ON KILLING A TREE (Notes)



ON KILLING A TREE (Notes)

Title:

The poem, On Killing a Tree, latently raves about, in a concentrated approach, of the trees, and on the act of killing; both these phenomena contrasted and confiscated together with intense terms, phrases and expressions. With its mere span of 35 odd countable lines when the tree is talked of, the essence of a tree is encapsulated in language, such as “Years of sunlight, air, water”, “leperous hide / Sprouting leaves”, “ green twigs”, “The root”, “white, wet, most sensitive, hidden”,  “strength of the tree” , “consuming the earth”, and many more.
But, the “killing” overpowers; the very opening line is set to “kill a tree”. The instruments, the agents, the means follow:  “the knife”, “hack and chop”, “pain”, “bleeding bark”, “roped, tied”, “pulled out entirely”, “snapped out”, “scorching and choking”, “browning, hardening, twisting, withering”. With the strength of the tree being exposed the “anchoring earth” turns into the “earth-cave”, indicative of the hollowness of human folly.
Thus, “it takes much time” of the first line is ironically and sarcastically murdered by “it is done” of the final asserting words. And, the placing of the preposition “on” adds dimensions to the title helping it to be more poignant and responsive to the theme of the poem, as well as, to be more methodical and structured to the guise of the poem.

Sarcastic and ironical note of the poem:

Sarcasm and irony are the core weapons of the poet, Gieve Patel, by which he intends to pierce through and mock at the age-old indifferent and cruel attitude of the human folk towards Nature, symbolised here as the tree in the poem, On Killing a Tree. The practice of cutting and killing trees is so callous and matter-of-fact that he cannot use direct invectives to dissuade people from random and rampant butchering. The irony is steeped in the way he employs human analogy in charting the growth of the tree, and man’s widening detachment from it. The juxtaposing of “anchoring earth” and “earth-cave” is ironical as it blatantly showcases the hollowness of human folly. The poet’s caustic remark reveals that “the bleeding bark will heal” as he knows “years of sunlight, air, water” has gone into the making of the tree. The methodical approach in describing the process of murdering, the exploitation of detailed imagery as in “roped, tied, and pulled out”, the assertion that “it takes much time to kill a tree” and “and then it is done”, the final pronouncement several a line later are all sarcastic in tone. It is a seething irony that the poet’s claim that the tree “will expand again to former size” is negated, and thus, annihilated by the expression, “the strength of the tree exposed”.

The process of killing a tree:

In a methodical approach that represents the callous age-old tirade of man against trees the poet, Gieve Patel, lays out the knowhow of annihilating trees. The poet warns that certain acts, such as jabbing the tree with a knife or hacking and chopping it, would not kill a tree. It has got its “strength” from “years of sunlight, air, water” to sprout forth leaves from “leperous hide”, and its “bleeding bark will heal” helping it to “expand again to former size”.
So, the poet, to kill a tree, charts out a process. At first, the root of the tree is to be “snapped out” of its anchoring earth by roping, tying and pulling it out. Next, it is left under the sun for scorching, and in the air for choking it up. Death of the tree is ascertained when the uprooted tree assumes brownish colour, and gets hardened, twisted and withered. This is how a tree is blatantly put to death.

Contrast between resilience of trees and indifference of man:

On Killing a Tree by Gieve Patel is methodically structured on the expressions of contrast between the resilience of the tree and the indifference of man. It is the subtle as well as blatant interplay and juxtaposition of these two that strikes forth the coveted meaning and hurls ironical and sarcastic barbs at the readers. The tree has got its “strength” absorbing “years of sunlight, air, water” and mere jab of the knife would not do much harm to it. The act of hacking and chopping does not affect it either, since the “bleeding bark will heal”. The tree thus wounded or cut off has the capacity of expanding “again to former size”. But man’s heartless tirade and nonchalant atrocity against the tree intrudes in. The tree is vehemently uprooted from its “earth-cave”. It is scorched in the sun, choked in the air. These contrasting aspects bring in an irony wherein the growth of the tree assumes a human analogy, yet the human folk are unaware of it!

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