are 'long-cramped', and at the end 'The glass is breaking.'

Conflict between man and nature

Humans have brought trees indoors while the forest outside stands empty. The textbook itself raises the question of trees used for 'interior decoration' in cities while forests are cut down. We can infer that the poet is criticising this. People try to control and possess nature for their own comfort, but nature resists. By breaking out, the trees undo what humans have done. The poem suggests that nature's true place is in the wild, not inside our houses.

From the text: The trees are 'moving out into the forest, / the forest that was empty all these days', which shows that the forest has been robbed of them.

Interdependence in nature

The first stanza shows that a forest without trees is not really a forest. Birds have nowhere to sit, insects have nowhere to hide, and the sun cannot rest in shade. Trees give life and shelter to many other creatures. When trees are removed, the whole natural world suffers. The return of the trees means the forest will come alive again by morning. This theme helps you answer questions on why the empty forest matters.

From the text: 'where no bird could sit / no insect hide / no sun bury its feet in shadow'

Human silence and indifference

While a dramatic escape is happening around her, the speaker calmly writes long letters and scarcely mentions it. The textbook asks whether we are often silent about important happenings that are so unexpected that they embarrass us. This suggests that people tend to ignore or stay quiet about big changes, especially in nature, until it is too late. Her 'whispers' that will be silent tomorrow hint that the moment will pass unrecorded.

From the text: 'in which I scarcely mention the departure / of the forest from the house.'

Trees as a symbol of human struggle

The textbook notes that Adrienne Rich has used trees as a metaphor for human beings. If we read the trees as people, the house becomes any situation that holds someone back, such as rules, customs or limited roles. The patients simile makes the trees seem human, weak after long confinement yet moving towards freedom. Since the author note calls her a feminist poet, we can infer that the poem may speak of women breaking out of domestic limits. This reading is interpretation, so present it as one.

From the text: The boughs move 'like newly discharged patients / half-dazed, moving / to the clinic doors.'

The speaker and the people in the poem

The speaker (poet)

The 'I' of the poem, who sits inside the house and watches or senses the trees leaving through the night.

Observant: she notices every detail of the trees' struggle, from roots to twigs.
Calm, almost detached: she keeps writing letters while the forest leaves the house.
Silent about the event: she 'scarcely' mentions the departure in her letters.
Sensitive to the senses: she notices the fresh night, the moon and the smell of leaves and lichen.
Thoughtful: her head is 'full of whispers', showing inner reflection.

'I sit inside, doors open to the veranda / writing long letters'; 'My head is full of whispers / which tomorrow will be silent.'

The trees

The central figures, described as if they were living, feeling beings who escape from the house to the forest.

Determined: they work 'All night' to free themselves.
Weak from confinement: twigs are 'stiff with exertion', boughs 'long-cramped'.
Hesitant but hopeful: they move 'half-dazed' like discharged patients.
Victorious: they break the glass and stumble forward into the night.
Life-giving: their return will fill the empty forest by morning.

'small twigs stiff with exertion'; 'The trees are stumbling forward / into the night. Winds rush to meet them.'

Poetic devices

Device	Example	Effect
Personification	'All night the roots work' and 'Winds rush to meet them.'	The roots work like labourers and the winds greet the trees like friends. This makes the escape feel like a human struggle and a joyful reunion with nature.
Simile	'like newly discharged patients'	The branches are compared to patients leaving hospital, weak and dazed but glad to go. It shows how long confinement has drained the trees, and also their hope of recovery outside.
Simile (moon)	'The moon is broken like a mirror,'	The whole moon now seems shattered as it shines through the broken glass and branches. It links the breaking of glass with a new, scattered beauty, marking a dramatic change.
Visual imagery and metaphor	'no sun bury its feet in shadow'	The sun's rays are imagined as feet that rest in the shade of trees. The picture makes us feel the loss of an empty forest, where even sunlight has nowhere to rest.
Auditory and olfactory imagery	'Listen. The glass is breaking.' and 'the smell of leaves and lichen'	Sound and smell pull the reader into the scene. The command 'Listen' creates immediacy and suspense, while the smell reaching 'like a voice' shows nature calling from outside.
Repetition	'the forest that was empty all these days' and 'the forest that was empty all these nights'	Repeating the line stresses how long the forest has been empty and lifeless, which makes the trees' return feel more urgent and important.
Alliteration	'leaves and lichen'; 'small twigs stiff with exertion'	The repeated 'l' sound is soft and gentle, like the smell drifting in. The repeated 's' sounds slow the line and suggest strain and effort.

Key quotations

Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.

The trees inside are moving out into the forest,
poet (speaker): The opening line of the poem.
It sets up the central image at once: trees that do not belong indoors are going back where they belong. It introduces the theme of escape from confinement.
no sun bury its feet in shadow
poet (speaker): Stanza 1, listing what cannot happen in a treeless forest.
It shows how an empty forest affects all of nature, even sunlight, and highlights the interdependence of trees and other life.
long-cramped boughs shuffling under the roof
poet (speaker): Stanza 2, describing the trees' night-long struggle.
'Long-cramped' shows the harm of confinement; 'shuffling' shows slow, awkward movement of beings that have not moved freely for a long time.
like newly discharged patients
poet (speaker): Stanza 2, comparing the branches to people leaving a hospital.
The simile gives the trees human feeling: weak and dazed, yet moving towards freedom and recovery.
in which I scarcely mention the departure
poet (speaker): Stanza 3, about the letters she writes while the trees leave.
It shows the speaker's silence or indifference about a huge event, raising the idea that people often ignore important changes.
still reaches like a voice into the rooms.
poet (speaker): Stanza 3, describing the smell of leaves and lichen from outside.
Nature is imagined as calling to the trees, inviting them out. The simile turns smell into sound.
Listen. The glass is breaking.
poet (speaker): Stanza 4, the climax of the poem.
The command creates suspense and draws the reader in. The breaking glass marks the moment the trees finally win their freedom.
The moon is broken like a mirror,
poet (speaker): Stanza 4, after the trees have broken out.
The whole moon of stanza 3 now seems shattered, reflecting the dramatic change. Its pieces flashing in the oak suggest a new, free beauty.

The Trees in real life

Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Freedom versus confinement

Suppose your neighbour keeps a parakeet in a small cage on the balcony of their flat. Every evening you hear it flapping hard against the bars when other birds fly past.

Compare the parakeet's situation with that of the trees in 'The Trees'. What does the poem suggest about such confinement? (40-50 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Both are living things kept indoors for human pleasure.
The bird's flapping matches the straining leaves and stiff twigs.
The poem suggests confinement hurts; freedom is natural.

Answer: Like the trees, the parakeet is kept indoors for human pleasure, away from where it belongs. Its restless flapping matches the trees' straining leaves and stiff twigs. The poem suggests such confinement hurts living things, and that freedom, like the open sky, is their natural right.

Memory hook: Flapping bird, straining leaves: both want to get out.

Human silence and indifference

Imagine the old neem tree outside your school gate is cut down one weekend. You notice the empty spot, but in your messages to cousins that week you talk only about cricket and exams.

How is your behaviour like the speaker's in the poem, and what should you do instead? (40-50 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Speaker writes long letters but scarcely mentions the departure.
You too notice a loss and stay silent.
The poem suggests silence lets nature slip away; speak up instead.

Answer: Like the speaker who writes long letters but scarcely mentions the forest leaving, I would be noticing a loss and staying silent. The poem suggests such silence lets nature slip away unnoticed. I should speak to the principal and write about it, not ignore it.

Memory hook: Long messages, no mention of the tree: that is the speaker's silence.

Interdependence in nature

Suppose the trees in your colony park are removed to make space for parking. Within a month, the sparrows that used to chirp there every morning have vanished.

Link this change to the 'empty' forest in the first stanza of 'The Trees'. (40-50 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Park without trees is like the empty forest.
Text: 'no bird could sit' in a treeless forest.
Birds, insects and shade all depend on trees.

Answer: The colony park has become like the poem's 'empty' forest. Without trees, sparrows have nowhere to sit, just as 'no bird could sit' in a treeless forest. Both show that birds, insects and shade depend on trees; remove them and life disappears.

Memory hook: No trees, no sparrows: the empty forest is in your colony.

Trees as a symbol of human struggle

Imagine Meera, a Class 10 student, whose family has decided she will take science, though she loves music. Every night, after homework, she quietly practises singing and plans how to convince them.

If the trees in the poem stand for human beings, how can Meera's situation be read through the poem? (40-50 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

NCERT notes the poet uses trees as a metaphor for human beings.
Meera is like a tree cramped in a house, in a role chosen for her.
Her nightly practice is like the roots working all night.
The struggle is slow and painful but leads to freedom.

Answer: If the trees stand for people, Meera is like a tree in the house, cramped in a role chosen for her. Her quiet late-night practice is like the roots working all night to break free. The poem suggests that such struggle, though slow and painful, leads to freedom.

Memory hook: Roots work all night; so does a dreamer breaking free.

Topics in this chapter

The Trees Poem Summary and ExplanationComing soon
The Trees Question Answers (NCERT)Coming soon
The Trees Theme and MessageComing soon
The Trees Poetic DevicesComing soon

How the board asks The Trees

The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.

Question type	How it is asked	Method
Extract: MCQ, fill in the blank, one-word answer (1 mark each)	An extract of 4-8 lines is given. You complete a sentence about a word's effect (such as 'Listen' or 'shuffling'), pick the mood from options, or fill in one word about what a phrase suggests.	Read the whole extract before answering. Match the word to its effect in context: 'stumbling' suggests unsteady effort, 'half-dazed' suggests adjusting after confinement. When options list moods, pick those the imagery supports and reject ones the lines do not show.
Extract: 2-mark inference (30-40 words)	You are asked how a simile adds to the theme, what mood the imagery creates, how sensory details affect the reader, or what the extract shows about the speaker.	Make two clear points: name the device or image with a short quotation, then link it to a theme such as freedom or confinement. Stay within 40 words and avoid retelling the extract.
Short answer (Q8, 40-50 words, 3 marks)	Questions ask about the empty forest, the trees' struggle, the change in the moon, the speaker's silence in her letters, or the poem's message.	Answer the question in your first sentence. Add two supporting points with evidence from the poem, and end with one line of inference. Content earns 2 marks and expression 1, so write clear, correct sentences.
Long answer (Q10, 100-120 words, 6 marks)	You may be asked to examine the theme of freedom, read the trees as a symbol of human beings, discuss man's interference with nature, or link the poem to another First Flight text on freedom or to life.	Plan an introduction, two or three body points each backed by a short quotation, and a conclusion that extends the idea beyond the text. Keep to about 120 words. Content carries 3 marks, expression 2 and accuracy 1. If another text is named, use only what you know from that text itself.
Poetic device identification and effect	Name the device in a line ('like newly discharged patients', 'Winds rush to meet them') or explain why the poet uses it.	Name the device correctly, quote the exact words, then explain its effect on meaning or mood in one or two lines. Naming without effect does not earn full marks.
Speaker, tone and mood	Comment on the portrayal of the narrator, or identify the atmosphere of a stanza, such as calm, mysterious, dramatic or hopeful.	Use evidence: her quiet letter-writing shows calm detachment, the fresh night and moonlight create serenity, and the breaking glass brings drama. Note how the mood shifts from stanza 3 to stanza 4.

Tricks to remember The Trees

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

Stanza order: F-R-O-M
The trees go FROM the house: Forest empty (stanza 1), Roots, leaves, twigs, boughs struggle (stanza 2), Observer writes letters (stanza 3), Moon breaks and glass shatters (last part).
Use it when: Recall the sequence of the poem before writing any extract or long answer.
Bottom to top: Roots Lean Toward Breaking
Roots, Leaves, Twigs, Boughs: the order in which the poet describes the trees' struggle, from the floor up to the roof.
Use it when: List the parts of the tree and what each does in a 3-mark answer.
Two moons
Whole moon = calm house, open sky. Broken moon = trees free, old order shattered. Same moon, before and after.
Use it when: Answer any question on how the moon or the mood changes.
Hospital picture
Cramped boughs = patients long in bed. Discharged = free at last. Half-dazed = weak from confinement but walking out.
Use it when: Explain the simile 'like newly discharged patients' and link it to freedom.
Five themes: F-I-C-H-T
Freedom vs confinement, Interdependence, Conflict of man and nature, Human silence, Trees as humans.
Use it when: Pick the right theme to anchor a 6-mark answer.

The Trees: extract-based questions

Read the extract, answer every part on paper, then open the answers.

Extract 1: Extract 1: The empty forest (opening stanza)

the forest that was empty all these days
where no bird could sit
no insect hide
no sun bury its feet in shadow

(1) · 1 mark · MCQ
Why does the speaker call the forest 'empty'?
(a) All the birds have flown away from it.
(b) It has no trees in it.
(c) It is too dark to see anything at night.
(d) Its insects have hidden under the ground.
(2) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Fill in the blank with ONE suitable word: In the line 'no sun bury its feet in shadow', the sun's 'feet' can be read as its ______ touching the ground.
(3) · 1 mark · MCQ
The stanza ends with the line 'will be full of trees by morning'. It shows that the speaker's tone is one of:
(a) doubt
(b) confident certainty
(c) regret
(d) fear
(4) · 2 marks · Short answer
The poet goes on to repeat the line as 'the forest that was empty all these nights'. How does this repetition of 'days' and 'nights' deepen the meaning of the stanza? (30-40 words)

Show the answersAnswers

(b) It has no trees in it.
rays (sunbeams). This is an interpretation. The sun's rays cannot rest in cool shade because there are no trees to cast it.
(b) confident certainty
The repetition stresses how long the forest has stayed empty, both day and night. It suggests an unbroken loneliness and incompleteness, making the trees' return feel urgent and necessary. A forest without trees is no forest at all.

Extract 2: Extract 2: Whispers before the glass breaks

My head is full of whispers
which tomorrow will be silent.
Listen. The glass is breaking.
The trees are stumbling forward

(1) · 1 mark · MCQ
Just before this, the poet writes that the smell of leaves and lichen 'still reaches like a voice into the rooms'. Identify the poetic device in this line.
(a) Metaphor
(b) Simile
(c) Hyperbole
(d) Onomatopoeia
(2) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Which sentence in the extract tells you that the trees have finally broken out of the house?
(3) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Fill in the blank with ONE word from the extract: The whispers in the speaker's head will be ______ tomorrow.
(4) · 2 marks · Short answer
The speaker's head is 'full of whispers', yet she then says 'Listen.' What does this shift suggest? (30-40 words)

Show the answersAnswers

(b) Simile. The smell is compared to a voice using 'like'.
'The glass is breaking.'
silent
The whispers are her private, half-formed thoughts about the trees, which she has kept to herself. 'Listen' marks a sudden turn: she can no longer ignore the escape. The quiet event becomes loud and dramatic as glass breaks.

The Trees: board-level solved questions

Ordered from board level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.

Example 1: Why the forest is 'empty' · 3 marks · Short answerBoard level

Why is the forest called 'empty' at the beginning of 'The Trees', and what change does the speaker expect by morning? (40-50 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The forest is empty because it has no trees.
Three things cannot happen: no bird can sit, no insect can hide, the sun cannot 'bury its feet in shadow'.
It has been empty 'all these days' and 'all these nights'.
The trees inside the house are moving out, so the forest 'will be full of trees by morning'.

Answer: The forest is 'empty' because it has no trees. Without them, no bird can sit, no insect can hide and the sun cannot rest its rays in shade. The speaker is certain that the trees escaping from the house will fill this forest by morning.

Example 2: The moon: whole to broken · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level

At first the moon 'shines' whole; at the end it is 'broken like a mirror'. Explain what this shift suggests. (40-50 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Beginning: the whole moon shines in a sky 'still open', a calm picture.
End: the moon is 'broken like a mirror' (simile), its pieces flashing in the crown of the tallest oak.
Inference: the freed trees now stand between the speaker and the moon, splitting its light.
Meaning: the old calm order is shattered by the trees' escape.

Answer: At first the moon is whole and shines in a sky 'still open', suggesting calm. At the end it is 'broken like a mirror', its pieces flashing in the tallest oak's crown. We can infer the freed trees now block and split its light, showing the old calm shattered.

Example 3: The speaker's silence in her letters · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level

The speaker writes 'long letters' but scarcely mentions the departure of the forest from the house. What does this reveal? (40-50 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

She writes long letters, so she has plenty to say.
Yet she 'scarcely' mentions the trees leaving: a big event is left out.
Possible reasons: indifference to nature, or an unwillingness to admit something strange and unsettling.
Link to theme: human silence about nature's loss.

Answer: The speaker writes long letters yet barely mentions the trees leaving. This suggests she is either indifferent to nature or unwilling to admit an unexpected, uncomfortable event. Her silence mirrors how people often ignore the loss of nature happening right beside them.

Example 4: Theme answer: the urge for freedom · 6 marks · Long answerHarder board level

''The Trees' is a poem about the urge for freedom.' Discuss, referring to the trees' struggle and what the poem suggests about confinement. (100-120 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Introduce: trees kept inside a house struggle to return to the forest.
Evidence of struggle: roots work all night against the veranda cracks; leaves 'strain toward the glass'; twigs 'stiff with exertion'.
Simile: 'long-cramped boughs' like newly discharged patients, dazed but heading out.
Escape is dramatic: glass breaks, winds rush to meet them.
Wider meaning (interpretation): protest against keeping nature as decoration; trees as a metaphor for human beings, so against all confinement.

Answer: Adrienne Rich's 'The Trees' shows living things kept indoors struggling to return to where they belong. The trees inside the house are 'moving out into the forest'. All night the roots work to free themselves from the veranda floor's cracks, the leaves 'strain toward the glass' and the twigs are 'stiff with exertion'. The 'long-cramped boughs' are compared to newly discharged patients, dazed but walking out to freedom. The effort shows how painful long confinement is. Their escape is dramatic: glass breaks, and winds rush to welcome them. We can read this as a protest against keeping nature as decoration, and, since the poet often uses trees for people, against any confinement of human beings.

Example 5: Indifference or helplessness? · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency

Is the speaker's silence about the trees a sign of indifference or of helplessness? Give your view with reasons from the poem. (40-50 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Take a clear stand (either view is acceptable if supported).
Evidence that she notices: the smell of leaves and lichen, the whispers in her head, the breaking glass.
Evidence of inaction: she keeps writing and does not stop or help the trees.
Reason for the view: the event may be too strange to put into ordinary letters.

Answer: In my view, the silence shows helplessness more than indifference. The speaker notices everything: the smell of lichen, the whispers in her head, the breaking glass. Yet she neither stops nor helps the trees. Perhaps the event is too strange and embarrassing to describe in ordinary letters.

Example 6: Value-based: what young people can learn · 6 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

Plants are often kept indoors as decoration while forests outside are cut down. Using ideas from 'The Trees', explain how the poem can inspire young people to care for nature. (100-120 words)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Message: nature does not belong indoors as an ornament.
Text link: the trees struggle all night to escape, like patients leaving a clinic.
Text link: the treeless forest has no bird to sit and no insect to hide, so living things depend on one another.
Action for young people: plant trees in open spaces, protect parks, speak up when trees are cut.
Contrast with the speaker's silence: we must not scarcely mention nature's loss.

Answer: 'The Trees' reminds us that nature does not belong inside our rooms as an ornament. The trees in the poem struggle all night to escape, like patients leaving a clinic, because confinement has cramped them. Meanwhile, the forest outside stays empty, with no bird to sit and no insect to hide. This shows that plants and creatures depend on one another. Young people can take this message seriously. We can plant trees in open spaces instead of only buying potted plants, protect neighbourhood parks, and speak up when trees are cut. Unlike the speaker, who scarcely mentions the trees' departure, we must not stay silent. Noticing and acting early can keep our own 'forests' full.

Where the marks are

How a typical answer is marked: the value points the examiner looks for and the marks each earns.

What does the speaker's silence in her letters reveal, and how does it connect to the poem's message? (40-50 words, 3 marks) (3 marks)

Step	Marks
Content: states that she writes long letters but scarcely mentions the departure of the forest	1
Content: infers indifference or unwillingness to face the event, linked to human silence about nature	1
Expression: clear, connected sentences within 40-50 words (up to 1 mark deducted for spelling or grammar errors)	1

Discuss how 'The Trees' presents the theme of freedom from confinement. (100-120 words, 6 marks) (6 marks)

Step	Marks
Content: the trees inside the house move out to the empty forest; roots, leaves, twigs and boughs struggle	1
Content: analysis of imagery such as the 'newly discharged patients' simile and the breaking glass, showing the pain of confinement and joy of release	1
Content: interpretation of wider meaning, such as nature as decoration or trees as a metaphor for human beings	1
Expression: organised ideas, fluent linking, relevant short quotations	2
Accuracy: correct spelling, grammar and punctuation	1

Where students lose marks in The Trees

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

Mistake: Getting the direction of movement wrong
Students assume trees are cut down or brought in, but the poem shows trees inside a house moving out to the forest.
Wrong working
The trees are cut from the forest and brought into the house.
Right working
The trees inside the house are moving out to fill the empty forest.
Do this: Re-read the first line: 'The trees inside are moving out into the forest'.
Usually costs: Can cost most of the content marks, since every later point depends on it.
Mistake: Naming the wrong device
The comparisons use 'like', which makes them similes, not metaphors.
Wrong working
The boughs are a metaphor for patients.
Right working
The boughs are compared to 'newly discharged patients' through a simile, using 'like'.
Do this: Look for 'like' or 'as': 'like newly discharged patients', 'like a voice', 'like a mirror' are all similes.
Usually costs: Can cost the full 1 mark in an extract question.
Mistake: Retelling instead of inferring in the 2-mark extract part
The 2-mark part asks what something suggests, not what happens.
Wrong working
The speaker sits inside and writes long letters with the doors open.
Right working
Her long letters that scarcely mention the departure suggest indifference or an unwillingness to face nature's loss.
Do this: Use a word like 'suggests' or 'shows' and name a trait or theme.
Usually costs: Can cost 1 of the 2 marks.
Mistake: Inventing actions for the speaker
Students imagine the speaker helping or stopping the trees; the poem shows her only sitting and writing.
Wrong working
The speaker opens the doors to help the trees escape and writes about them to her friends.
Right working
The speaker sits inside with doors open and scarcely mentions the departure in her letters.
Do this: Stick to what the text shows: she observes, writes and says 'Listen'.
Usually costs: Can cost 1 content mark for a factual error.
Mistake: Going far over the word limit
Long answers that run to 180 words lose focus and expression marks.
Wrong working
A 180-word summary of every stanza for a 100-120 word question.
Right working
About 110 words: theme stated, three pieces of evidence, one interpretation, a closing line.
Do this: Plan 4-5 value points first and write one or two sentences for each.
Usually costs: Can cost marks under Expression and Organisation.
Mistake: Missing the theme in a 6-mark answer
Students list images but never say what the poem means.
Wrong working
The roots, leaves, twigs and boughs all move, and the glass breaks.
Right working
Their painful struggle shows how confinement cramps living things and how strongly they long for freedom.
Do this: End every paragraph of evidence with what it shows about the theme.
Usually costs: Can cost 1-2 of the 3 content marks.

The Trees: previous year questions

Asked in 6 of the 21 board papers we hold (2023 to 2026), on average 1.4 marks per paper; 6 questions in all, counting OR alternatives. In 2 of 4 sample papers.

Counted from the real papers on our previous year papers page, not estimated. Average marks are over every board paper we hold, with an OR pair counted once. Chapter tags are ours.

Solved board questions from The Trees

Real questions from recent papers. Try each one first, then open our step-by-step solution with marks per step.

2026, set 2/4/1, Q7(a) · 5 marks · Reading comprehensionCompetency-based

Read the given extracts and answer the questions for any ONE of the two given. I sit inside, doors open to the veranda / writing long letters / in which I scarcely mention the departure / of the forest from the house. / The night is fresh, the whole moon shines / in a sky still open / the smell of leaves and lichen / still reaches like a voice into the rooms. (Trees)

(i)
Comment on the portrayal of the narrator in the given extract.
2 marks
(ii)
Complete the following suitably: The trees’ movement from the house to the forest, reflect the broader theme of _______.
1 mark
(iii)
What has the poet hardly mentioned in her letter?
1 mark
(iv)
What kind of atmosphere is created through the given extract? Select the correct option(s): 1. nostalgia 2. serenity 3. detachment 4. loss 5. joy
1. (A)1 and 4
2. (B)Only 2
3. (C)1, 2 and 3
4. (D)2 and 5
1 mark

Try it first, then show our solutionSolution

(i) The narrator is calm, reflective and observant. She sits quietly indoors writing long letters, yet notices the fresh night, the moon and the smell of leaves and lichen. She is also hopeful, since she is at peace with the forest's departure.
2 marks
(ii) The trees' movement from the house to the forest reflects the broader theme of liberation / desire for freedom and independence (breaking away from confinement and patriarchal restraint).
1 mark
(iii) She has hardly mentioned the departure of the forest from the house, that is, the trees moving back to the forest.
1 mark
(iv) The atmosphere is peaceful (2 serenity) and happy (5 joy). Nothing suggests nostalgia, loss or detachment. Option (D).
1 mark

Answer: (i) calm, reflective, observant, hopeful narrator; (ii) liberation/freedom and independence; (iii) the departure of the forest from the house; (iv) D

Where the marks are

Two valid traits of the narrator, such as reflective, calm, observant or hopeful, with support (2 marks)
Theme: liberation/independence (1 mark)
Departure of the forest from the house (1 mark)
Option D, 2 and 5 (1 mark)

See it in the full 2026 board paper, set 2/4/1

Every The Trees question, by year

For 2027

Sample paper 2026-27: Q7(B) (5 marks, solved)

2026

Set 2/4/1: Q7(a) (5 marks, solved)

Set 2/5/1: Q7(B) (5 marks, solved)

Sample paper 2025-26: Q10(b) (6 marks, solved)

2025

Set 2/2/1: Q7(b) (5 marks, solved)

Set 2/4/1: Q7(B) (5 marks, solved)

Set 2/6/1: Q7(a) (5 marks, solved)

2024

Set 2/2/1: Q7(b) (5 marks, solved)

Practice questions on The Trees

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
According to the speaker, what 'still reaches like a voice into the rooms'?
(a) The light of the moon
(b) The smell of leaves and lichen
(c) The rush of the winds
(d) The song of the birds
Hint
Look at the line just before 'still reaches like a voice'. It is about a sense other than sight.
Answer
(b) The smell of leaves and lichen.
Q2 · 1 mark · Very short answerBoard level
From which part of the house do the roots struggle to free themselves?
Hint
Second stanza: what do the roots work all night to disengage from?
Answer
From the cracks in the veranda floor.
Q3 · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): The trees' movement out of the house is slow and difficult.
Reason (R): The poet uses words such as 'strain', 'stiff with exertion' and 'shuffling' to describe the trees.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.
Hint
Check whether the words in R actually show effort and slowness.
Answer
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. Words of effort and dragging movement prove the escape is hard.
Q4 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
How does the first stanza show that a forest depends on its trees, and that other living things depend on the forest? (40-50 words)
Hint
List the three things that cannot happen in the empty forest, then say what they prove.
Answer
Value points: forest is 'empty' without trees; no bird can sit; no insect can hide; no shade for the sun; trees are the base of all forest life.
Model answer: The forest is empty without trees, so a forest needs trees to exist at all. Birds need branches to sit on, insects need cover to hide, and even sunlight needs leaves to make shade. Remove the trees and the whole web of life collapses.
Q5 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
'Winds rush to meet them.' What does this line suggest about how nature receives the freed trees? (40-50 words)
Hint
Think of the device used for the winds, and what 'rush to meet' shows about feelings.
Answer
Value points: personification of winds; eager welcome; the outside world has waited for them; the trees belong outdoors.
Model answer: The winds are personified as eager friends hurrying to greet the trees. This suggests that the outside world welcomes them home, as if it has been waiting. The trees' stumbling escape is met with a warm, joyful reception, showing they truly belong outdoors.
Q6 · 6 marks · Long answerHarder board level
Write a character sketch of the speaker in 'The Trees', showing how she observes the trees' escape and how she responds to it. (100-120 words)
Hint
Two sides: what she notices (senses) and what she does (or does not do).
Answer
Value points: sits inside with doors open to the veranda; observant (fresh night, whole moon, smell of leaves and lichen); passive, does nothing; writes long letters but scarcely mentions the departure; inner unease ('full of whispers'); 'Listen' at the climax; stands for people who notice but stay silent.
Model answer: The speaker of 'The Trees' is a quiet, observant but passive figure. She sits inside with the doors open to the veranda, so she sees and hears the trees' escape. She notices fine details: the freshness of the night, the whole moon, and the smell of leaves and lichen reaching 'like a voice into the rooms'. Yet she does nothing. She writes long letters but scarcely mentions the departure of the forest from the house. This suggests she is either indifferent or unable to face an unsettling event. Her head is 'full of whispers', perhaps showing inner unease. Only at the end does she say 'Listen', as the glass breaks. She represents people who notice nature's suffering but stay silent.
Q7 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Is the ending of 'The Trees' hopeful or sad? Give your view with reasons from the poem. (40-50 words)
Hint
Weigh the images of breaking against what the trees and the forest gain.
Answer
Value points: clear stand; breaking glass and broken moon; trees free, winds welcome them; forest full by morning; breaking as a new beginning.
Model answer: I find the ending hopeful. Though glass breaks and the moon is 'broken like a mirror', the trees are finally free and winds rush to meet them. The empty forest will be full by morning. The breaking signals a new beginning, not destruction.
Q8 · 6 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Imagine you are the tallest oak in the poem. Write a diary entry describing your night of escape and your first morning in the forest. (100-120 words)
Hint
Follow the poem's order: cramped indoors, roots and leaves struggling, the silent person inside, breaking glass, winds, moon, morning.
Answer
Value points: diary format and first person; cramped boughs; roots and leaves struggling; feeling like a discharged patient; the silent person inside; breaking glass and winds; moon pieces in the crown; forest full by morning; feeling of freedom.
Model answer: Dear Diary, Tonight I finally left the house. For years my boughs were cramped under the roof. All night my roots worked to pull free from the cracks in the veranda floor, while my leaves pressed against the glass. I felt stiff and weak, like a patient leaving a hospital. The person inside kept writing letters and said nothing. At last the glass broke and I stumbled into the night. The winds rushed to greet me, and the moon's broken pieces flashed in my crown. By morning the empty forest was full of us. A bird has already settled on my branch. I feel alive again, and I will never go back to that room.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

1.Who wrote 'The Trees'?Show answer
Adrienne Rich, born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. in 1929.
2.Where are the trees at the start of the poem?Show answer
Inside a house, moving out into the forest.
3.Name the three things that cannot happen in the treeless forest.Show answer
No bird could sit, no insect hide, no sun bury its feet in shadow.
4.What do the roots work all night to do?Show answer
To disengage themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor.
5.What are the long-cramped boughs compared to?Show answer
'newly discharged patients' moving half-dazed to the clinic doors.
6.What does the speaker scarcely mention in her long letters?Show answer
The departure of the forest from the house.
7.Which line tells you the trees have broken out?Show answer
'Listen. The glass is breaking.'
8.Where do the pieces of the broken moon flash?Show answer
In the crown of the tallest oak.

Quick revision checklist

The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?

Can you say, in one line, where the trees are and where they are going?
Can you list the four parts of the tree in the order the poet describes their struggle?
Can you explain the 'newly discharged patients' simile and link it to freedom?
Can you describe the moon at the start and at the end, and say what the change suggests?
Can you give two reasons why the speaker might scarcely mention the trees leaving?
Can you name three similes in the poem and what each compares?
Can you link the empty forest to the theme of interdependence with one quotation?
Can you explain how the trees could stand for human beings struggling to be free?

The Trees: frequently asked questions

What is the central idea of The Trees Class 10?

Trees kept inside a house struggle all night and break out to return to the empty forest. The poem shows that nature cannot be held captive for ever. It can also be read as people, possibly women, breaking free from confinement.

Why does the poet not mention the departure of the forest in her letters?

The poem does not give a reason, so your answer is an inference. She may be too absorbed in her own life, or unsure how to describe such a strange, unexpected event. The textbook suggests we are often silent about important happenings that embarrass us.

How does the moon change in the poem?

In stanza 3 the whole moon shines in an open sky. By the end it looks 'broken like a mirror', with its pieces flashing in the crown of the tallest oak. The change comes from the breaking glass and the branches now spread across the sky.

What are the three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest?

No bird can sit, no insect can hide, and the sun cannot bury its feet in shadow. These lines show that trees give shelter and shade to all of nature.

What does the comparison with newly discharged patients mean?

The branches move slowly and unsteadily, like patients just leaving hospital. Long confinement has weakened them, but they are moving towards freedom and recovery, just as patients move towards the clinic doors.

Does The Trees have a rhyme scheme?

No. It is written in free verse with no regular rhyme or metre. The irregular lines suit the slow, uneven movement of the trees as they struggle out.

Based on: CBSE English Language and Literature syllabus 2026-27; NCERT First Flight (Reprint 2026-27), The Trees