The Trees Are Down

Question 1

The Trees Are Down

Answer 1

Charlotte Mew

Question 2

Genre

Answer 2

The poem begins with an epigraph from the Book of Revelation. This announces the natural, ecological focus of the poem. It is a lyrical elegy, mourning the passing of the trees, as well as narrative in its recounting of the events

Question 3

Form

Answer 3

The form is very loose and sometimes there is a prose-like informality
However there are distinctive, jaunty rhythms in much of the poem, possibly of a child-like nature
There is a chopping of line lengths as the poem progresses and these are clearly linked to the fate of the trees

Question 4

“Great plane trees”

Answer 4

‘Great’ conveys their size and confirms their age, mirrored in the assonance which picks out the phrase ‘great plane’, the monosyllabic words slows the pace of the line down, as if reflecting the stateliness of the trees and the enormity of the action of cutting them down

Question 5

“They are cutting”

Answer 5

The speaker uses the third person pronoun to separate herself from the men cutting down the trees
Very accusatory tone

Question 6

“The grate of the saw, the swish of the branches”

Answer 6

‘grates’ and ‘swish’ contrast
Very hard sounds, emphasis on hard consonants, whereas the onomatopoeic swish of the branches still lively as they fall and elegant and soft

Question 7

“Rustle of trodden leaves”

Answer 7

Clumsy and uncaring actions, lack of care conveyed through the dental consonants (t) (d)
This is furthered by the “‘whoops’ and ‘whoas’”

Question 8

“Loud common laughs”

Answer 8

Vulgar childlike snobbery of the speaker

Question 9

grammar of stanza 1

Answer 9

Activities between line 2 & 6 form a single sentence built of repeated asyndetic clauses, which suggests a flurry of actions

Question 10

“I remember one evening, of a long past Spring”

Answer 10

Timeframe shifts as the speaker moves now to recall a memory. The recollections begins in a pleasantly pastoral-seeming tone

Question 11

“A large Dead rat in the mud of the drive”

Answer 11

Turning point in the poem, this is emphasised by the monosyllabic nature of the line, slowing it down to highlight its importance, while the dental consonants highlight the harsh nature of the image

Question 12

“But at least in May, that even a rat should be alive”

Answer 12

Sense that life force of spring/ renewal shouldn’t be denied to anyone one, not even a rat

Question 13

“Fine grey rain”

Answer 13

Suggests the idea of a sombre/ elegiac novel, perhaps a pathetic fallacy with ‘fine grey rain’ as a symbol of tears (lachrymal imagery) mourning the destruction of the tree

Question 14

“But for” “If” “Did once” “For a moment” “Unmake” “I might”

Answer 14

Series of tentative expression; also fragmentation of the verse sentence into short lines, suggest the speaker is either struggling with powerful emotions or else the frequent pauses emphasise the tentative tone

Question 15

“It is not for a moment the Spring is unmade to-day”

Answer 15

Develops the ideas in the previous stanza although the sense of loss is much greater and not simply “for a moment”

Question 16

“Whole of the whispering loveliness”

Answer 16

The “Wh” sounds are very soft and comforting

With sibilance and labials

Question 17

Stanza 4

Answer 17

The list/ string of images of how the trees have coexisted and sheltered the speaker from literal and metaphorical storms; once they’ve been cut down, she is vulnerable and exposed to these ‘great gales’ blowing in form the ‘great seas’ - (popular 19th century image representing loss)

Question 18

Symbolism of the Trees

Answer 18

The trees and their loss may also reflect the personal tragedies experienced by Mew, the trees could represent the speaker’s religious faith, close to her and sheltering her, once lost she is exposed to the gales and great seas, which suggests the idea of great unsympathetic crowds of others and their opinions.