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The Trees · Class 10 English · First Flight Poetry: 135 MCQs with answers

All 135 multiple-choice questions from this kit, free and with no sign-up.

Full kit · everything Flashcards · 60 Quick Revision · 36

Warm-up · 4 questions

Q1. Who wrote this poem, and what does the textbook's note say about her?

Beginner
A Adrienne Rich — a poet born in Baltimore in 1929, called a feminist and a radical poet B Robin Klein — an Australian writer of children's books, school stories and radio plays for the young C Carolyn Wells — an American writer of comic verse D Leslie Norris — a Welsh poet
Show answer & explanation

Adrienne Rich — a poet born in Baltimore in 1929, called a feminist and a radical poet

Author of something close to twenty books of poems.

Q2. The textbook glosses the verb used of the leaves, because its everyday sense is rather different. What does 'strain' mean here?

Beginner
A Filter something B Injure oneself C Make efforts to move D Listen carefully
Show answer & explanation

Make efforts to move

A glossed word, used of the leaves.

Q3. A glossed word describes the way the cramped boughs move under the roof, and it suits patients as well as branches. What does it mean?

Beginner
A Mixing things up B Walking quickly C Rustling quietly in the evening wind somewhere outside D Moving repeatedly from one position to another
Show answer & explanation

Moving repeatedly from one position to another

The glossed sense, and it suits patients leaving a hospital.

Q4. In the same question that raises the first reading, the textbook names another poem for comparison. Which one?

Beginner
A Fire and Ice B Dust of Snow C The Ball Poem D A Tiger in the Zoo
Show answer & explanation

A Tiger in the Zoo

Also in First Flight.

Building up · 47 questions

Q5. If you were asked to describe how this poem is laid out on the page and whether it rhymes, which account would be correct?

Intermediate
A Six rhyming quatrains, each one with a perfectly regular beat running all the way through B Free verse — three stanzas of very unequal length, with no rhyme and no regular metre C A sonnet of fourteen lines D Three stanzas rhyming aaa
Show answer & explanation

Free verse — three stanzas of very unequal length, with no rhyme and no regular metre

Nothing in the poem is regular.

Q6. Before the poem begins, the textbook sets a question for the reader. What does it ask?

Intermediate
A Whether the poet herself had ever actually lived anywhere near a real forest herself B How many kinds of tree are named in the poem C Whether the poem rhymes D Whether there can be a forest without trees, and where the trees in this poem are
Show answer & explanation

Whether there can be a forest without trees, and where the trees in this poem are

Both halves matter.

Q7. A reader who expects a woodland scene is surprised within a line or two. Where are the trees of this poem actually standing?

Intermediate
A In a forest standing a very long way off from the house itself B Indoors, on a veranda, under a roof and behind glass C In a garden outside the house D In a nursery waiting to be sold
Show answer & explanation

Indoors, on a veranda, under a roof and behind glass

Houseplants, about to leave.

Q8. A student writes that the poem describes trees growing in a forest. Why is that wrong?

Intermediate
A The poem is set in a desert a very long way from anywhere at all nearby B The trees are inside the house; the forest is where they are going C The trees in the poem are imaginary D There is only one tree in the poem
Show answer & explanation

The trees are inside the house; the forest is where they are going

The first line turns the arrangement inside out.

Q9. According to the first stanza, which of these cannot happen in the empty forest?

Intermediate
A Rain falling, wind blowing, and the leaves turning colour on the branches B A bird sitting, an insect hiding, and the sun burying its feet in shadow C A path being made, a fire starting, and smoke rising D Flowers opening, fruit ripening, and seeds falling
Show answer & explanation

A bird sitting, an insect hiding, and the sun burying its feet in shadow

A set textbook question, and the poem lists them in order.

Q10. Counting the whole of the first stanza, how many separate times does the poet describe the forest as empty?

Intermediate
A Twice B Once C Three times D Not at all
Show answer & explanation

Twice

All these days, and all these nights.

Q11. What does the first stanza promise will have happened by morning?

Intermediate
A The house will be repaired B The moon will have set C The forest will be full of trees D The glass will have been mended
Show answer & explanation

The forest will be full of trees

The whole poem takes place in the one night before that.

Q12. While the house is dark and nobody indoors is doing anything at all, what are the roots occupied with all night?

Intermediate
A Drawing up fresh water from the ground somewhere beneath the house itself B Growing deeper into the ground C Working to separate themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor D Splitting the veranda floor apart
Show answer & explanation

Working to separate themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor

'To disengage themselves' is glossed as to separate themselves.

Q13. Of everything in that room, the leaves spend the whole night reaching towards one thing in particular. What is it?

Intermediate
A The glass B The roof C The floor D The moon
Show answer & explanation

The glass

An ordinary fact about houseplants, turned into an intention.

Q14. Between the roots below and the boughs above, the poem pauses on the smallest parts of the plant. How does it describe the twigs?

Intermediate
A Bare and dry B Bending easily C Stiff with exertion D Newly grown
Show answer & explanation

Stiff with exertion

Effort everywhere in the stanza.

Q15. What does 'bough' mean, and what does the poem say about the boughs?

Intermediate
A A branch — and the long-cramped boughs are shuffling under the roof B A trunk — and the trunks are splitting right down the middle of the wood C A root — and the roots are working D A bud — and the buds are opening
Show answer & explanation

A branch — and the long-cramped boughs are shuffling under the roof

Two glossed words in a single line.

Q16. The textbook asks for one comparison from this stanza by name, and it is the central image of the poem. What is it?

Intermediate
A Newly discharged patients moving to the clinic doors B Prisoners breaking their way out through a locked cell door C Soldiers marching in line D Children running from school
Show answer & explanation

Newly discharged patients moving to the clinic doors

A set textbook question.

Q17. The comparison with hospital patients is completed by a single hyphenated word describing their state. Which word is it?

Intermediate
A Frightened B Delighted C Half-dazed D Exhausted
Show answer & explanation

Half-dazed

Unsteady, and not quite in control.

Q18. Which statements about the first two stanzas are correct? 1. The trees are indoors. 2. The forest is empty. 3. The glass breaks.

Intermediate
A 1 and 2 only B 1 and 3 only C 2 and 3 only D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer & explanation

1 and 2 only

The glass breaks only in the last stanza.

Q19. Which pairing of glossed word and meaning is correct?

Intermediate
A Strain — to filter B Shuffling — moving repeatedly from one position to another C Bough — a root D Disengage — to take hold of something and then grip it firmly
Show answer & explanation

Shuffling — moving repeatedly from one position to another

The other three reverse or replace the textbook's sense.

Q20. How should an answer about the sun's feet be ordered?

Intermediate
A The sunset first, then the trees B The glossary entries first, and then the whole rhyme scheme of the poem after that C A summary of the whole poem first D The lowest rays first, the shade second, and then what the image achieves
Show answer & explanation

The lowest rays first, the shade second, and then what the image achieves

The last part is what lifts the mark.

Q21. Which single sentence best describes the opening of this poem?

Intermediate
A A forest is described in very careful detail from one end of it right to the other end B The place that should be full is empty, and the place that should be empty is full C A house is destroyed in a storm D A poet remembers a childhood garden
Show answer & explanation

The place that should be full is empty, and the place that should be empty is full

A contradiction held in the first line.

Q22. Name the three things the first stanza says cannot happen in a forest that has no trees.

Intermediate
Show answer & explanation

—

Q23. 'The most interesting thing in the first stanza is a sun with feet.' Discuss this image in detail.

Intermediate
Show answer & explanation

—

Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the image's place in the climbing list of three; the identification of the feet as the lowest rays; the observable picture of light patches among shade; close attention to the verb 'bury' and what it does to shadow; and the reversal that leaves the light wi…

Q24. The poem has described a forest and a night of labour without mentioning anybody at all. At what point does a human being first appear?

Intermediate
A In the opening line B At the very end, after the glass breaks C Nowhere — the poem has no speaker D In the third stanza, with the word 'I'
Show answer & explanation

In the third stanza, with the word 'I'

The first two stanzas contain only the forest and the plants.

Q25. While every part of the plants is labouring on the veranda, the person indoors is occupied with something entirely different. What?

Intermediate
A Trying hard to hold all of the plants down in their own pots B Sleeping in another room C Sitting inside with the doors open, writing long letters D Standing on the veranda watching them
Show answer & explanation

Sitting inside with the doors open, writing long letters

Two details, and both matter.

Q26. The poem tells us both what the speaker is writing that night and what she is not writing. What does she scarcely mention?

Intermediate
A The weather that night B The state that the old wooden veranda floor is in C The departure of the forest from the house D The person she is writing to
Show answer & explanation

The departure of the forest from the house

The most extraordinary thing in the poem, left out.

Q27. Before anything has broken, and while the trees are still indoors, how does the poem describe the moon and the sky?

Intermediate
A Hidden behind cloud B Setting slowly behind the very tallest of the oaks C Whole, shining in a sky that is still open D Broken into pieces
Show answer & explanation

Whole, shining in a sky that is still open

A set textbook question, first half.

Q28. The textbook explains one biological term at greater length than any other word in this poem. What is lichen?

Intermediate
A A kind of moss that is found only on bare rocks and on old stone walls nearby B The bark of an oak tree C A flowering plant of the forest floor D Crusty patches or bushy growth formed by a fungus and an alga together
Show answer & explanation

Crusty patches or bushy growth formed by a fungus and an alga together

Two organisms living as one.

Q29. One thing from outside is still getting into the house on the night of the departure. What reaches the rooms like a voice?

Intermediate
A The sound of breaking glass B The smell of leaves and lichen C The light of the moon D The wind from the garden
Show answer & explanation

The smell of leaves and lichen

The last of the trees that will get indoors.

Q30. In two of the shortest lines in the poem the speaker says something about the whispers filling her head. What does she say?

Intermediate
A That they keep her awake B That she cannot understand them C That they come from the letters D That tomorrow they will be silent
Show answer & explanation

That tomorrow they will be silent

Two of the shortest lines in the poem.

Q31. The poem tells the reader to listen, and then immediately supplies something to listen to. What happens next?

Intermediate
A The moon rises B The speaker goes outside C The letters are finished D The glass is breaking
Show answer & explanation

The glass is breaking

The barrier the leaves strained at all night.

Q32. Having spent a whole night working themselves loose, how do the trees actually move once the glass has given way?

Intermediate
A They run into the forest B They rise into the air C They stand still until morning D They stumble forward into the night
Show answer & explanation

They stumble forward into the night

Still unsteady, like the discharged patients.

Q33. The trees are barely outside when something in the poem moves towards them for the first time. What do the winds do?

Intermediate
A Blow the glass inwards B Rush to meet them C Die away completely D Carry the smell into the rooms
Show answer & explanation

Rush to meet them

The outside world coming towards them.

Q34. The last two lines of the poem return to the moon that was whole only a few lines earlier. How is it described now?

Intermediate
A Setting slowly away behind a distant hill right on the far horizon beyond the trees B Broken like a mirror, its pieces flashing in the crown of the tallest oak C Covered by cloud D Larger than before
Show answer & explanation

Broken like a mirror, its pieces flashing in the crown of the tallest oak

A set textbook question, second half.

Q35. Of all the places it could have chosen to finish, the poem picks one particular height for its final image. Where?

Intermediate
A On the veranda floor B Inside the darkened rooms of the whole house C On the surface of the water D High up, in the crown of the tallest oak
Show answer & explanation

High up, in the crown of the tallest oak

Light in a treetop.

Q36. Which statements about the third stanza are correct? 1. A speaker appears for the first time. 2. The glass breaks. 3. The trees return to the house.

Intermediate
A 1 and 2 only B 1 and 3 only C 2 and 3 only D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer & explanation

1 and 2 only

Nothing returns anywhere in the poem.

Q37. How should an answer about the moon be ordered?

Intermediate
A The cause first, then the poet's name B Whole and open first, broken like a mirror second, then the cause C The glossary entries first, and then all of the stanza numbers after D A summary of the poem first
Show answer & explanation

Whole and open first, broken like a mirror second, then the cause

The cause is what earns the final mark.

Q38. Which single sentence best describes this part of the poem?

Intermediate
A A storm destroys a house at night B A woman rescues her plants from a fire C A witness sits writing about something else while the world outside her window changes shape D A poet describes a long walk taken through a dark forest late at night in the pouring winter rain
Show answer & explanation

A witness sits writing about something else while the world outside her window changes shape

Letters, whispers, and a moon in pieces.

Q39. 'The moon is broken like a mirror.' Examine the poem's final image and explain why it is the right ending.

Intermediate
Show answer & explanation

—

Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the earlier state of the whole moon in an open sky; the explanation that the moon is unchanged and the view has altered; the literal accuracy of moonlight through branches; the reason the image works as proof rather than report; and the observation that the…

Q40. At its fourth question the textbook stops asking what the poem says and asks something else. What?

Intermediate
A Who exactly it was that the poet was writing about in this poem of hers B Whether the poem rhymes C What the poem might mean — offering two suggestions and inviting more D How many stanzas the poem has
Show answer & explanation

What the poem might mean — offering two suggestions and inviting more

An invitation, and an answer should take it.

Q41. Which two-word phrase does the textbook itself use for the way in which plants are kept in city rooms?

Intermediate
A Household gardening B Urban forestry C Indoor farming D Interior decoration
Show answer & explanation

Interior decoration

The accusation is supplied in the question.

Q42. The two poems agree about almost everything until their last lines, where they separate completely. How do their endings differ?

Intermediate
A Both creatures escape B Neither escapes C The tiger never gets out; Rich's trees do, and her poem ends outdoors D The tiger escapes in the end and the trees never once manage it at all
Show answer & explanation

The tiger never gets out; Rich's trees do, and her poem ends outdoors

The sharpest difference between them.

Q43. A student writes that the tiger escapes at the end of A Tiger in the Zoo. What is wrong with that?

Intermediate
A He never does — he stalks his cage and stares at the stars from behind bars B Nothing at all; the poem simply describes his own escape from the cage itself C The tiger is never caged in that poem D There is no tiger in that poem
Show answer & explanation

He never does — he stalks his cage and stares at the stars from behind bars

Which is exactly the difference between the two poems.

Q44. In raising its second reading the textbook makes a statement about Rich's other poetry. What does it say she has used trees for?

Intermediate
A As a symbol of the seasons B As a metaphor for human beings — a recurrent image in her poetry C As a convenient background setting for all of her many love poems instead D As a warning about climate
Show answer & explanation

As a metaphor for human beings — a recurrent image in her poetry

So the second reading is not a guess.

Q45. The last of the set questions sends students back to something they studied in an earlier class. Which poem?

Intermediate
A On Killing a Tree by Gieve Patel B The Ball Poem by John Berryman C Amanda! by Robin Klein D Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
Show answer & explanation

On Killing a Tree by Gieve Patel

Met in Class 9.

Q46. A student writes that both poems say the same thing about trees. How should that be corrected?

Intermediate
A They do say the same thing B Neither poem mentions roots C One of the two poems is not actually about trees in any way at all, despite its appearances D They share only the idea that a tree's life is in its roots; their purposes are opposite
Show answer & explanation

They share only the idea that a tree's life is in its roots; their purposes are opposite

Die, in one; live, in the other.

Q47. Which statements about the two readings are correct? 1. The textbook offers both. 2. It invites students to suggest others. 3. It says the second is the correct one.

Intermediate
A 1 and 2 only B 1 and 3 only C 2 and 3 only D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer & explanation

1 and 2 only

It calls them suggestions.

Q48. Which sequence best plans an answer on what the poem means?

Intermediate
A A summary of the poem, then the poet's life B The glossary, then the rhyme scheme, then an opinion C Literal reading, the tiger comparison, metaphorical reading, three details carried across, no choosing D The metaphorical reading only, since that one is by some way much the deeper of the two readings offered
Show answer & explanation

Literal reading, the tiger comparison, metaphorical reading, three details carried across, no choosing

The textbook does not choose, and neither should an answer.

Q49. Which is the best short statement of what this poem is finally about?

Intermediate
A The proper care of ordinary houseplants kept indoors in pots on a sill B Something long confined getting itself out, at whatever cost C A storm on a summer night D A quarrel between neighbours
Show answer & explanation

Something long confined getting itself out, at whatever cost

True on both readings, which is why it works.

Q50. How should a comparison with On Killing a Tree be organised?

Intermediate
A A full summary of Patel's poem first, and then a full summary of Rich's own poem straight after that one B Shared ground first — the life in the roots — then the opposite purposes and the difference in tone C The rhyme schemes of both, then the poets' lives D Only the differences, since the poems are unrelated
Show answer & explanation

Shared ground first — the life in the roots — then the opposite purposes and the difference in tone

Similarity, then contrast.

Q51. Compare and contrast The Trees with On Killing a Tree by Gieve Patel.

Intermediate
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the shared idea that a tree's life is in its roots, with evidence from both poems; the opposed purposes of killing and freeing; the contrast in tone between instruction and sympathy; the contrast in setting and direction; the contrast between the two ending…

Topper level · 84 questions

Q52. Looking at the way those three impossibilities are arranged, how do they build on one another?

Advanced
A Each one is less serious than the one before B Each describes a different season C They are arranged strictly by size, from the largest down to the very smallest D A bird needs a branch, an insect needs cover, and the sun needs shade
Show answer & explanation

A bird needs a branch, an insect needs cover, and the sun needs shade

The third is the one that sounds like nonsense until you look at it.

Q53. The first stanza gives the sun a body part that no sun possesses, and the textbook asks about it directly. What are the sun's 'feet'?

Advanced
A The moment of sunset B The long shadows that are cast by the trees late in the evening light each day at dusk C Its lowest rays — the light that comes all the way down and touches the ground D The warmth felt on the skin
Show answer & explanation

Its lowest rays — the light that comes all the way down and touches the ground

A set textbook question.

Q54. A student explains the sun's feet as the sun going down in the evening. What is wrong with that?

Advanced
A Nothing at all — the poem is simply describing an ordinary evening outdoors B The sun never appears in the poem C The image is about the lowest rays reaching the ground, not about sunset D The feet belong to a bird, not to the sun
Show answer & explanation

The image is about the lowest rays reaching the ground, not about sunset

A common error.

Q55. Anybody who has stood among trees on a bright day has seen what this phrase describes. What picture does it create?

Advanced
A The sun setting behind a hill B A long shadow falling right across a bare wooden floor somewhere indoors at night C Clouds covering the sun D Low rays disappearing into the shade under trees, as feet sink into sand
Show answer & explanation

Low rays disappearing into the shade under trees, as feet sink into sand

The verb makes shade into something soft and deep.

Q56. Why is that image impossible in a forest with no trees?

Advanced
A The sun simply does not ever shine down upon that kind of place at any time at all B The ground is too hard C There is no ground at all D There is no shade, so the light lies flat and exposed with nothing to sink into
Show answer & explanation

There is no shade, so the light lies flat and exposed with nothing to sink into

A body given to the sun, and then no place to rest it.

Q57. Considering the sort of word it is, why is 'disengage' a striking choice for what the roots do?

Advanced
A It suggests that the roots are being cut right through with a sharp blade B It is cold and mechanical, the word used of machinery being uncoupled C It is a word from medicine D It means the same as 'escape'
Show answer & explanation

It is cold and mechanical, the word used of machinery being uncoupled

The poem refuses to make getting free look easy.

Q58. Taking the simile as a whole, what does it tell us about the plants' condition?

Advanced
A That they are healthy and strong B That they have been ill, and that being indoors was the illness C That they have been badly injured by a storm during the night before D That they were recently planted
Show answer & explanation

That they have been ill, and that being indoors was the illness

Which is why the doors are clinic doors.

Q59. What tone does the hospital comparison give to the escape?

Advanced
A An angry one — revolt against captivity B A quiet one — recovery rather than rebellion C A comic one — the plants are clumsy D A frightening one — the plants are dangerous
Show answer & explanation

A quiet one — recovery rather than rebellion

Nobody in the poem is angry.

Q60. A student writes that the boughs are compared to prisoners escaping. Why does the difference matter?

Advanced
A There are no prisoners in any of the poems to be found anywhere in this whole book at all B Prisoners move quickly and patients do not C It does not matter at all D A prisoner escapes and a patient recovers, and the poem chooses the gentler of the two
Show answer & explanation

A prisoner escapes and a patient recovers, and the poem chooses the gentler of the two

The simile sets the tone of the whole poem.

Q61. Read the first two stanzas aloud and one absence becomes obvious almost immediately. What is remarkable about their sound?

Advanced
A The wind is described as roaring B The glass is described as breaking loudly at the very beginning C The birds are singing throughout D There is none — the whole escape happens in complete silence
Show answer & explanation

There is none — the whole escape happens in complete silence

The only noise comes at the very end of the poem.

Q62. Why does that silence matter to the poem as a whole?

Advanced
A It makes the single sound at the end land as a shock B It shows the house is empty C It proves that the trees must all have been asleep the whole time D It marks the passing of time
Show answer & explanation

It makes the single sound at the end land as a shock

Deliberate quiet, doing work.

Q63. Assertion (A): The escape in this poem is slow and difficult. Reason (R): The roots work all night to disengage themselves, the leaves strain, and the twigs are stiff with exertion.

Advanced
A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A C A is true, but R is false D A is false, but R is true
Show answer & explanation

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Nothing in these stanzas happens suddenly.

Q64. Which everyday observation lies behind the leaves straining towards the glass?

Advanced
A Glass expands a little in the heat of the afternoon B Leaves fall in autumn C Houseplants really do lean towards a window D Plants grow faster at night
Show answer & explanation

Houseplants really do lean towards a window

An ordinary fact, allowed to become an intention.

Q65. Why does the poem give the trees a whole night to get free rather than a moment?

Advanced
A Because the house stays locked up tight until the morning finally comes round again B Because trees can only move in darkness C Because the effort is the point — roots grip, and leaving costs something D To allow the moon to rise
Show answer & explanation

Because the effort is the point — roots grip, and leaving costs something

Stiff with exertion, long-cramped, shuffling.

Q66. Which is the strongest single observation to make about the second stanza?

Advanced
A That the hospital simile turns the escape into a recovery B That the veranda has a floor made out of wooden boards laid down C That the poem mentions a roof D That the twigs are small
Show answer & explanation

That the hospital simile turns the escape into a recovery

Escape as convalescence, not revolt.

Q67. What would be lost if the poem said simply that the plants left the house?

Advanced
A The rhyme scheme B The name of the poet and the exact date on which this poem of hers was first published anywhere at all C Nothing at all D The effort, the slowness and the illness — everything that makes the departure cost something
Show answer & explanation

The effort, the slowness and the illness — everything that makes the departure cost something

Four parts of the plant, four verbs of labour.

Q68. What picture do the words about the sun burying its feet in shadow create, and what could the sun's 'feet' be?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q69. Where are the trees in this poem, and what do their roots, leaves and twigs do?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q70. What does the poet compare the branches to, and why is the comparison so effective?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q71. How does the first line of the poem establish its central idea?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q72. What is the effect of the complete silence in the first two stanzas?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q73. Describe the escape of the trees as the first two stanzas present it, and show how the poet makes it convincing.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the reversal in the first line; the twice-stated emptiness and the promise about morning; the three impossibilities; the sun's feet explained; the night of labour with at least three of the four plant parts and their glossed verbs; the hospital simile with…

Q74. Rewrite the second stanza of the poem as a short prose paragraph, and then explain what the prose loses. About 120–150 words in all.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Accept any faithful prose rendering of the stanza. Content should include: a prose version keeping roots, leaves, twigs, boughs and the simile; and an explanation naming at least three losses — the separating force of the line breaks, the precision of the glossed vocabulary, and t…

Q75. The poem takes the trouble to tell us the position of the doors while the trees are leaving. Why is that detail significant?

Advanced
A It shows that the house is simply being aired out for the whole of the night through B She could have shut them, so she is neither helping nor preventing the departure C It proves she has already left D It explains how the moonlight gets in
Show answer & explanation

She could have shut them, so she is neither helping nor preventing the departure

A witness who lets it happen.

Q76. The set question about the letters carries its own suggestion inside a bracket. Which explanation does the textbook itself offer?

Advanced
A That she has nothing to write about B That the letters she is writing are all official documents of some kind or other C That we are often silent about happenings so unexpected that they embarrass us D That she has not noticed the departure
Show answer & explanation

That we are often silent about happenings so unexpected that they embarrass us

Offered inside the question.

Q77. Which further reason for her silence fits the poem best?

Advanced
A She dislikes the person she is writing to B Some things are felt rather than reported, and would look absurd written down C She has been forbidden to mention it D She fully intends to describe the whole of it in some much later letter instead
Show answer & explanation

Some things are felt rather than reported, and would look absurd written down

'The plants are leaving tonight' on a sheet of paper.

Q78. Which quieter reason might also explain why she says nothing?

Advanced
A To describe a thing is to tidy it and hand it over, and she may be keeping this one B She wants to claim the credit later C She is quite afraid of being blamed for the broken glass in the window afterwards by somebody D She believes nobody would be interested
Show answer & explanation

To describe a thing is to tidy it and hand it over, and she may be keeping this one

Letting it happen, watching it, and not turning it into news.

Q79. The word 'open' is doing rather more than describing the weather in that line. Why is the sky open at that moment?

Advanced
A Because nothing is standing in it — the trees are still indoors B Because the clouds have cleared C Because the window has been opened wide out onto the garden outside D Because it is nearly morning
Show answer & explanation

Because nothing is standing in it — the trees are still indoors

The word will matter again six lines later.

Q80. The word 'still' occurs twice in a few lines. What does it mean there?

Advanced
A Both unchanged and not yet — holding the moment before everything alters B Completely motionless and entirely quiet the whole way through that night C Always and forever D Nevertheless
Show answer & explanation

Both unchanged and not yet — holding the moment before everything alters

A sky still open; a smell that still reaches.

Q81. Why is a voice the right comparison for that smell?

Advanced
A A voice can be heard through glass B Voices are always pleasant C The trees themselves speak somewhere else in the poem too D A voice comes from somewhere else and asks for attention
Show answer & explanation

A voice comes from somewhere else and asks for attention

The trees still communicating with the house.

Q82. Whose whispers are they?

Advanced
A Certainly the trees' B Certainly her own C The poem does not say — they may be the leaves or her own thoughts D The person to whom she is writing all of her long letters that night
Show answer & explanation

The poem does not say — they may be the leaves or her own thoughts

The line is better for not choosing.

Q83. One word in this poem stands entirely alone as a sentence, and three separate things make it unusual. What are they?

Advanced
A It is spoken by the trees B It is repeated three separate times across the whole of the poem itself as well C It is the first sound, the only imperative and the only address to the reader D It ends the poem
Show answer & explanation

It is the first sound, the only imperative and the only address to the reader

After two and a half stanzas of silence.

Q84. Why is the present continuous used for the breaking glass?

Advanced
A It puts the reader inside the moment, watching it happen B It shows the event happened long ago C It suggests that the glass breaks over and over again all night D It is required by the rhyme
Show answer & explanation

It puts the reader inside the moment, watching it happen

As we watch.

Q85. Why does the direction of that movement matter?

Advanced
A After a poem of gripping and straining, something is at last easy B It shows a storm is beginning C It explains how the glass broke D It proves that the trees must be frightened of something out there
Show answer & explanation

After a poem of gripping and straining, something is at last easy

The world comes towards them.

Q86. Given that the moon itself is untouched, what has actually changed?

Advanced
A The view — the trees now stand between the speaker and the sky B The moon has entered a new phase C Cloud has broken up the moonlight D The speaker has moved across to a different window in the house
Show answer & explanation

The view — the trees now stand between the speaker and the sky

The single most important point in the answer.

Q87. A student writes that the moon shatters at the end of the poem. What is wrong with that?

Advanced
A The moon is not mentioned at the end B The moon shatters right at the very beginning of the poem instead of at the end of it C Nothing is wrong with it D Nothing happens to the moon; its light is simply seen in fragments through branches
Show answer & explanation

Nothing happens to the moon; its light is simply seen in fragments through branches

Exactly what anybody sees walking in a wood at night.

Q88. The textbook asks what becomes of the building once its trees have left it. What happens to the house?

Advanced
A It falls down completely B It is filled right up with wind and with driving rain for the whole of the night through C Broken glass, empty cracks, no smell, and whispers that will be silent tomorrow D It is left exactly as it was
Show answer & explanation

Broken glass, empty cracks, no smell, and whispers that will be silent tomorrow

A set textbook question.

Q89. What is notable about the poem's attitude to the house at the end?

Advanced
A It grieves quite openly for the broken window glass right at the very end B It does not mourn it — the last image is of light in a treetop C It blames the speaker for the damage D It promises the trees will return
Show answer & explanation

It does not mourn it — the last image is of light in a treetop

Whatever sympathy the poem has is not with the building.

Q90. Assertion (A): The poem states plainly that the moon has been cracked across by the storm. Reason (R): It appears broken only because the trees now stand between the speaker and the sky, so moonlight reaches her through branches.

Advanced
A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A C A is true, but R is false D A is false, but R is true
Show answer & explanation

A is false, but R is true

Nothing of the kind is said, so the assertion is false. The reason correctly explains why the moon only appears broken.

Q91. Which pairing of detail and meaning is correct?

Advanced
A Broken like a mirror — the moon has shattered B Doors open — the speaker is chasing the trees out C Whispers — the letters being read aloud D A sky still open — nothing standing in it yet
Show answer & explanation

A sky still open — nothing standing in it yet

The other three misread the poem.

Q92. Which everyday experience matches the poem's final image exactly?

Advanced
A Seeing moonlight come apart and reassemble while walking under trees B Watching a mirror fall and break C Seeing the moon reflected in the still water of a garden pond at night D Watching clouds pass over the moon
Show answer & explanation

Seeing moonlight come apart and reassemble while walking under trees

The ending is entirely literal.

Q93. Why does one line of breaking glass have such force here?

Advanced
A It is by some way the longest single line in the whole of the poem itself as well B It is the only sound in a poem that has been silent for two and a half stanzas C It is repeated in the final line D It rhymes with the line before it
Show answer & explanation

It is the only sound in a poem that has been silent for two and a half stanzas

The loudest domestic sound there is.

Q94. What would be lost if the poem ended with the trees reaching the forest?

Advanced
A The poem's rhyme scheme and the whole pattern of its line lengths throughout B The image of the changed sky, which is what proves they have really gone C The name of the speaker D Nothing at all
Show answer & explanation

The image of the changed sky, which is what proves they have really gone

The broken moon is the evidence.

Q95. What does the poem gain by giving the speaker nothing to do?

Advanced
A It makes the poem shorter B It allows a happier ending C The departure belongs entirely to the trees, and she becomes a measure of it rather than a cause D It hides the identity of the speaker from the reader entirely and throughout the whole of the poem
Show answer & explanation

The departure belongs entirely to the trees, and she becomes a measure of it rather than a cause

She sits, and the world rearranges itself around her.

Q96. Why does the poet leave the trees' departure almost entirely out of the letters she is writing that night?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q97. How does the poet describe the moon at the beginning of the third stanza and at its end, and what causes the change?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q98. What is left of the house once the trees have moved out?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q99. What is the effect of the single word 'Listen' in this poem?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q100. Comment on the way the speaker behaves during the departure.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q101. What does the word 'still', used twice, contribute to the third stanza?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q102. Trace what happens in the third stanza of the poem, from the letters to the last image.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the first appearance of a speaker; the open doors and what they mean; the letters and at least two reasons for the silence; the whole moon in an open sky and the force of 'still'; the whispers; the single word 'Listen' and its three distinctions; the glass,…

Q103. Write the letter the speaker might have written that night if she had decided to say everything. About 120–150 words.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Accept any first-person letter consistent with the poem. Content should include: the roots, leaves and branches at work, with the hospital comparison; the open doors and the speaker's refusal to intervene; the whole moon and the open sky; the smell that will not last; and some ack…

Q104. According to the first of the two readings the textbook offers, what has human activity produced in this poem?

Advanced
A A forest that is completely full of houses and streets B A garden with no plants C A house full of trees and a forest empty of them D A city with too many trees
Show answer & explanation

A house full of trees and a forest empty of them

Neither state is natural; somebody arranged both.

Q105. If you wanted to argue that the plants in this poem are captives rather than ornaments, which details would you use?

Advanced
A The colour of all of the leaves and the exact size and shape of every single one of the pots indoors B The letters the speaker is writing C The freshness of the night air D Roots wedged into floor cracks, glass in front, a roof above, and an escape that takes all night
Show answer & explanation

Roots wedged into floor cracks, glass in front, a roof above, and an escape that takes all night

That is captivity, and the poem treats it as such.

Q106. No person in this poem cuts down a forest or buys a plant, and yet the reader feels accused. How is that managed?

Advanced
A It blames the speaker quite directly in the poem's very last stanza, and does so by her own name as well B Nobody is shown cutting a forest or buying a plant; the accusation is in the arrangement of the facts C It names the owners of the house D It quotes a government report
Show answer & explanation

Nobody is shown cutting a forest or buying a plant; the accusation is in the arrangement of the facts

A complaint made entirely by implication.

Q107. Setting the two poems side by side, what single structural idea do both of them build themselves on?

Advanced
A Both of them are written in rhyming quatrains all the way through as well B Both set a captive living thing beside the place where it ought to be C Both end with an escape D Both are addressed to a child
Show answer & explanation

Both set a captive living thing beside the place where it ought to be

One contrast, built twice.

Q108. Which pairing correctly matches each poem's captivity with its imagined freedom?

Advanced
A A concrete cell against a house; a forest against a zoo B A veranda against a distant water hole; a concrete cell against a walled garden outside the house C A concrete cell against long grass by a water hole; a veranda and roof against a waiting forest D A cage against a city street; a roof against a river
Show answer & explanation

A concrete cell against long grass by a water hole; a veranda and roof against a waiting forest

Norris first, Rich second.

Q109. Why does that difference matter to a comparison?

Advanced
A One poem is longer than the other B One poem is about endurance and the other about release C One of them is by an American poet and one by a Welsh poet D One rhymes and the other does not
Show answer & explanation

One poem is about endurance and the other about release

Both end looking at the night sky; only one from outside.

Q110. How does the textbook describe the poet, and why does it matter here?

Advanced
A As a nature poet, which explains the forest B As a writer of children's books, which neatly explains the whole poem's great simplicity of style C As a feminist and a radical poet, which points towards the reading about people kept indoors D As a translator, which explains the vocabulary
Show answer & explanation

As a feminist and a radical poet, which points towards the reading about people kept indoors

The poem is most often read on that view as being about women.

Q111. If the trees in this poem are taken to stand for human beings, what do the roots stuck in the floor become?

Advanced
A The plants' constant need for fresh water and for light B Long ties — habit, family, a life built in one place C A physical illness D The speaker's letters
Show answer & explanation

Long ties — habit, family, a life built in one place

And all of them hard to get out of.

Q112. Still reading the trees as people, what do the leaves that spend the whole night straining at the glass become?

Advanced
A Longing for a world that can be seen and not reached B A simple wish for rather more sunlight to come indoors C Curiosity about the weather D Fear of the night outside
Show answer & explanation

Longing for a world that can be seen and not reached

Glass is the perfect barrier for that.

Q113. Which word in the poem carries the length of the confinement on the metaphorical reading?

Advanced
A Half-dazed B Fresh C Still D Long-cramped
Show answer & explanation

Long-cramped

This has been going on for a very long time.

Q114. Of all the images in the poem, one becomes especially strong if the trees are taken to stand for people. Which, and why?

Advanced
A It shows the plants were poisoned B It suggests that somebody inside the house must be seriously ill in bed upstairs C It gives people just out of a long illness, and the illness was being kept in D It explains why the glass breaks
Show answer & explanation

It gives people just out of a long illness, and the illness was being kept in

Nobody who leaves after years leaves confidently.

Q115. The woman writing letters indoors takes on a new significance if the trees are people. What does she become?

Advanced
A The one who stays — sympathetic, watchful, and not going B The person who had caused the confinement in the first place C A visitor who has arrived that night D One of the trees herself
Show answer & explanation

The one who stays — sympathetic, watchful, and not going

Inside, writing letters, mentioning nothing, doors open.

Q116. What do The Trees and On Killing a Tree have in common?

Advanced
A Both of them are written in free verse arranged into three quite unequal stanzas B Both describe a tree escaping C Both are about forests being cleared D Both take a tree seriously as a living thing and locate its life in its roots
Show answer & explanation

Both take a tree seriously as a living thing and locate its life in its roots

The same organ at the centre of each poem.

Q117. How do the two poems differ most sharply?

Advanced
A One is in English and one is not B One has a speaker and the other does not C In Patel the roots are torn out to kill; in Rich they free themselves to live D One of them is about a whole forest and the other one about just a single tree
Show answer & explanation

In Patel the roots are torn out to kill; in Rich they free themselves to live

The same organ, used for opposite purposes.

Q118. How do the two poems differ in tone?

Advanced
A Patel's poem is affectionate; Rich's poem is angry all the way through it B Patel's is coldly instructional; Rich's is quiet and on the tree's side C Both are comic D Both are formal and detached
Show answer & explanation

Patel's is coldly instructional; Rich's is quiet and on the tree's side

One is a set of directions for killing.

Q119. What is wrong with choosing one reading of this poem and rejecting the other?

Advanced
A The textbook offers both and invites more, and a poem can mean more than one thing at once B The second of the two readings is not supported anywhere at all by the textbook itself anywhere C Only the literal reading is examinable D Nothing — one of them must be wrong
Show answer & explanation

The textbook offers both and invites more, and a poem can mean more than one thing at once

The best answers give both and support each.

Q120. Assertion (A): The metaphorical reading of this poem is not merely a student's guess. Reason (R): The textbook states that Rich has often made trees stand for human beings, and that she returns to the image throughout her work.

Advanced
A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A C A is true, but R is false D A is false, but R is true
Show answer & explanation

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

And the same page calls her a feminist and a radical poet.

Q121. Which everyday sight is the poem asking the reader to notice, on the first reading?

Advanced
A Rooms decorated with living things that came from somewhere else B Forests glimpsed from the window of a fast-moving train somewhere outside C Gardens planted in front of houses D Trees growing through pavements
Show answer & explanation

Rooms decorated with living things that came from somewhere else

Interior decoration, in the textbook's own phrase.

Q122. Which everyday experience matches the metaphorical reading best?

Advanced
A Moving house completely in the space of one single afternoon, with no trouble at all whatever B Leaving a home after years, and finding the difficulty is in the ties rather than the door C Going on holiday D Planting a garden
Show answer & explanation

Leaving a home after years, and finding the difficulty is in the ties rather than the door

Roots, not doors.

Q123. Why is glass the right barrier for this poem on either reading?

Advanced
A It can be seen through but not passed, so it shows exactly what is being missed B It is easy to break C It keeps out the cold D It is found in very nearly every single house in the whole of the country these days
Show answer & explanation

It can be seen through but not passed, so it shows exactly what is being missed

The leaves strain at it for a whole night.

Q124. Which detail does NOT carry over usefully to the metaphorical reading?

Advanced
A The roots stuck in the floor B The leaves straining at the glass C The boughs like discharged patients D The scientific definition of lichen
Show answer & explanation

The scientific definition of lichen

The other three all take a second meaning at once.

Q125. What does the poem gain by never stating which reading is intended?

Advanced
A It makes the poem shorter B It hides the poet's own opinions completely away from the reader altogether C It allows the poem to rhyme D Both meanings stay alive, and the details serve each without strain
Show answer & explanation

Both meanings stay alive, and the details serve each without strain

A poem can mean more than one thing at once.

Q126. Which single sentence best ends a comparison with A Tiger in the Zoo?

Advanced
A Both poems are printed in First Flight B Both of the poets were writing at some point in the twentieth century itself C Both poems end looking at the night sky, but only one of them from outside D Both poems describe animals and plants
Show answer & explanation

Both poems end looking at the night sky, but only one of them from outside

Endurance against release.

Q127. What would be lost if the poem named the people who brought the plants indoors?

Advanced
A The poem itself would become a very great deal longer than it currently is at the present moment B The rhyme scheme would break C Nothing at all D The accusation would become an argument, and the reader would stop drawing the conclusion
Show answer & explanation

The accusation would become an argument, and the reader would stop drawing the conclusion

The complaint is made entirely by implication.

Q128. Does the poem present a conflict between man and nature?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q129. Compare this poem with A Tiger in the Zoo.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q130. What new meanings emerge if the trees are taken as symbolic of human beings?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q131. Why is the hospital simile especially powerful on the metaphorical reading?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q132. Compare The Trees with On Killing a Tree.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q133. Why should an answer about this poem hold both readings at once?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q134. 'Now the poem has been read closely, the question of what it is actually about can be opened.' Set out the two readings the textbook offers and support each from the poem.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the textbook's invitation and its refusal to choose; the literal reading with the captivity details and the phrase 'interior decoration'; the comparison with A Tiger in the Zoo, including the difference in endings; the metaphorical reading with Rich's own d…

Q135. Suggest a third reading of this poem, different from the two the textbook offers, and defend it from the text. About 120–150 words.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Accept any coherent third reading that is defended from the text. Content should include: a clearly stated alternative; at least three details from the poem used as evidence; and an acknowledgement that the poem does not state it. Deduct if the reading contradicts the poem's facts…

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