THE LABURNUM TOP ( Class 11th )

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Edward James Hughes was an English poet and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation, and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He served as Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.

THEME

• The first three lines of the poem impress upon the reader the stillness of the laburnum tree. A small Goldfinch comes and the tree bursts with movement and sound.

• The bird’s family lodges in the thickness of the tree. The goldfinch enters the tree’s thickness to feed  her young ones and flies away

INTRODUCTION OF THE POEM

The poem ‘The Laburnum Top’ is written by Ted Hughes. It is about a repaying relationship between the Laburnum tree and the Goldfinch bird. The tree is yellow, silent and death-like and is made alive by the bird and her young ones. The yellow bird has her shelter on the tree where she feeds her young ones. But as soon as the bird leaves to fly in the sky, the tree becomes silent and death-like again.

THE LABURNUM TOP POEM AND EXPLANATION

1. The Laburnum top is silent, quite still

In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,

A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.

Laburnum – A short tree with hanging branches, yellow flowers, and

poisonous seeds

Explanation :

In the above lines, the poet says that he saw a Laburnum tree whose leaves were yellow. The tree’s top is still and silent in the day time of September month. It is autumn season and all the seeds of the tree had fallen.

The poet has used the word ‘yellow’ for leaves and sunlight. Yellow symbolizes silence, death, and beauty. He describes the whole scene of the tree with this colour.

2. 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 chitterlings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings —

The whole tree trembles and thrills.

Explanation :

A Goldfinch bird comes to end the death-like scene of the tree and makes a sudden chirrup sound. The bird while being rapid, alert and precautiouns like a lizard, sits on the branches of the tree. As she moved towards the thickness of the branch, her younger ones started chirruping and doing vibrations with wings, making a sound like a machine. Because of the movement of the bird and her young ones, the tree starts to shake and thrill.

The poet has given two opposite scenarios of the tree. The tree first being death-like and still and then giving life and shelter to bird and her young ones.

Glossary:

Goldfinch – A  small singing birds with yellow feathers on its wings

Twitching– sudden jerk movement

Chirrup – a bird making repeated high pitched sounds

Startlement – feeling or showing sudden shock

Abrupt – rapid

Chitterings – to make a chattering sound

Tremor of wings – involuntary vibration of the wings

Trillings – To produce a chirruping sound

Trembles – to shake

Thrills – a sudden feeling of excitement

3. It is the engine of her family.

   She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end

   Showing her barred face identity mask

Explanation :

The Laburnum tree and the goldfinch bird is the engine of her family.

She provides food to her young ones and moves to the other branch

end. Her dark coloured striped face is visible as her body is yellow

coloured and hides behind the yellow leaves of the tree.

Glossary:

Flirts out–lead on to

Stokes – to add fuel to the engine

Barred – stripy

4. Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings

    She launches away, towards the infinite

    And the laburnum subsides to empty .

Explanation :

After reaching the end of the branch, the bird makes a sweet chirping sound just like whispering and flies away towards the infinite sky. It again makes the Laburnum tree silent and death-like.

Glossary:

Eerie – weird and strange

Whistle-chirrup – gentle whisper like the chirping of the bird

Subsides – diminishes

The Laburnum Top - Literary Devices

1. Personification –the attribution of personal nature

    characteristics to something non-human.

             The whole tree trembles and thrills.

2. Transferred Epithet – the figure of speech where

the adverb is transferred to another noun.

             Her barred face identity mask 

3. Alliteration - repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of two or more consecutive words. The instances of alliteration in the poem are as follows-

September sunlight

tree trembles

4. Simile – comparison between two things using like or as.

                                        Sleek as a lizard

5. Metaphor – an indirect comparison between two things. Generally, a quality is compared.

“She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up” - the noise created by the movement of the

birds is compared to the machine’s noise

“It is the engine of her family.”

“Showing her barred face identity mask”

Some Questions for :

1. ‘She launches away, towards the infinite’. Explain the given line.

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

3. Describe the Laburnum tree.

4. What happened when the goldfinch came to the laburnum tree?

5. How is the tree transformed during the bird’s visit? Write the line

    that shows this transformation.

6. Explain the line 'and the laburnum subsides to empty’.

( KINDLY TRY THESE QUESTIONS OWNSELF )

THANKS