Trees -By Joyce Kilmer
Trees
-By Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Bengali Translation
আমি মনে করি আমি কখনই দেখতে পাব না
গাছের মতো সুন্দর একটি কবিতা।
একটি গাছ যার ক্ষুধার্ত মুখ ফেটে যায়
পৃথিবীর মিষ্টি প্রবাহিত স্তনের বিরুদ্ধে;
যে গাছ সারাদিন ভগবানের দিকে তাকিয়ে থাকে,
এবং প্রার্থনা করার জন্য তার পাতাযুক্ত বাহু তুলে নেয়;
একটি গাছ যা গ্রীষ্মে পরতে পারে
তার চুলে রবিনের বাসা;
যার বুকে বরফ পড়েছে;
যে নিবিড়ভাবে থাকে বৃষ্টির সাথে।
কবিতা আমার মত বোকাদের তৈরি,
কিন্তু একমাত্র আল্লাহই পারে একটি গাছ তৈরি করতে।
(a)Answer the following questions:
a) What is lovelier to the poet- a poem or a tree?
b) What does a tree do by lifting leafy arms?
c) What is the summer wear of a tree?
(b)How many stanzas are there in the poem?
(c) Write the rhyming words in the following table.
(d) Write the theme or summary of the poem.
| see | ———— |
| ————— | prest |
| —————– | day |
| wear | ———— |
| lain | ————- |
| —————- | me |
Answer:
(a)According to the poet, a tree is lovelier than a poem.
(b) A tree looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray.
(c) A nest of robins is the summer wear of a tree.
(b) There are three (3) stanzas in the poem
(c)
| see | tree |
| Breast | prest |
| Pray | day |
| wear | Hair |
| lain | Rain |
| Tree | me |
(d) “Trees” is a poem by Joyce Kilmer written in 1913. By far Kilmer’s most popular work, the speaker insists that no poem can ever be as “lovely as a tree.” In other words, human art invariably fails to match the beauty and majesty of nature. This is because nature was created by God. The best poetry can do, it seems, is to acknowledge its own failure while praising the wonder of God’s creation.