Casuarina Tree by Toru Dutt

Casuarina Tree by Toru Dutt

The poem is an ode to the Casuarina tree that the poetess had in her garden back in her motherland. The memory of the tree is the only link she has left with her past and the cheerfulness of her formative years.

The first stanza describes the tree having rough skin and being garlanded by a vine having flowers. It rings around the trunk like a snake. This describes the strength and courage of the tree which is still standing tall.

The tree seems to symbolize vitality which is transmitted to the flowers which attract bees and birds to the tree. The whole scene is of a harmonious whole with each part being inextricably linked to the tree.

In the second stanza, new animals like baboon and birds are introduced that extol the beauty and nourishing nature of the tree. Even the tree’s shadow provides refuge to the lazy cattle around and flowering lilies in the water tank.

The next stanza builds on the importance of the tree as new relationships are established. The poetess’ siblings are brought in the scene where she remembers the playful and cheerful moments that the three shared under the same tree.

This realization is quickly stunted with the news of their death (siblings) which is described as a form of sleep. However, she has faith that they all be reunited after the brief spell of the false sleep of death. They all will enjoy the same fun and games in the garden of Eden in Paradise.

But the poem does not limit itself to the world of unseen and turns back to the living world. The poetess describes the lingering image that the tree has that she senses it even in distant places like Europe. She wants the tree to be admired in this world for generations to come. She wants the tree to continuously shine as a beacon of joy, togetherness and tranquillity.

She envisages immortalizing the magic of the tree and its unforgettable memories in honour of her siblings. She even considers her own demise but with a ray of hope.

She is optimistic that the tree can live through generations much like the ‘Yew trees of Borrowdale’ in the words of William Wordsworth. She hopes the tree can outlive the forces of age and space and be cherished and celebrated long after she is gone. 

Summary:

“Our Casuarina Tree,” a poem written in English by the Indian writer Toru Dutt, celebrates a huge tree that the speaker (resembling Dutt herself) associates with the happiness of her childhood in India. Yet the speaker also associates the tree with the memory of lost loved ones—people from her youth (probably based on Dutt’s dead siblings) with whom she, when a girl, played beneath the tree.

The fact that the tree is associated, in the speaker’s mind, with other persons is already foreshadowed in the poem’s title through the use of the word Our. The speaker’s perspective is immediately more than merely her own: the title already implies that she thinks of the tree as not simply hers but as belonging to others, too.

The opening image, which compares a large vine crawling around the tree to a “huge Python” (1), might at first seem dark and foreboding, but the image ultimately emphasizes the great strength of the tree itself. For some readers, the tree symbolizes the ancient and venerable culture of India, while the huge encircling vine symbolizes the potentially deadly influence of colonialism. Most immediately, though, the vine itself seems to add a kind of beauty to the tree; the vine, after all, is called a “scarf” (6), a word with fairly positive connotations.

The “crimson” flowers that cluster on the boughs of the tree (7) are the red flowers, resembling a kind of mistletoe, produced by casuarina trees themselves. The flowers are not, in other words, products of the encircling vine. The tree has its own beauty, and the beauty and nourishment provided by the flowers apparently attract birds and bees, so that the tree, though ancient, seems full of life and full of lovely sounds. Even as the sky grows dark, the tree seems brimming with the sounds of the birds and insects (11). Rather than being simply an inert object, and rather than appealing simply to human eyes, the tree seems teeming with vitality and energy. The tree is situated in the midst of a “garden” (9), and indeed, the surroundings are described in terms that sound almost Edenic.

In the second stanza, the tree is associated with even more kinds of life, including baboons (adult and young) that sit or leap or play in its branches, kokila birds that sing in or near it, “sleepy cows” (19) that walk beneath it, and “water-lilies” that flourish in the “broad tank” (meaning a pool, pond, or lake) on which the tree casts its shadows. The tree, in other words, is at the center of a complex, harmonious ecosystem—a natural environment in which humans, too, feel right at home. Again, the similarities to the Biblical Garden of Eden are difficult to ignore. That garden, too, contained a tree associated with a snake (as this one is, at least metaphorically, in the poem’s opening line). But the tree in the Garden of Eden eventually came to symbolize human misery through sin and a loss of innocence. The casuarina tree, in contrast, seems to symbolize man’s harmony with the rest of God’s creation. This tree seems beautiful and sustaining no matter the time of day or the change in seasons.

However, if the first two stanzas emphasize the tree’s connections with the rest of nature (including birds, bees, animals, and other plants), stanza 3 emphasizes the tree’s connections with persons the speaker especially loved (and loves). Earlier, young baboons were said to play in the tree (17); now the tree is associated with the play of human children (25). The tree, already Edenic in various respects, is here linked to a time of special innocence in the speaker’s life. However, no sooner are the joys of childhood mentioned than the pain of loss is also implied (26-29). Earlier, the tree had been associated with sounds of pleasure (9-11); now it seems to give off a “dirge-like murmur” (30), a “lament” (32), and even “an eerie speech” (32).

1.What is the summary of the poem "Our Casuarina Tree" written by Toru Dutt?

At the beginning of the poem 'The Casuarina Tree'  the poet likens the Casuarina tree to a giant wearing a scarf of creeper. The creeper winds around the trunk like a python. We imagine the tree to be very tall, as it's summit is described as 'near the stars.' The tree is described as being gallant, and possibly brave, as few other trees could survive in the strangle-hold of this creeper. The poet then goes on to describe the life that thrives amid every facet of the tree (the baboon in its boughs, the crimson flowers,water lilies in its shadow.) But these are not the main reasons why the poet holds the tree so dear. The other is that it holds memories of loved ones, so strong that it brings tears to the poet's eyes. We then hear that the tree too is sad, and cries a lament. The poet continues with a description of how strong the image of the tree is, even when in lands far away. The poet wishes to consecrate the tree's memory and importance for the sake of those who are now dead - and looks ahead to his own death, hoping that the tree be spared obscurity (or that no-one will remember it.)

2. What is the overriding theme of "Our Casuarina Tree" by Toru Dutt?

I think that the overriding theme that comes out of the poem is the challenges that exist between our living in the present and the connection to our past.  Another way to consider this is how human beings address the issue of death.  For the speaker of the poem, presumably Dutt, this exists in the idea that she is condmned to live in the present while the memories of the people she love exist in the past.  This is where the analysis of death or the passing of time enters.  It is here where the poem goes far in suggesting that part of our connection to our past exists in objects that are able to tell a story of that past, in this case, the tree.  Dutt's poem brings out the human condition of living in the present with thoughts that exist in the past.  There is obvious pain, a sense of the nostalgic condition that underscores all consciousness.  As time passes, our memories become more stretched out and the inevitable feeling of wishing to reconnect with that has passed becomes a larger challenge of the human predicament.  It is in this where the poem speaks and explores the issue of memory and passage from a thematic point of view.

3. Elucidate on the theme and provide a critical overview of the poem, Our Casuarina Tree by Toru Dutt.

Toru Dutt has used the image of the tree which she fondly remembers in recalling memories of her childhood where "Beneath it we have played." The tree is strong and "... gallantly The giant wears the scarf," which is significant as she has identified with the tree and its ability to withstand even the harshest creeper which has the capacity to choke the tree "LIKE a huge Python." In understanding the tone and theme of Our Casuarina Tree, the reader sympathizes with Toru Dutt's words as she longs to revisit memories without the painful association, as it is not only the tree that is "deep with scars."

To the narrator, the tree represents nature and nature shares feeling and emotions and, in fact," the tree’s lament" comforts the narrator as she "saw thee, in my own loved native clime." This also links to the tree as representative of her culture as she is far away in "distant lands," but is safe in the knowledge that the tree shall "be ever dear" due to her recollections of her childhood and her loved ones "Who now in blessed sleep for aye repose."

The tree represents all life as "all day are gathered bird and bee"and "to their pastures wend our sleepy cows" and it has the capacity to unite all things together to the point that this theme of unity with her past and therefore her family, her beloved country and even the future as she wishes that "may Love defend thee" is confirmed. When she is dead, the tree is so strong and represents so much that she hopes it will be saved from "Oblivion." 

4. Give and explain the figures of speech used in the poem "Our Casuarina Tree".

In "Our Casuarina Tree," the first line uses zoomorphism, describing the vine in animal terms (as a python). This is used to illustrate movement, making the tree seem more actively alive and also, by implying movement, there is a subtle indication of the process of time. 

The line "the giant wears the scarf" is a personification of the tree. For the speaker, the tree is a link to her past. In a way, she treats the tree like a person that can "tell" (conjure) these memories as if it (the tree) could speak and tell these stories. 

In the last line of the second stanza, the speaker uses a simile to describe the water-lillies "like snow enmassed." 

In the third stanza, the tree is personified again singing its "lament" which might be the wind rustling through the leaves, a "dirge-like murmur" mourning the loss of the past. 

Personification is used again in the next stanza. Examples are the "eye of faith," "the waves gently kissed," and "the earth lay tranced in a dreamless swoon." The speaker envisions nature (the tree, waves, the earth) as a living and maybe even a conscious entity recalling (dreaming) links to the past.

Again the speaker personifies the tree, hoping, in the final stanza, that the tree will be remembered like other favored trees, just as she remembers the people in her life. She mentions Borrowdale and this is a reference to Wordsworth ode "Yew-Trees" another poem praising trees. "Fear, trembling hope, and Death, the skeleton, and Time, the shadow;" is from Wordsworth's poem. 

The Casuarina Tree is a symbol for life and memory. Since trees tend to live much longer than humans, they are used in poetry as living connections between generations of people.

5. Comment upon the poet's love in "Our Casuarina Tree."

I think that love takes on a couple of different forms in the poem.  There is the obvious love for the tree.  It has become the symbol that has endured throughout time, even when the people associated with it has not.  There is the love for the playmates that are so closely a part of the memory of the speaker, presumably the poet, but also for the tree and the shared experiences .

6. What are the symbols used in "Our Casuarina Tree" by Toru Dutt and their meanings?

The Casuarina tree is the central, dominating symbol of the poem. A symbol is something that has both literal and figurative significance. The tree is a literal material object that exists in time and space, but it also represents the narrator, too. It is "rugged" and "indented deep with scars," and the tree is ringed with creeper vines and hung with flowers. It is a thing of beauty despite the hardships it has endured, just like the speaker. She associates the tree with her childhood, her "sweet companions" with whom she used to play under the tree's boughs, and with home. The speaker claims that she's heard the tree calling from "distant lands" in France or Italy and that it always reminds her of India and the love she felt there.

7. Critically discuss the central idea of first stanza.

The first stanza describes the tree as a "giant," powerful enough to resist the creeping vine wrapped around it like a python. The tree has scars but still lives and reaches up to the sky (stars). The tree is old but full of life; in itself and as represented by the birds and bees around it. In this sense, the tree symbolizes life but more particularly, the tree is a metaphor for memory. 

8. How many stanzas are there in our casuarina tree?

five stanzas

This poem consists of five stanzas of eleven lines each. The rhyme scheme is abba. The poem, though written in 1881, it is written in plain English and is easy to understand. The title of the poem, i.e., Our Casuarina Tree refers to the Casuarina tree that grew in the garden of the poetess

9. What casuarina tree is like in appearance?

The tree is metaphorical said as a giant due to its huge size, strength and boldness. The Casuarina Tree is covered with creeper which bears red crimson flowers which appear as though the tree is wearing a colorful scarf

10. Where do casuarina trees grow?

Cultivation and uses

Commonly known as the she-oak, sheoak, ironwood, or beefwood, casuarinas are commonly grown in tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world. The tree has delicate, slender terminal branches, and leaves that are no more than scales, making the tree look more like a wispy conifer.

11. How long do casuarina trees live?

40 to 50 years

Casuarina is perennial plant that can survive 40 to 50 years in the wild.

12. what is the Summary of Casurina tree?

The poetess writes this in reminiscence of the Casuarina tree that grew in the courtyard of her childhood home. The poem opens with a description of the tree, tall enough to make it seem like it touches the stars, strong enough to continue growing despite scars on its trunk and despite all this it provides support to a creeper. And yet she gives it the air of a gentleman when she describes how the tree is forever adorned with flowers and birds and bees. Thus we see the tree in her childhood was not only as a paragon of strength but gentle and loved by the birds and bees.

She goes on to tell us about the mornings in her childhood when she would wake up to the sight of the Casuarina Tree. Come summer or winter, her morning would remain incomplete without the sight of the Casuarina tree, often with a baboon sitting on its crest. She then paints a serene picture of the morning with the kokilas singing, the cows on the pasture and the water lilies in the spring. However, the figure of the Casuarina tree stands central in this picture, as it does in the morning and even in the life of the poetess.

In the third stanza, the poetess tells us why she holds the Casuarina tree dear. It is not just the magnificence of the tree that drew her to it, but there was an emotional bond to the tree as well. It was under the shade of the tree that she and her friends played as children. Whenever she saw the Casuarina tree she was reminded of her childhood and the time she spent with her friends. She held her childhood friends in great regard and the tree was a symbol of the experiences they had. It was for this very reason that she loved the Casuarina tree and would remember her friends whenever she thought of it.

The poetess, in the fourth stanza, also talks of how the “lament” of the tree can be heard by her even when she is far away, off the coasts of France and Italy. She hears this song whenever she’s near the coasts, strolling under the moonlight, and is reminded of the Casuarina tree. We may infer that in her moments of peace and calm her memory jogs back to her childhood which is inextricably linked with the Casuarina tree and she draws up a mental image of the tree as it existed in its prime, in her childhood. Here we can see that the Casuarina tree is not only an integral part of her childhood and a symbol of her friendship with her childhood friends, it is the only thing which has remained static. Each and every one of her friends have moved on, including her, yet the Casuarina tree remains as it is. It is the only thing that stands as a monument to their friendship.

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Therefore, in the last stanza, she says she would gladly create a monument in the honour of the tree, for that is how much the tree is beloved to her. She also wishes that the tree grows for years to come and be counted in the list of the deathless trees of Borrowdale, which sheltered death and even time. She finally wishes that her love become so strong that it saves the Casuarina tree from its demise.

This poem consists of five stanzas of eleven lines each. The rhyme scheme is abba. The poem, though written in 1881, it is written in plain English and is easy to understand.

Title

The title of the poem, i.e., Our Casuarina Tree refers to the Casuarina tree that grew in the garden of the poetess. the tree is a fond memory of her distant childhood on which she reminisces.

Setting

The poem is set when the poetess is abroad somewhere on the coast of France or Italy and is reminiscing about her childhood spent in her garden, under the Casuarina tree, playing with her friends and brothers.

Tone

The tone of the poem is one of remembrance and reminiscence. The poetess remembers her childhood spent underneath the shade of the Casuarina tree as she played with her friends. She misses her friends and misses the tree and her home where she grew up.

 Theme

The theme of “Our Casuarina Tree” is about lasting friendships and lost childhood. While on the surface it seems like the poem is only about the Casuarina tree, it is more about her friendship with her childhood friends which she dearly misses. The Casuarina tree is a symbol of their friendship and thus she writes an ode to it.

Symbolism

The title of the poem is “Our Casuarina Tree”. The Casuarina tree here is symbolic. It was the tree under which the poetess and her friends played in their childhood. Thus it holds a special place in the poetess’ heart. Even when all of them went their separate ways, the Casuarina tree stayed as it was. It became the symbol of their everlasting friendship and thus became dearer in the eyes of the poetess.