ON KILLING A TREE

• english
• Basisschool
• Groep 8

Expected Learning Outcomes:

I will be able to: 

• Interpret few life lessons learnt from trees.
• Listen and internalize the core idea of the poem. 
• Deduce the theme of the poem.

About the poet:

Gieve Patel is an Indian poet, playwright, painter, as well as a practising physician. His poems speak of deep concerns for nature and expose man's cruelty to it.

NOW LET'S READ THE POEM

It takes much time to kill a tree,

Not a simple jab of the knife

Will do it. It has grown

Slowly consuming the earth,

Rising out of it, feeding

Upon its crust, absorbing

Years of sunlight, air, water,

And out of its leperous hide

Sprouting leaves.

So hack and chop

But this alone wont do it.

Not so much pain will do it.

The bleeding bark will heal

And from close to the ground

Will rise curled green twigs,

Miniature boughs

Which if unchecked will expand again

To former size.

No,

The root is to be pulled out -

Out of the anchoring earth;

It is to be roped, tied,

And pulled out - snapped out

Or pulled out entirely,

Out from the earth-cave,

And the strength of the tree exposed,

The source, white and wet,

The most sensitive, hidden

For years inside the earth.

Then the matter

Of scorching and choking

In sun and air,

Browning, hardening,

Twisting, withering,

And then it is done.

The 3 themes of the poem are:

The Themes of the poem:

Death:

Death is the foremost theme in this poem. The cutting down of trees is equated with death. Every time Patel talks of cutting down a tree, he portrays it as killing it. The death the poet incorporates in this poem is both natural and spiritual.

Deforestation:

Deforestation is another major theme. Deforestation has become a problem, especially in the modern times, where forests are cleared to make roads, or for furniture of for fossil fuel. It is incredibly harmful to the ecosystem and the imminent danger is felt throughout the poem.

Pain:

Patel spins a very visual tale of pain where the reader can almost feel the hacks made at a tree. The ‘bleeding bark’ is the visual representation of the pain Patel envisions the tree going through.

Identify the tone of the poem

1. humble and humorous
2. incredulous and irreverent
3. sarcastic and caustic
4. naive and nasty

Identify the mood of the poet:

1. worried
2. sincere
3. evasive
4. jaded

Drag and Drop

Drag the lines of the poem in the boxes with blue outline and drop them to match their meanings in the boxes with red outline.

discoloured bark

cutting of something

burning at a high intensity

fading from life

earth holds the trees, through roots

leprous hide

hack & chop

scorching

withering

anchoring earth

The phrase, "years of sunlight air and water" implies that: A tree consumes lot of sunlight, air & water to become a completely grown tree.

1. True
2. False

How would you feel if your plant would be uprooted as described by the poet? How would you want to protect it?

Success Criteria:
I can:
Deduce the theme of the poem.
Identify the components and writing style of the poem

1. Strongly Agree
2. Agree
3. Disagree
4. Need help