Here is a summary of the chapter “The Laburnum Top” and answers to the questions from the provided sources, explained with ease and emojis!
Summary of The Laburnum Top
The poem “The Laburnum Top” by Ted Hughes describes a laburnum tree. At the beginning, the tree is silent and still in the yellow September sunlight. Its leaves are turning yellow, and its seeds have fallen.
The scene changes dramatically when a goldfinch arrives. The bird comes suddenly, with a “twitching chirrup”. Its movement is described as “sleek as a lizard, and alert, and abrupt” as it enters the thickness of the branches.
Immediately, the tree bursts into life. A sound like a “machine” starts up, full of “chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings”. The whole tree trembles and thrills. The poet describes the bird as “the engine of her family”, implying she is feeding her young inside the tree.
After stoking (feeding) the “engine”, the goldfinch flirts out to a branch end, showing her “barred face identity mask”. Then, with a delicate whistle-chirrup whisper, she launches away towards the infinite.
Once the goldfinch leaves, the laburnum tree subsides back to its empty, silent state.
Here are the answers to the questions and activities from the source, explained with emojis:
Find out
- What laburnum is called in your language.
- The source asks the reader to find this out. 🤔🌳🗣️❓
- Which local bird is like the goldfinch.
- The source asks the reader to find this out. 🤔🐦💛❓
Think it out
What do you notice about the beginning and the ending of the poem?
- The poem starts with the laburnum top being silent and still and ends with the laburnum subsiding to empty, becoming silent again after the bird leaves. 🌳🤫➡️🌳🤫
To what is the bird’s movement compared? What is the basis for the comparison?
- The bird’s movement as it enters the thickness is compared to a lizard.
- The basis for the comparison is its “sleek as a lizard, and alert, and abrupt” movement. 🐦🦎➡️💨
Why is the image of the engine evoked by the poet?
- The goldfinch is called “the engine of her family”. The tree, with all the sounds and movement, becomes like a machine powered by this engine. She “stokes it full”, meaning she feeds her young, which is the purpose and activity driving all the noise and tremor in the tree, just like an engine powers a machine. 🐦⚙️👶➡️🌳 vibrant
What do you like most about the poem?
- This is a question for personal response based on reading the poem. The source notes suggest paying attention to imagery, sounds, and the structure. You might like the vivid imagery of the tree coming to life, the sounds described, or the comparison of the bird to an engine. ✨🖼️🎶
What does the phrase “her barred face identity mask” mean?
- It refers to the distinctive markings on the goldfinch’s face. When the bird shows her face at the branch end, these markings are visible, revealing her identity, like a mask that identifies rather than hides. 🐦 face markings
Note down
the sound words
- chirruping
- chitterings
- trillings
- whistle-chirrup whisperings 🔊🎶
the movement words
- twitching
- startlement
- enters
- trembles
- thrills
- stokes (in the sense of feeding/attending to the ’engine')
- flirts out
- launches away
- subsides
- Also described with movement: sleek, alert, abrupt 🤸♀️🌬️
the dominant colour in the poem.
- The dominant colour is yellow 💛. The poem mentions “yellow September sunlight” and “few leaves yellowing”. The laburnum tree itself has yellow flowers, and the goldfinch has yellow feathers.
List the following
Words which describe ‘sleek’, ‘alert’ and ‘abrupt’.
- These words themselves (‘sleek’, ‘alert’, ‘abrupt’) are the descriptors used in the poem for the bird’s movement as it enters the thickness. They capture its sudden, smooth, and sharp action. 👀⚡
Words with the sound ‘ch’ as in ‘chart’ and ‘tr’ as in ‘trembles’ in the poem.
- ‘ch’: chirrup, chitterings.
- ’tr’: trembles, trillings. 🗣️👂
Other sounds that occur frequently in the poem.
- Beyond ‘ch’ and ’tr’, there’s a notable repetition of ’s’ sounds (sibilance) creating a soft, whispering effect, especially in describing the initial silence and the final departure. Examples: ‘silent’, ‘still’, ‘September’, ‘sunlight’, ‘seeds’, ‘subsides’, ‘silence’. There are also ’l’ sounds adding a fluid quality: ‘Laburnum’, ‘yellow’, ‘fallen’, ’lizard’, ‘whole’, ‘family’, ’launches’. 🤫✨💨
Thinking about language
Look for some other poem on a bird or a tree in English or any other language.
- This is an activity for the reader to explore other poems with similar themes. 📚🌳🐦📖
Try this out
Write four lines in verse form on any tree that you see around you.
- This is a creative writing activity based on the poem’s style. ✍️🌲📝