LABURNUM

TOP
By Ted Hughes
The Laburnum Top :

The Laburnum Top is silent, quite still

in the afternoon yellow September sunlight,

A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen

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

It is the engine of her family.

She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end

Showing her barred face identity mask

Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings

She launches away, towards the infinite

And the laburnum subsides to empty

By Ted Hughes
 VOCABULARY
Laburnum : The Golden Chain tree - A commonly found tree with golden flowers that hang in bunches

Laburnum Top : The top of the laburnum tree - its highest branches

Goldfinch : Wild canary - A small, yellow bird - The male of the species has black markings across the face, on the wings and tail.

Twitch : Small, often involuntary movement of a body part

Chirrup : An onomatopoeic word capturing the sound made by a bird

Startlement : Amazement - a sudden unexpected action which causes surprise

Sleek : Smooth - In the context of the poem, it could imply a quick movement without much disruption.

Abrupt : Sudden or unexpected

Chittering : An onomatopoeic word capturing bird sounds

Tremor : Shiver - shake

Trillings : Singing repeatedly - In the context of the poem, an onomatopoeic word, capturing bird sounds

Stokes : Adds fuel - In the context of the poem, the goldfinch feeds its family, providing the fuel (nutrition) that the machine
(the bird's family) needs to be energetic

Flirts : In the context of the poem, move abruptly or jerkily with light steps

Eerie : Strange in a frightening or mysterious way

Infinite : In the context of the poem, the sky

Launches : In the context of the poem, flies

Subsides : Returns, reduces in intensity

 INTRODUCTION
• The Laburnum Top Central Idea of the Poem
• 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.
 The laburnum top……………..seeds fallen (PARAPHRASING)

1. The Laburnum top is silent, quite still

In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.

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 day time of September month. It is 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.
2. Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup
A suddenness, 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 chitterlings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings —
The whole tree trembles and thrills.
2 . A Goldfinch bird comes to end the death-like scene of the tree and makes a sudden chirrup sound. The bird
while 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 being death-like and still and then giving life
and shelter to bird and her young ones.
3. It is the engine of her family.
She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask

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 end. Her dark coloured
striped face is visible as her body is yellow coloured and hides behind the yellow
leaves of the tree.
4. Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings
She launches away, towards the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty.

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.
 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, a 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”
LITERARY DEVICES CONTD….

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 adverb is transferred to another
noun

her barred face identity mask

 Short Answer questions
• The Laburnum Top Question and Answers
Find out

1. What laburnum is called in your language?

Ans: In the Hindi language, the laburnum tree is called ‘Amaltaas’.

2. Which local bird is like the goldfinch?

Ans: Indian Lutino Ringneck is like the goldfinch.

Think it out

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
like 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 thickness 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 bird is compared to the engine as she is the feeder of her family.
As a machine cannot work without an engine, her family can’t last without her.

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.
 LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. How is the tree transformed during the bird’s visit? Write the line that shows this transformation.

The tree suddenly starts trembling and moving as if a machine has started up. This is due to the arrival of
the goldfinch in her nest in order to feed her young ones. The young ones start their chitterings. There is a
tremor of wings. The line that shows the transformation is ‘a machine starts up, of chitterings, and a tremor
of wings, and trillings- the whole tree trembles and thrills.

2. To what is the movement of the goldfinch compared? What is the basis for the comparison?

The goldfinch’s movement is compared to that of a lizard. The basis of the comparison is the sleek, abrupt
and alert movements of a lizard. The same kinds of movements are observed when the goldfinch arrives on
the laburnum tree.
3. What does the phrase ‘her barred face identity mask’ means?

This is an example of the poetic device – transferred epithet. The laburnum tree has flowers that fall like bars and when
the bird sits behind the flowers the shadow on her face looks like she is wearing a mask that has bars on it. So, barred – is
actually an adjective for the flowers and has been transferred from there and applied to the bird.

4. ‘It is the engine of her family, she strokes it full.’ Explain the significance of these lines.

The goldfinch has been called the engine of her family. Just as the engine starts up the machine, her arrival in the nest
has suddenly started up the silent machine i.e. the young ones have started chittering and making noise. The expression
'She stokes itfull' means that she has fed the young ones who now have the energy to become active and make noise.