Almond Trees Flashcards
(24 cards)
Q1: What does the opening line “There’s nothing here / this early; / cold sand / cold churning ocean, the Atlantic, / no visible history” suggest about the setting?
A: It presents the Caribbean beach as seemingly untouched and ahistorical, but the phrase “no visible history” hints that deeper historical meaning lies beneath the surface.
Q2: What do the “twisted, coppery, sea-almond trees” symbolise?
A: They symbolise resilience and endurance. Scarred by salt, sun, and wind, they represent the survival of Caribbean people and cultures despite historical hardship and colonial trauma.
Q3: How does Walcott use light and time to reveal history in the landscape?
A: As the sun rises and casts shadows, the landscape begins to reveal its form and meaning—showing how history becomes visible when we pay attention to how time shapes space and memory.
Q4: What is the significance of the phrase “no visible history” being repeated?
A: Its repetition highlights the illusion of historical emptiness. Initially, the beach appears untouched, but Walcott slowly reveals that history is embedded in both nature and the human presence.
Q5: What mythological reference does Walcott make when describing the sunbathing women?
A: He refers to “brown daphnes” and “Pompeian bikinis,” linking modern Caribbean bodies to classical myths of transformation, particularly the nymph Daphne who turned into a tree.
Q6: How are the almond trees and the women on the beach connected?
A: Both are undergoing metamorphosis through exposure to harsh elements—sun, fire, salt. The trees’ scorched trunks and the women’s sun-cured skin reflect endurance, transformation, and survival.
Q7: What does the line “stripped of their name, / for Greek or Roman tags, they were lashed” refer to?
A: It refers to colonial renaming and cultural erasure. Just like the Caribbean people, the trees were reclassified and renamed, losing their original identity under imperial rule.
Q8: What does the “broad dialect of their leaves” symbolise
A: It symbolises the continuing voice and identity of the colonised, a metaphor for cultural survival and the persistence of a native language or presence despite renaming and oppression.
Q9: How does the poem explore the theme of transformation?
A: Through the metaphor of the almond trees and sunbathing women, Walcott shows how bodies—natural and human—are changed, shaped, and scarred by their environment and history, yet remain strong.
Q10: What does the final image of the woman kneeling in the grove suggest?
A: It suggests recognition and acceptance of the past. Her act of kneeling connects her to the trees, to history, and to a deeper understanding of the transformation she shares with the land.
A: It suggests recognition and acceptance of the past. Her act of kneeling connects her to the trees, to history, and to a deeper understanding of the transformation she shares with the land.
A: Reflective, reverent, and rich in layered meaning. It moves from seeming simplicity to a deeper awareness of how nature and history intertwine.
Q12: What are the central themes of Almond Trees?
‘A: Survival, colonial history, transformation, identity, the legacy of naming and erasure, and the deep connection between the human body and the natural world.
Q13: What does the quote “twisted, coppery, sea-almond trees” suggest about the trees’ condition and symbolic role?
A: Their twisted and metallic appearance suggests they’ve been weathered and scarred by time and nature, symbolising the enduring, resilient Caribbean identity shaped by colonial trauma.
Q14: How does the line “no visible history” work as both description and irony
A: It first describes a seemingly untouched landscape, but as the poem unfolds, it becomes ironic—history is not absent, just hidden in the natural forms and human lives shaped by it.
Q15: What is the effect of describing the trees’ trunks as “writing trunks”
A: It personifies the trees as storytellers or recorders of history. Their bark, marked and singed, becomes a physical inscription of the past—nature bearing silent witness to human history.
Q16: Interpret “Pompeian bikinis” in the context of the poem.
A: This phrase links the modern sunbathers to the ancient world, evoking the image of bodies preserved in time and fire—suggesting the enduring, mythic quality of Caribbean transformation and endurance.
Q17: What is the significance of the line “they gained their brazen sheen from fire”?
A: It connects the trees’ beauty to suffering and exposure. Fire becomes a symbol of transformation, both destructive and purifying, reflecting how identity is forged through hardship.
Q18: What is suggested by “One sunburnt body now acknowledges / that past and its own metamorphosis”?
A: The body becomes aware of its place in history and transformation. It suggests an awakening to identity, legacy, and the enduring mark of both personal and collective experience.
Q19: How does Walcott link colonialism to language and naming in the poem?
A: He shows how native elements, like trees, were “stripped of their name” and replaced with classical “Greek or Roman tags.” This renaming echoes the broader erasure and rewriting of colonial subjects’ identities.
Q20: What does “broad dialect of their leaves” metaphorically express?
A: It evokes a kind of natural language—one that resists colonial suppression and continues to ‘speak’ through survival, symbolising native voices that persist beneath imposed identities.
Q21: How is myth used as a tool of connection in the poem?
A: Walcott uses mythological references—like Daphne, laurels, Pompeii—to link Caribbean history and bodies with classical transformation stories, elevating local experience to timeless, universal narrative.
Q22: Why might the trees be described as having “charred, ravaged holes” and showing “grief”?
A: These images reflect both physical damage and emotional resonance. The trees become figures of mourning and endurance—silent witnesses to violence, loss, and survival.
Q23: How is the theme of metamorphosis developed across natural and human imagery?
A: Both the trees and human figures are transformed by elemental exposure—sun, salt, time—highlighting survival as a kind of evolving identity shaped by continual change.
Q24: How does Walcott frame the relationship between the body and the landscape?
A: He portrays the human body as sharing the same processes as nature: sunburnt, cured, enduring. The physical self becomes part of the landscape’s historical and symbolic transformation.
