Tree by Tina Morris- A Complete Study

About Tina Morris:

Tina Morris (b.1941) is a very popular author, poet and activist. She is known as a very famous twentieth century British writer. She has acquired much acclaim for her writings. As an author Tina has been writing both poetry and prose. Tina Morris is the pen name of Tina Cryer.

Tina's childhood was not pleasant. She spent it in an unhealthy family environment. She moved to Manchester in her late-teens. There she worked with Adrian Henri. She started submitting her work in Dave Cunliffe’s Poetmeat. Very soon they married but they eventually split in 1969.

Tina Morris has been widely published all over the world. Her poems have been broadcast locally and nationally. She has been appearing in hundreds of magazines and anthologies. She features in the Pudding Magazine, the International Journal of Applied Poetry. She also features in Children of Albion, poetry of the underground in Britain. Her recent poetry collection Mirrors and Moonshine is very popular. It was published in 2017. Tina has been a great lover of horses. Her humourous novel titled Horses, Divorces and Hissy Fits written by her under the name Tina Cryer was recently published by Forelock Books. She is known for her My Sister's Pony too. Tina’s popular poem Tree was published by ​​Court Poetry Press in 1978. Her other Popular poems are The Elephant Poem and The Magician Next Door.

In the 1960s, Tina Morris co-edited Poetmeat and Global Tapestry magazines with Dave Cunliffe. The Poetmeat and Global Tapestry magazines were published worldwide. She acted as the editor of Global Tapestry magazines for some years as well. Poetmeat was a small poetry magazine. The British Poetry Revival was first proposed by her in this very poetry magazine. She jointly edited New British Poetry Anthology in 1965 with Dave Cunliffe. It is she who has written Thunderbolts of Peace and Liberation.

Tina Morris is an experienced writer. She understands family dynamics. She has created many relevant and appealing characters. Her writing shows her ardent desire to protect the ecology.

Tree: Tina Morris (Text):

They did not tell us

What it would be like

Without trees.

Nobody imagined

That the whispering of leaves

Would grow silent

Or the vibrant jade of spring

Pale to grey death.

And now we pile

Rubbish on rubbish

In the dusty landscape

Struggling to create

A tree.

But though the shape is right

And the nailed branches

Lean upon the wind

And plastic leaves

Lend colour to the twigs.

We wait in vain

For the slow unfurling of buds.

And no amount of loving

Can stir our weary tree

To singing.

I. Summary of Tree:

Tree is a very beautiful poem. It is short but sweet. It has been composed by Tina Morris. Morris is one of the greatest British poets of the twentieth century. In this poem she talks about the significance and usefulness of trees in human life. According to the poet if the trees are not taken care of, there will be no charm in human life. There will be no whispering of leaves if the trees get dry. The poem goes on to stress that without the existence of trees human life will become colourless. The poet is of the view that an artificial tree is no match to a real one. She stresses on the fact that nothing can be the substitute for Nature. The poet holds a mirror before the reader’s eyes. Through this poem Tina Morris compels the present generation realize that the world would be barren and meaningless without trees. In short, this poem transmits the message of conservation of trees.

II. Objective Type Questions:

1. Who did not tell us what it would be like without trees:

a. The people

b. Villagers

c. Mother

d. Poet

Ans:  a. The people

2. What is the purpose of piling rubbish:

a. to dispose it

b. to create a tree

c. to burn it

d. to recycle it

Ans: b. to create a tree

3. What does the poet wait in vain for:

a. fruits in man made tree

b. slow unfurling of buds

c. flowers in man made tree:

Ans: b. slow unfurling of buds

4. What gives colour to the twigs in the poem Tree:

a. Season

b. Buds

c. Local environment

d. Plastic leaves

Ans:  d. Plastic leaves

5. Name the poet of the poem 'Tree':

a. Tina Campbell

b. Tina Morris

c. William Morris

d. Tina Chang

Ans: b. Tina Morris

6. Who the poet means by 'they' in the first line of the poem:

a. The people in general

b. The parents of the poet

c. The readers of the poem

d. The people working in the garden

Ans: a. The people in general

7. What the poet means by 'it' in the second line of the poem:

a. The poem the poet has written,

b. Human life in general

c. The poet's garden

d. The painting that the poet describes in in the poem:

Ans: b. Human life in general

8. The leaves whisper:

a. when the children swing on them

b. When the birds sing among them

c. When they are green and the wind passes through them

d. when people take a walk in the garden

Ans: c. When they are green and the wind passes through them

9. The third stanza of the poem describes:

a. the heaps of dust lying around

b. the pies of dry leaves in the garden

c. the household waste thrown in the garden

d. the painter's effort to recreate a tree with paint and brush

Ans: d. the painter's effort to recreate a tree with paint and brush

10. The last two stanzas suggest that:

a. an artificial tree is as good as a real one.

b. an artificial tree is no match to a real one

c. Plastic/ painted trees can sing/ whisper

d. Plastic/ painted trees only look good.

Ans: b. an artificial tree is no match to a real one

11. Tina Morris was born in:

a. 1941

b. 1942

c. 1943

d. 1944

Ans: a. 1941

12. Tina Morris belongs to:

a. India

b. America

c. France

d. England

Ans: d. England

13. Tina Morris is the pen name of:

a. Tina Cryer

b. Tina Munim

c. Tina Sah

d. Tina williams.

Ans: a. Tine Cryer

14. Tina in 'Tree' waits in vain for:

a. Unfurling of buds

b. Unfurling of seeds

c. Unfurling of flowers

d. Unfurling of leaves

Ans: a. Unfurling of buds

15. Tina's 'Tree' is a:

a. play

b. story

c. novel

d. poem

Ans: d. poem

16. 'They did not tell us'. In this line who the poet meant by they:

a. Trees

b. Poets

c. Builders

d. people

Ans: d. People

17. The poem 'Tree' is written by:

a. Kamala Das

b. Sarojini Naidu

c. Tina Morris

d. Mahadevi Verma

Ans: c. Tina Morris

18. Tina Morris is

a. a British poet

b. an American poet

c. a Canadian poet

d. an Indian poet

Ans: a. a British poet

III. Short Question Answer:

Q01.What will happen if the trees are not taken care of?

Ans: If the trees are not taken care of, the world will turn into a desert.

Q02. What according to Tina Morris will happen if all trees are cut down?

Ans: According to Tina Morris if all trees are cut down, the world will turn into a desert and there will be no charm in human life.

Q03. What will happen when the trees get dry?

Ans: If the trees get dry, there will be no whispering of leaves.

Q04. What does the poet wait in vain for?

Ans: The poet waits for the slow unfurling of buds in vain.

Q05. What does the poet mean by piling rubbish on rubbish?

Ans: By piling rubbish on rubbish the poet means that the artificial trees are useless and meaningless.

Q06. Why do people pile rubbish on rubbish?

Ans: People pile rubbish on rubbish to create useless artificial trees.

Q07. Where does the poet pile rubbish on rubbish?

Ans: The poet piles rubbish on rubbish in a dusty landscape.

Q08. What does the poet mean by piling rubbish on rubbish?

Ans: By piling rubbish on rubbish the poet means that the artificial trees are useless and meaningless.

Q09. Why do people pile rubbish on rubbish?

Ans: People pile rubbish on rubbish to create useless artificial trees.

Q10. Where does the poet pile rubbish on rubbish?

Ans: The poet piles rubbish on rubbish in a dusty landscape.

Q11. What is the purpose of piling rubbish?

Ans: People attempt to create artificial trees by piling rubbish.

Q12. How do the trees sing?

Ans: When the gentle wind blows, the leaves of trees flutter and make a soft rustling sound and thus the trees sing.

Q13. What will be the result if the trees are not taken care of?

Ans: If the trees are not taken care of the world will turn into desert. 

14. What does the poet mean by 'whispering of leaves would go silent'?

Ans: By 'whispering of leaves would go silent' the poet means that the artificial leaves won't produce soothing sound.

Q15. How does the tree created by man look like?

Ans: The tree created by man looks lifeless.

Q16. Why do you think the tree is not stirred despite all efforts?

Ans: The tree is not stirred despite all efforts because it is artificial.

Q17. Explain the word 'weary' in the last stanza of the poem.

Ans: In the last stanza of the poem the word 'weary' stands for tiredness of trees.

Q18. What does the poet mean by 'they' in the first line of the poem?

Ans: The word 'they' in the first line of the poem refers to the people in general.

Q19. What does Tina Morris say in the poem 'Tree'?

Ans: In the poem 'Tree' Tina Morris highlights the importance of trees in human life.

Q20. What is the message of the poem 'Tree'?

Ans: The message of the poem 'Tree' is that we must conserve nature by saving trees.

IV. Vocabulary(Antonyms):

01. Like: Dislike, Unlike

02. Silent: Noisy, Audible

03. Vibrant: Weak, Dull, Spiritless, Listless

04. Pale: Strong, Colourful, Florid, Glowing

05. Death: Birth, Life

06. Create: Perish, Destroy, Dismantle

07. Right: Wrong

08. Vain: Significant, modest

09. Loving: Abhorring, Hateful

10. Stir: Still, Active, Moving

11. Weary: Energetic, Fresh

V. Matching:

01. Whisper:         soft, hushed sound

02. Silent:             quiet, still

03. Vibrant:          vigorous

04. Jade:               green shade        

05. Pale:               faint, feeble

06. Pile:                to heap or load

07. Lean:              incline or bend

08. Twigs:            young shoot of a plant

09. Vain:               futile

10. Unfurling:      to spread    

11. Stir:                move, rouse

VI. Use the words given below in sentence of your own:

(imagine, pile, dusty, nailed, twigs, unfurl, create)

Ans:

1. Imagine: Can you imagine the life on the earth without trees?

2. Pile: Please don't pile useless articles in your houses.

3. Dusty: Please don't keep your table dusty.

4. Nailed: He nailed a peg in my room.

5. Twigs: Sometimes the twigs of mango trees are used for brushing the teeth.

6. Unfurl: The national flag is unfurled on the independence day.

7. Create: Please don't create panic unnecessarily.

Sandal S Anshu, Satna