CLASS XI

The Laburnum Top

Introduction of the Poem

The poem ‘The Laburnum Top’ is written by Ted Hughes. It is about a repaying relationship
between the Laburnum tree and the Goldfinch bird. The tree is yellow, silent and death-like
and is made alive by the bird and her young ones. The yellow bird has her shelter on the tree
where she feeds her young ones. But as soon as the bird leaves to fly in the sky, the tree
becomes silent and death-like again.

The Laburnum Top Summary

The poem starts with a description of the Laburnum tree whose top was still and silent. Its
leaves had turned yellow and seeds had fallen. It was daytime in the month of September
when the tree was standing still and death-like.

The lifeless tree becomes alive with the arrival of the Goldfinch bird. She came to feed her
younger ones who are on the thickness of the branch. The tree is her shelter. She arrives at the
end of the branch with a chirping sound. She moves to the branch’s other side with rapid and
precautionary movement like a lizard. As soon as she arrives, her younger ones start chirping
like a machine, vibrating and flapping their wings. The death-like tree becomes alive and it
trembles and shakes.

After feeding them, she flies to the other side of the branch. Her dark-coloured face with the
yellow body was barely visible as she vanished behind the yellow leaves. She flew away in
the sky, leaving the tree death-like again.

The Laburnum Top Poem and Explanation

The Laburnum top is silent, quite still

In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves were yellowing, and all its seeds fell.

Laburnum – a short tree with hanging branches, yellow flowers, and poisonous seeds

 
In the above lines, the poet says that he saw a Laburnum tree whose leaves were yellow. The
tree’s top is still and silent in the daytime of September month. It is the autumn season and all
the seeds of the tree had fallen.

The poet has used the word ‘yellow’ for leaves and sunlight. Yellow symbolizes silence,
death, and beauty. He describes the whole scene of the tree with this colour.

Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup

A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.
The sleek as a lizard, alert, and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Of chitterlings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings —
The whole tree trembles and thrills.

Goldfinch – a small singing bird with yellow feathers on its wings

Twitching – sudden jerk movement
Chirrup – a bird making repeated high-pitched sounds
Startlement – feeling or showing sudden shock
Abrupt – rapid
Chitterings – to make a chattering sound
Tremor of wings – involuntary vibration of the wings
Trillings – to produce a chirruping sound
Trembles – to shake
Thrills – a sudden feeling of excitement

A Goldfinch bird comes to end the death-like scene of the tree and makes a sudden chirrup
sound. The bird, being rapid, alert and precautious like a lizard, sits on the branches of the
tree. As she moved towards the thickness of the branch, her younger ones started chirruping
and doing vibrations with wings, making a sound like a machine. Because of the movement of
the bird and her young ones, the tree starts to shake and thrill.

The poet has given two opposite scenarios of the tree. The tree first is death-like and still and
then gives life and shelter to birth to her young ones.

It is the engine of her family.

She stokes it fully, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask

Flirts out – lead on to

Stokes – to add fuel to the engine

Barred – stripy

The Laburnum tree and the goldfinch bird is the engine of her family. She provides food to
her young ones and moves to the other branch ends. Her dark-coloured striped face is visible
as her body is yellow yellow-coloured and hides behind the yellow leaves of the tree.

Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings

She launches away, toward the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty.

Eerie – weird and strange

Whistle-chirrup – gentle whisper like the chirping of the bird

Subsidies – diminishes

After reaching the end of the branch, the bird makes a sweet chirping sound just like
whispering and flies away towards the infinite sky. It again makes the Laburnum tree silent
and death-like.

The Laburnum Top Literary Devices

1. Alliteration - repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of two or more consecutive

words. The instances of alliteration in the poem are as follows-

September sunlight

tree trembles

2. Simile – comparison between two things using like or as.

Sleek as a lizard

3. Metaphor – an indirect comparison between two things. Generally, quality is compared.

“She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up” - the noise created by the movement of
the birds is compared to the machine’s noise
“It is the engine of her family.”
“Showing her barred face identity mask”

4. Personification – the attribution of personal nature characteristics to something non-human

The whole tree trembles and thrills.

5. Transferred Epithet – the figure of speech where the adjective is transferred to another
noun

her barred face identity mask

Question and Answers

1. What do you notice about the beginning and the ending of the poem?

Ans: At the beginning and the ending of the poem, the laburnum tree was standing still and
silent just death-like.

2. To what is the bird’s movement compared? What is the basis for the comparison?

Ans: The goldfinch’s movement is compared to that of the lizard because she was abrupt,
sleek and alert. The same movements were observed when she arrived at the tree and moved
to the thick side of the branch to feed her young ones.

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

Ans: As the engine is the source to run the machine. The tree is compared to the engine as it
supports her family. As a machine cannot work without an engine, her family can’t last
without a tree.

4. What do you like most about the poem?

Ans: I liked the comparison of the state of the tree before and after the goldfinch bird arrives
and it makes the death-like tree alive.
 

5. What does the phrase “her barred face identity mask” mean?

Ans: The phrase “her barred face identity mask” means that the bird’s face became her
identity and symbol of recognition.

Questions: REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT

Q.1 Extract:

Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup

A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.

The sleek as a lizard, and a, and abrupt,

She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up

Of chitterlings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings —

The whole tree trembles and thrills.

i) What is described by the word 'sleek' in the poem?

(a) Lizard

(b) Bird

(c) Branch

(d) Top of the tree

ii) How did the bird arrive at the other branch of the tree?

(a) with a chirping sound

(b) silently

(c) never arrived at another branch

(d) flew away and then arrived at the branch

iii) Who is the poet of “The Laburnum Top”?

(a) Ted Brown

(b) William Wordsworth

(c) Ted Hughes

(d) None of the above

Q.2 Extract:

The sleek as a lizard, alert, and abrupt, She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up

Of chitterings and a tremor of wings, and trilling The whole tree trembles and thrills.

i) The name of the poem is…

(a) A Photograph

(b) The Voice of the Rain

(c) The Laburnum Top

(d) None of the above

ii) Who is ‘she’ in the second line? Where does she enter?

(a) She is the baby goldfinch who enters the thickness of the Laburnum tree

(b) ‘She’ is a squirrel who enters the thickness of the Laburnum tree

(c) ‘She’ is a lizard who enters the thickness of the Laburnum tree

(d) ‘She’ is the mother goldfinch who enters the thickness of the Laburnum tree

iii) Find a word from the extract which is the synonym of ‘entire’.

(a) Abrupt (b) Hole (c) Whole (d) Tremor

Q.3 Extract:

Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup

A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.

The sleek as a lizard, and a, and abrupt,

She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up

Of chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings.

i) What does the poet mean by ‘Twitching Chirrup’?

a) Loud noise made by the bird

b) Sudden noise made by the bird

c) Slow noise made by the bird

d) All of these

ii) Which poetic device has been used in ‘Sleek as a lizard’?

a) Metaphor

b) Alliteration

c) Simile

d) Analogy

iii) What is the reaction of goldfinch’s younger ones to the former’s arrival?

a) They get nervous

b) They get offended

c) They get furious

d) They get super-excited