'Our Casuarina Tree' by Toru Dutt

Our Casuarina Tree

By Toru Dutt

​Tarulatta Datta, popularly known as Toru Dutt ( 4 March 1856 – 30 August 1877) was an Indian Bengali poet and translator from British India, who wrote in English and French.
She was the first Indian woman writer in English and the first Indian writer in French.
Published works: A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields, Saptahik Sambad Press, Bhowanipore, 1876, Bianca, or the Spanish Maiden, serialized in Bengal Magazine from January to April 1878 (posthumous; unfinished)

, Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’Arvers, Didier, Paris, 1879 (posthumous)

, Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan, 1882 (posthumous)

​Toru Dutt

Multiple Choice

How many lines are there in the poem 'Our Casuarina Tree'?

• 40

• 45

• 50

• 55

Our Casuarina Tree (1882)

​Taken from the collection 'Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan' (1882)

• autobiographical poem

• contains 5 stanzas and 55 lines with the rhyme scheme ABBA CDDC EEE

• 11 lines in each stanza - first 8 lines form an OCTAVE (8 LINES) OR 2 QUATRAINS (4 lines each) following the style of a sonnet

Multiple Choice

'Our Casuarina Tree' has been taken from

• Bianca, or the Spanish Maiden

• Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan

• Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’Arvers

• A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields

Multiple Choice

'Our Casuarina Tree' was published in

• 1875

• 1876

• 1880

• 1882

Casuarina

• Casuarinas are a genus of evergreen trees and shrubs, also known as She-oak, Australian Pine and native Pine, characterized by their unique, feathery, fern-like branches. They are native to Australia and Southeast Asia but have been introduced to other regions, including India, for various purposes.

• It is native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and eastern Africa

• ​It was introduced in India around the 19th century.
  

• ​The setting of the poem is the poet's childhood home in India.

• The casuarina tree, which stands in the garden of this home, is the central focus of the poem.
  
  

​Setting of the poem:

​Our Casuarina Tree

​Stanza 1

​
LIKE a huge Python, winding round and round  
 The rugged trunk, indented deep with scars,  
 Up to its very summit near the stars,  
A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound  
 No other tree could live. But gallantly        
The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung  
In crimson clusters all the boughs among,  
 Whereon all day are gathered bird and bee;  
And oft at nights the garden overflows  
With one sweet song that seems to have no close,
Sung darkling from our tree, while men repose.  

​A
B
B
A
C
D
D
C
E
E
E

​Poetic Devices: Simile (l.1), enjambment/ run-on lines, hyperbole (l.3), personification (l. 4), metaphor (l.6), alliteration (l.10)



Python: a large non-venomous snake
Winding: spiral. not straight
Rugged: rough/ uneven
Trunk: stem
Indented: formed notches
Summit: highest point
Creeper: a plant that grows along the ground/ another plant
Embraces: hugs, holds closely
Gallantly: bravely
Scarf: muffler, stole, a cloth worn around the neck
Crimson: deep red
Clusters: bunches
Boughs: branches
Oft: often
Darkling: a creature that lives in the dark
Repose: rest

​Stanza 2

​When first my casement is wide open thrown  
 At dawn, my eyes delighted on it rest;  
 Sometimes, and most in winter,—on its crest  
A gray baboon sits statue-like alone        
 Watching the sunrise; while on lower boughs  
His puny offspring leap about and play;  
And far and near kokilas hail the day;  
 And to their pastures wend our sleepy cows;  
And in the shadow, on the broad tank cast          
By that hoar tree, so beautiful and vast,  
The water-lilies spring, like snow enmassed.  

​Poetic Devices: Tree as a symbol of life, Simile (l.22),


Casement: window (that opens like a door because of the presence of vertical hinge)
Dawn: daybreak
Delighted: pleased
Crest: highest point of a hill
Baboon: large monkey with a dog-like face
Puny: small/ tiny
Offspring: child or children of a particular
animal
Leap: jump
Kokiilas: cuckoos
Hail: greet
Pastures: land covered with grass
Wend: go or proceed in a particular direction
Tank: pool of water
Hoar tree: tree that his grey or white with age
Spring: germinate
Enmassed: gathered

​Stanza 3

​But not because of its magnificence  
 Dear is the Casuarina to my soul:  
 Beneath it we have played; though years may roll,  O sweet companions, loved with love intense,  
 For your sakes, shall the tree be ever dear.  
Blent with your images, it shall arise  
In memory, till the hot tears blind mine eyes!  
What is that dirge-like murmur that I hear        
Like the sea breaking on a shingle-beach?  
It is the tree’s lament, an eerie speech,  
That haply to the unknown land may reach.  

​Poetic Devices: Casuarina symbolising memory, hyperbole (l. 26), Keatsian sensuousness (ll 29-30), simile (l. 31), personification (l. 32)


Magnificence: great beauty or grandeur
Sakes: for the interest of
Blent: blended/ mixed
Dirge: mournful sound, lament
Murmur: a low continuous noise
Shingle-beach: beast covered with gravel
Lament: expression of sorrow
Eerie: strange, uncanny
Haply: perhaps

​Stanza 4

​Unknown, yet well-known to the eye of faith!  
 Ah, I have heard that wail far, far away        
 In distant lands, by many a sheltered bay,  
When slumbered in his cave the water-wraith  
 And the waves gently kissed the classic shore  
Of France or Italy, beneath the moon,  
When earth lay trancèd in a dreamless swoon:      
 And every time the music rose,—before  
Mine inner vision rose a form sublime,  
Thy form, O Tree, as in my happy prime  
I saw thee, in my own loved native clime.  

​Poetic Devices: Paradox (l. 34), Allusion (l.38)


Wail: long, high-pitched cry
Slumbered: slept, rested
Water-wraith: water-spirit
Classic: considered to be of highest quality/ outstanding for a long time, typical
Shore: edge of a body of water
Lay: remained, set
trancèd: (with diacritic denoting French connection?) hypnotised
Swoon: faint, lose consciousness
Thy: your
Thee: you
Native clime: familiar environment/climate

​Stanza 5

​Therefore I fain would consecrate a lay        
 Unto thy honor, Tree, beloved of those  
 Who now in blessed sleep for aye repose,—  
Dearer than life to me, alas, were they!  
 Mayst thou be numbered when my days are done  
With deathless trees—like those in Borrowdale,        
Under whose awful branches lingered pale  
 “Fear, trembling Hope, and Death, the skeleton,  
And Time the shadow;” and though weak the verse  
That would thy beauty fain, oh, fain rehearse,  
May Love defend thee from Oblivion’s curse.

​Poetic devices: hyperbole (l.48), personification (ll. 52-53), metaphor (l.55)



Fain: gladly, willingly
Consecrate: dedicate formally to a divine or religious purpose
Lay: a poem (archaic)
Aye: yes/ affirmatively
Alas: interjection expressing grief
Mayst: may/ might (archaic)
Thou: you
Deathless trees: trees immortalised by poetry
Borrowdale: A valley in England
Lingered: stayed for a long time
Trembling: shaking, quivering
Time the shadow: inevitable presence of time
Verse: lines of poetry
Rehearse: practice or repeat
Defend: protect
Oblivion's curse: The state of being forgotten or ignored

​A reader's comment:

Foreveryoung - when i was younger me and my dad would have picnics under this beautiful willow tree  thanks for taking me back






Source: https://allpoetry.com/our-casuarina-Tree

Multiple Choice

Who is the speaker in the poem?

• A gardener tending the casuarina tree

• A bird singing in the branches of the tree

• A person reminiscing about childhood memories under the tree

• A traveller admiring the beauty of the tree

Multiple Choice

What feeling(s) does the speaker associate with the casuarina tree?

• Fear and danger

• Indifference and boredom

• Comfort, security and happy memories

• Loneliness and isolation

Multiple Choice

What is the tone of the poem 'Our Casuarina Tree'?

• Angry and resentful

• Sarcastic and mocking

• Bittersweet and nostalgic

• Playful and lighthearted

Multiple Choice

Where is the tree located?

• in a forest by the poet's childhood home

• by a river

• in the garden of the poet's childhood home

• by the sea-shore

Multiple Choice

The poet's attitude towards tree is

• indifferent

• affectionate

• fearful

• angry

Multiple Choice

The creeper climbs upto

• lower branches

• the top of the tree

• mid-branches

• the branches full of crimson flowers

Multiple Choice

The poet looks at the tree through her casement

• at dawn

• in the morning

• in the afternoon

• at dusk

Multiple Choice

The baboon is seen mostly in

• summer

• autumn

• winter

• spring

Multiple Choice

The figure of speech employed in the line "What is that dirge-like murmur that I hear" is

• personification

• hyperbole

• simile

• metaphor

Multiple Choice

The poetic device employed in the line "And the waves gently kissed the classic shore " is

• personification

• hyperbole

• simile

• alliterat

Multiple Choice

The poetic device employed in the line "With one sweet song that seems to have no close" is

• personification

• alliteration

• simile

• paradox