HANDOUT (Session: 2021-22)

SUBJECT: ENGLISH CLASS : XI

TOPIC : THE LABURNUM TOP by TED HUGHES

SUMMARY
On a bright September afternoon, the laburnum, a short tree with hanging branches and yellow
flowers, stood soundless and motionless. A few leaves that had yellowed and some seeds lay
scattered around it. Just then, all of a sudden a small singing bird with yellow feathers on its wings,
the goldfinch, arrived chirping. She entered the foliage like a lizard—smooth, watchful and hasty.

As she entered, the tree suddenly seemed to come alive. It started up like a machine. There were
shrill sounds of twittering arid the tree seemed to quiver with joy. The mother bird was like the
engine of her family. Like an engine she added life to the tree and flitted from branch to branch,
showing her striped face, with yellow and black markings that were peculiar to her. Then with a
mysterious, low whistle she flew off into the sky. Once again the laburnum quietened down as it
was before her arrival.

CENTRAL IDEA OF THE POEM

The Laburnum Top is a beautiful poem in which the poet has used the Laburnum Tree and
goldfinches as a symbol of life and its fluctuations. In this poem, the poet describes how the visit of
a goldfinch changes the Laburnum tree. The goldfinch transforms the tree and makes it come alive
as the chicks of the goldfinch start to rustle and chirp on seeing her. Once the goldfinch leaves the
tree, it becomes quiet and still again. The Laburnum tree symbolises the pattern of our life in
general, which is usually dull and inanimate. The goldfinch breaks the usual pattern and makes it
lively. Without the goldfinch, the Laburnum tree is just like another tree. In other words, it is the
attitude of a person towards life that makes life meaningful and worth living.

POETIC DEVICES
Simile: In this figure of speech, one thing is compared to another. An example of simile in this
poem is ‘sleek as a lizard’.

Metaphor: In this figure of speech, a word/ phrase is used to represent something else. Examples of
metaphor in this poem are ‘engine of her family’, where ‘engine’ represents the mother goldfinch,
and ‘machine’ which represents the nest with its brood.

Alliteration: In this figure of speech, a number of words having the same first consonant sound
occur close together in a series. Examples of alliteration in this ‘ poem are ‘September sunlight’, ‘A
suddenness, a startlement’, ‘and alert and abrupt’ and ‘tree trembles and thrills’.

Onomatopoeia: In this figure of speech, a word is formed from a sound similar to it. Examples of
onomatopoeia in this poem are ‘twitching chirrup’, ‘chitterings’, ‘trillings’ and ‘whistle-chirrup’.

 Transferred Epithet: A transferred epithet is a 1 description which refers to a character or event

but is used to describe a different situation or character ‘Her barred face identity mask’ is an
example of transferred epithet in this poem. The flowers of the Laburnum tree fall like bars and,
when the bird sits behind the flowers, the shadow of the flowers on her face looks like she is
wearing a mask that has bars on it.

Personification: the attribution of personal nature characteristics to something non-human

The whole tree trembles and thrills.

SHORT QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

[Link] is the laburnum tree silent?

The laburnum tree is silent because it is afternoon and all the birds and their chicks are asleep.
Besides there is no wind.

[Link] does the third line in the first stanza suggest?

The third line in the first stanza suggests the meaning of ageing and decay. ‘A few leaves yellowing
and all its seeds fallen.’

[Link] is the tree before the arrival of the mother bird?

Before the arrival of the goldfinch, the laburnum tree is quite still.

[Link] is the bird startled? Why does the tree become noisy?
The bird is startled because it is in hurry to feed its chicks with the food it has brought. The chicks
start making a ‘bedlam of chirrups’ on the arrival of the mother bird.

[Link] type of mother is the bird?

She is very quick, sleek and alert. Besides, she is a very caring and hard-working mother who
comes and goes so many times to feed her chicks.

6. How do the baby birds behave on the arrival of the mother bird?
Her chicks sense her arrival and they start chirruping continuously demanding the food she has
brought for them.

7. To what is the bird’s movement compared? What is the basis for the comparison?
The goldfinch’s movement is compared to a lizard. The basis for the comparison is that it is sleek,
abrupt and alert like a lizard. The same kinds of movements are observed when the goldfinch
arrives on the laburnum tree.

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

An engine is a source of energy to run a machine. It is compared to the bird as she is too a source of
energy for her family. A machine can’t work without an engine. Similarly, the bird’s family can’t
survive without her.

9. What does the phrase “her barred face identity mask” mean?
The phrase means that the bird’s barred face becomes her identity mask and a mark of recognition.

 REFERENCE TO CONTEXT
1.‘Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup
A suddeness, 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 chitterings, and of tremor of wings, and trillings –
The whole tree trembles and thrills.’
Q. What happens to the laburnum when the goldfinch arrives?
The sudden arrival and movement of the bird stirs the tree. Her little ones are excited to see the
mother and they start chirruping and fluttering their wings.

Q. Why is the goldfinch stealing into her nest? / Why does she enter the thickness?
The cautious goldfinch enters the tree with great care that no predator would spot her babies which
are securely housed in the nest.

Q. What is the machine that starts up with the arrival of the bird?
As the bird arrives, her little ones become excited to see the mother and they start chirruping and
fluttering their wings to get food from their mother. It seems as the machine starts [Link] poet has
used metaphor here.

Q. What is the bird’s movement compared to?

The bird’s movement is compared to a lizard. It is sleek, abrupt and alert like a lizard.

2.‘It is the engine of her family.

She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask.’
Q. What is the engine of her family?
The nest with the little ones is the engine of the goldfinch family. They start chirruping and
fluttering their wings to see their mother with food.

Q. Why does the bird flirt out to a branch end showing her barred face identity mask?
The bird is very cautious about the safety of her young ones. She also reveals her identity to the
babies by showing her barred face. It is the mark of her recognition and reminds them that she is
their mother.

3.‘Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings

She launches away, towards the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty.’
Q. Where does the bird fly to?
The bird leaves its babies and flies into the infinite sky in search of more food before the nestlings
feel hungry again.

Q. What happens to the laburnum with the mother’s departure?

With the mother bird’s departure, the laburnum tree becomes calm and quiet again.

Q. What do you notice about the beginning and the ending of the poem?
In the beginning and the ending of the poem, the tree is calm & silent.