Question

The poet has describe the ways of killing a tree wht mege does the poet wants to convey with thissa

Answer 1

On Killing A Tree

About The Author:

Gieve Patel is considered to be the poet of the body since human body is a recurrent theme in a majority of his poems.In his poems, the body acts as a living metaphor. His sympathies are with the oppressed or down-trodden and anyone devoid of his basic right to live. In an appropriately titled poem, The Ambiguous Fate of Gieve Patel, he being neither a part of Hinduism nor Islam in India, he grieves the isolation faced by the Parsis in the starting line of the short poem based on communal riots, when he writes; "To be no part of this hate is deprivation". As a Parsi observer, he cannot choose to be a part of either side, he poignantly remarks, "Planets focus their fires/into a worm of destruction/Edging along the continent. Bodies/Turn ashen and shrivel. I only burn my tail." He is thus counted among the well-known Parsi writers in India.

Paraphrase of the Poem:
[1-9 lines]
It takes a lot of time and strength to kill a tree because it grows slowly and rises out of the earth by absorbing years of sunlight air and water. So, it is not easy to kill a tree with a single stroke of a knife.

[10-19 lines] 
The tree has deep roots which draws its sap from the earth. It gives rise to tiny twigs and miniature boughs. We hack and chop to kill a tree. But hacking and chopping cannot destroy it completely as green twigs are sure to emerge from the bleeding bark. The miniature boughs (branches) will grow from close to the ground and grow back to its normal size.

Here the poet uses imagery of violence like cutting, jabbing, bleeding contrasted with the spreading of leaves and boughes.

[20-29 lines]
The source of the tree is its roots which is white and wet. The secret of its strength is that it is hidden inside the earth for years together. It is fixed firmly in the earth. Thus to kill a tree it has to be uprooted, scorched and choked in the sun. It takes much time to kill a tree.

[30-35 lines]
After uprooting, the roots are to be exposed to the sunlight till they dry and become brown. Then it stops breathing. It becomes hardened, twisted and browned.

1. "It takes much time to kill a tree" Why does it takes so much time to kill a tree?It takes much time to kill because it has grown slowly consuming the earth, rising out of it, feeding upon its crust and absorbing years of sunlight, air and water.

2. "It takes much time to kill a tree. Not a simple job of the knife. Will do it...." Why does it takes so much time to kill a tree?
It is not easy to kill a tree simply with a stroke of a knife. The tree has deep roots which give rise to tiny twigs and miniature boughs. The root has to be uprooted, and it has to be scorched and choked in sun and air. This process takes much time and it requires a lot of effort. Then only the tree is killed.

3. "Not a simple Job of the knife will do it", There are several images of death and violence in the poem. can you list them?The images of death are "hack, chop, scorching, choking, browning, hardening, twisting and withering". The words that show violence are roped tied, pulled out and snapped out entirely from earth crust.