Question

"Question 1 1. Can a “simple jab of the knife” kill a tree? Why not? 2. How has the tree grow to its full size? List the words suggestive of its life and activity. 3. What is the meaning of “bleeding bark”? What makes it bleed? 4. The poet says “No” in the beginning of the third stanza. What does he mean by this? 5. What is the meaning of “anchoring earth” and “earth cave”? 6. What does he mean by “the strength of the tree exposed”? 7. What finally kills the tree?

Class 9 - English - On Killing a Tree (Poem) Page -111"

Answer 1

1.A simple jab of the knife can't kill a tree. A tree can't be killed unless it is uprooted completely and left to die in the sun.

2. The tree had fed Upon The crust of the earth. It has absorbed the sunlight, air and water for years. Thus it have grown slowly into a huge size.

3. The ‘bleeding bark’ means that part of the tree where it has been chopped and the sap is oozing from there. The bark bleeds when the tree is hacked or chopped.

4. The poet means to say that a tree can't be killed even by hacking or chopping. It has to be uprooted completely.

5. The Earth surface both as an anchor and as a cave for the tree. It feeds the tree and provides a cave for its roots.

6. The real strength of the tree lies in its roots. Thus when the tree is uprooted its strength is exposed.

7. To kill a tree it has to be uprooted completely. It should then be left to wither in the sun only. Only then it is killed finally.

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