Felling of the Banyan Tree poem summary, explanation, word meanings, theme, poetic devices, questions and answers, MCQ ideas, Hindi meaning, and PDF-style notes for Class 11 Elective English Woven Words by Dilip Chitre; includes simple line-by-line explanation, NCERT Q&A, and exam-ready points for students searching for “felling of the banyan tree poem”, “summary in English/Hindi”, “questions and answers MCQ”, “poetic devices”, “theme”, and “summary PDF”.
About the Poet Dilip Chitre
Dilip Chitre (1938–2009) was a noted bilingual writer from Baroda who wrote poetry in Marathi and English, besides short stories, essays, and impactful translations such as an anthology of Marathi poetry; he viewed poetry as an expression of the spirit and later lived and worked in Mumbai.
Felling of The Banyan Tree Summary
The poem recalls a family’s move from Baroda when the father clears tenants’ houses and orders many trees cut, though the grandmother called trees sacred; the sheoga, oudumber and neem fall first, but the vast banyan with roots “deeper than all our lives” resists.
Workers saw branches for seven days, birds and insects flee, and fifty men chop the massive trunk showing two hundred rings, a scene the speaker watches in terror and fascination as if a raw myth is revealed; soon they shift to Bombay where real trees seem absent except the one that grows and seethes in dreams.
Felling of The Banyan Tree Word Meaning
| Word/Phrase | Meaning (easy English) |
|---|---|
| Tenants | People renting the nearby houses. |
| Demolished | Broken down completely. |
| Sacred | Holy; worthy of respect and care. |
| Felling | Cutting down trees. |
| Massacred | Killed in a brutal way; shows violence to nature. |
| Sheoga / Oudumber | Local trees mentioned with neem as being cut. |
| Scraggy | Rough and thin-looking; used for aerial roots. |
| Aerial roots | Roots hanging from branches towards the ground. |
| Circumference | Distance around the trunk. |
| Rings of two hundred years | Growth marks that show great age. |
| Raw mythology | Ancient, powerful feeling like a legend revealed. |
| Seethes | Boils with strong feeling; stirs in dreams. |
Felling of The Banyan Tree Theme
Central idea: a clash between tradition that treats trees as sacred and modern development that clears land, showing loss of roots, memory, and environment; the banyan symbolises heritage and deep connections that are hard to cut.
Tone and message: the violent felling appears like a slaughter, making readers feel sorrow and awe; after moving to Bombay, the tree survives only in memory, warning about urban growth that forgets living nature.
Felling of The Banyan Tree Explanation
“My father told the tenants to leave… Only our own house remained and the trees.” — The speaker shows the father’s firm decisions before moving, as homes go down and nature stands as the last obstacle.
“Trees are sacred my grandmother used to say… But he massacred them all.” — Tradition calls trees holy, yet the father ignores this belief and clears them, showing conflict between faith and progress.
“But the huge banyan tree stood like a problem… Whose roots lay deeper than all our lives.” — The banyan is ancient and rooted, harder to remove than the rest; it represents long history and family ties.
“Its trunk had a circumference of fifty feet… Sawing them off for seven days.” — Vivid numbers show size and labour; cutting takes a week and drives birds and insects away.
“Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped… rings of two hundred years.” — Many men hack the trunk, exposing age rings that tell a long life, turning work into a shocking scene.
“We watched in terror and fascination… raw mythology revealed to us its age.” — The act feels like killing a legend; fear mixes with wonder as the tree’s history appears in front of them.
“Soon afterwards we left Baroda for Bombay… Which grows and seethes in one’s dreams.” — After the move, the living tree is gone; only a restless dream-tree remains, showing deep loss.
Understanding the Poem (Q&A)
Page numbers follow the Woven Words text; answers are concise for exams.
Page 133
1. Identify the lines that reveal the critical tone of the poet towards the felling of the tree.
Lines such as “he massacred them all,” “sawing them off for seven days,” “insects and birds began to leave,” “fifty men with axes chopped and chopped,” and “we watched in terror and fascination this slaughter” show a sharp, disapproving tone.
2. Identify the words that help you understand the nature of the poet’s father.
Expressions like “structures were demolished,” “massacred them all,” and “my father ordered it to be removed” present him as practical, forceful, and focused on action over sentiment.
3. ‘Trees are sacred my grandmother used to say’— what does the poet imply by this line?
It shows a traditional belief that trees deserve reverence and should not be harmed, suggesting a cultural and moral duty to protect them, which clashes with the father’s plan.
4. ‘No trees except the one which grows and seethes in one’s dreams’— why is the phrase ‘grows and seethes’ used?
The words suggest the banyan survives in memory with strong, restless feeling; though the real tree is gone, its image keeps stirring the mind with pain and life.
5. How does the banyan tree stand out as different from other trees? What details of the tree does the poet highlight in the poem?
It is three times taller than the house, fifty feet in girth, with long aerial roots and age rings of about two hundred years; its deep roots and grandeur make it unique.
6. What does the reference to raw mythology imply?
It means the tree’s great age and sacred aura feel like an ancient legend laid bare during the felling, turning labour into a ritual of loss.
7. ‘Whose roots lay deeper than our lives’— what aspect of human behaviour does this line reflect?
It shows how people often ignore long-standing bonds with nature and heritage, cutting them for quick progress even when those roots outlast human lives.
8. Comment on the contemporary concern that the poem echoes.
The poem warns about urban growth that destroys ecosystems and cultural memory; it urges care for nature against blind development.
Try This Out
Page 134
1. Most of us have had this experience of seeing trees in our neighbourhood being mercilessly cut down in order to build a house or a public building or to widen a road. Describe any such experience you have had of the felling of a tree you were attached to, with reasons for your special attachment to the tree.
Sample answer: Near the lane, a neem was removed for a wider turn; it gave shade after school and held sparrows’ nests, so its loss felt like losing a friend; the empty spot stayed harsh and hot through summer.
2. Find out the equivalents for sheoga, oudumber and neem in your language and English and the equivalent of banyan in your language.
Example approach: Check a local botany list or dictionary and note regional names; for English, write “sheoga (regional), oudumber (cluster fig), neem (Indian lilac), banyan (Indian banyan).” Adapt names to the home language list.
3. The adjective ‘scraggy’ is used to describe ‘roots’ in the poem. Find out two other items which could be described as ‘scraggy’.
Possible choices: a scraggy beard; a scraggy fence with thin, uneven slats.
4. Use the following adjectives to describe suitable items: raw, aerial.
Examples: raw emotion after the tree fell; aerial walkway among tall trees.
Exam Pointers
- Quote ready: “We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter” to show tone.
- Numbers to mention: seven days, fifty men, fifty feet, two hundred rings for evidence.
- Keywords: sacred vs progress, deep roots, urban shift to Bombay, memory and loss.
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