Class XI English

Hornbill
The Laburnum Top
Notes

INTRODUCTION
The poem ‘The Laburnum Top’ is written by Ted Hughes. The poem revolves around the laburnum tree
and the goldfinch bird. It presents the sweet and repaying relationship between the tree and the bird. The
leaves on the laburnum tree top have started turning yellow and the tree stands quiet and still in the
afternoon of September during the autumn season. However, it comes to life as soon as the goldfinch
arrives and perches on it to feed her young ones. As soon as she leaves, the tree becomes elusively silent
again.
THEME
• The poem presents the mutual reciprocating relationship between the laburnum tree and the
goldfinch bird. The laburnum tree gives shelter to the bird and its young ones and the bird, in
turn, takes away its dead silence. Thus the poet wants to tell the readers the importance of
interdependence and having cordial relationships in life.
• Rejuvenation of nature and the celebration of energy is another theme of the poem. The
laburnum tree is silent until the goldfinch comes and enlivens the tree with its activities. There
are all sorts of sounds and movements on the tree. Soon she shoots away into the sky plunging
the tree into surging silence.
• The poet also wants to convey to the readers that life is a process of change and transformation.

SYNOPSIS
• The poem begins with the description of the laburnum top which is still and silent on a
September afternoon.
• Due to the autumn season, the leaves have started turning yellow and the seeds have fallen on the
ground.
• The seemingly lifeless tree becomes alive on the arrival of the goldfinch.
• The goldfinch perches on the end of the branch with a chirping sound, thereby breaking the
silence of the tree.
• She enters the thickness of the tree and makes her way to the nest with a swift, abrupt and alert
movement of a lizard.
• A machine of chitterings starts up.
• The young ones start chirping and flapping their wings and the tree is filled up with a series of
short, high pitched, twittering sounds.
• Thus, the quiet and still tree becomes alive and begins to tremble and shake as if it is excited and
thrilled.
 • After feeding her young ones, the goldfinch flies to the end of the branch.
• Her striped face with yellow body helps her to camouflage and she is only partly visible.
• She comes out of the branch end and flies away to the sky.
• The laburnum tree becomes calm and quiet again.

EXPLANATION

Stanza 1

The Laburnum top is silent, quite still

In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.
In the above lines, the poet says that he saw a laburnum tree, the top of which was still and silent in
broad daylight of September month. It was autumn season so the leaves had turned yellow and the seeds
had fallen.
The poet has predominantly used yellow colour in the above lines. ‘Yellow’ symbolizes silence,
desolation, death, and decay.
Stanza 2
Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup
A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.
Then sleek as a lizard, and alert, and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Of chitterlings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings —
The whole tree trembles and thrills.
With the arrival of the goldfinch, there is a sudden movement on the tree. The goldfinch makes a sudden
chirruping sound sitting on the branch end and its movement is swift and rapid as she is sleek,
precautious and swift like a lizard. Then she moves towards the thickness of the branch, making her way
into the nest. Her young ones start chirruping and shaking with excitement, flapping their wings and
making a series of high-pitched sounds which can be compared to the starting of a machine when its
engine is ignited. Due to the movement of the bird and her young ones, the tree also comes to life as it
suddenly begins to shake, as if in excitement.
The poet has given two contrasting descriptions of the tree. At first, the laburnum top was motionless,
silent and still before the arrival of the goldfinch and then it suddenly sprung into life due to the shaking
movement and sounds caused by the action of the goldfinch.
……..It is the engine of her family.
She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask
The goldfinch is called the engine of her family. Just as an engine is required to start up a machine, the
bird’s young ones also need her support. She provides food to her young ones and makes them active
and full of energy before moving out briskly to the branch- end. Her striped face is her identity mask as
the bars on her face serve as mask for her identity. The barred pattern on her face helps her to hide
behind the yellow leaves of the tree.
Stanza 3
Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings
She launches away, towards the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty.
After reaching the end of the branch, the goldfinch makes a sweet and gentle chirruping sound like that
of some mysterious whispering and flies away towards the limitless sky. After she is gone, the laburnum
tree becomes still and silent again just like it was before the arrival of the goldfinch.

VOCABULARY
Laburnum - a short tree with hanging branches, yellow flowers, and poisonous seeds
Goldfinch - a small singing birds with yellow feathers on its wings
Twitching - sudden movement or jerk
Chirrup - repeated high pitched sound made by a bird
Startlement - feeling or showing sudden shock
Sleek- smooth or quick movement without interruption
Abrupt - rapid, suddenness
Chitterings - a series of short, high sounds
Tremor - a slight, shaking movement
Trillings - a series of quick, repeated high notes
Trembles - shakes
Thrills - a sudden feeling of excitement
Flirts out - moves briskly and abruptly
Stokes - to provide fuel to the engine
Barred – striped
Eerie - strange in a frightening or mysterious way
Infinite – limitless
Whistle chirrup - gentle whisper like the chirping of the bird
Subsides - diminishes or reduces in intensity

Literary Devices
• Alliteration - repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of two or more consecutive words.
Examples:
‘Silent, quite still’
‘September sunlight’
‘tree trembles’
‘whistle-chirrup whisperings’
• Simile – comparison between two things using ‘like’ or ‘as’.
Example: “sleek as a lizard”
• Metaphor – an indirect or implied comparison between two things.
Examples:
 “It is the engine of her family”; “a machine starts up” ; “showing her barred face identity mask”
• Personification – the attribution of human traits to something non-human.
Example: “The whole tree trembles and thrills”
• Onomatopoeia_ In this figure of speech, a word is formed from a sound similar to it.
Examples: ‘chirrup’; ‘chitterings’; ‘trillings’; ‘whistle-chirrup’ and ‘whisperings’

SOLVED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

Q1. What do you notice about the beginning and the ending of the poem?

Ans. The poem begins on a very melancholic note. The laburnum is described as standing silent and
still. There is no sign of movement. The leaves of the tree have started turning yellow and the seeds
have already fallen. It indicates the season of autumn. At the end of the poem, the laburnum is left silent
once again. This time the silence brings in a note of emptiness in the poem after all the commotion that
the goldfinch has caused. When she leaves the tree, ‘the laburnum subsides to empty’ and becomes still
and silent again.

Q2. To what is the bird’s movement compared? What is the basis for the comparison?

Ans. The poet has made use of the poetic device of simile in comparing the movement of the goldfinch
to that of a lizard. A lizard moves in a sleek and smooth manner, reflecting a lot of dexterity, alertness
and quickness in its movement. The movement of the goldfinch into the thickness of the tree is ‘sleek’,
‘alert’ and ‘abrupt’, which is quite similar to the movement of a lizard.

Q3. Why is the image of the engine evoked by the poet?

Ans. An engine refers to the driving force that brings a machine into action. The poet evokes the image
of a machine starting up when the goldfinch arrives. The poet makes the comparison of the goldfinch
with an engine as she is the source of energy for her young ones. The sudden noise and movement of the
young ones are like the starting of a machine. Just as an engine is required to start up a machine, the
bird’s young ones also need her support. The stoking of the engine is actually the act of feeding the
young ones, thereby imparting energy and life into them.

Q4. What is the significance of yellow colour in the poem?

Ans. It is important to note that yellow colour is predominantly used by the poet in the setting of the poem.
The description of yellow leaves, yellow sunlight and even the goldfinch which has yellow feathers is
remarkable. The yellow colour used in the poem not only creates a visual impact but also signifies silence,
desolation and decay.

Q5. What happened when the goldfinch came to the laburnum tree?
Ans. The arrival of the goldfinch brought about a sudden change in the tree. The tree which was quiet
and still suddenly became full of life with the arrival of the goldfinch. The young ones started twittering
and there was a lot of noise, commotion and movement on the tree. The whole tree trembled and
thrilled.

Q6. Why has the poem been named ‘The Laburnum Top’?

Ans. The poem has been named ‘The Laburnum Top’ because the top of the tree has been described in
detail by the poet. All the activity in the poem takes place around the tree top. The leaves of the
laburnum top have turned yellow due to the autumn season. Its seeds have fallen and there is a silence
prevailing over the tree. There is no movement at all on the laburnum top before the arrival of the
goldfinch. It is here that the goldfinch has made her nest and causes a commotion when she comes to
feed her young ones.

Q7. Give a brief account of the sounds and movements of the goldfinch on the laburnum top.

Ans. The goldfinch chirps and suddenly settles on the end of a branch on the top of the laburnum tree.
Then quite suddenly and watchfully she enters the middle part of the tree. She moves smoothly like a
lizard. Then the tree is filled up with a series of short, quick high pitched twittering sounds and flapping
of wings. The whole tree shakes slightly and is excited. It seems as if a machine has started working in
the thickness of the tree which houses the family of goldfinch. She stokes the engine of her family
before leaving the tree and flying off to the infinite. The laburnum top regains its silence and stillness
after the goldfinch has flown away.

Q8. How does the laburnum tree play a central role in the poem ‘The Laburnum Top’?

Ans. The laburnum tree is very important in the poem as the entire action in the poem revolves around
the tree itself. It is like the pivot on which the lives of the birds oscillate. The tree is the confluence
where both the beginning and ending get mingled with each other. At the very beginning of the poem,
the poet describes the laburnum tree top, the seeds of which have fallen and its leaves have turned
yellow. In the afternoon of September, the tree top remains silent until a goldfinch appears. With the
arrival of the goldfinch, there is a sudden, strong tremor in the tree; noises of twitching of wings and
chirping of the young ones. The bird is the stimulus which has led the entire tree to tremble. After
feeding its young ones, the goldfinch launches itself again towards the sky in its own mysterious way
and the laburnum is reduced to silence and emptiness again. Thus the laburnum tree plays a central role
in the poem ‘The Laburnum Top’.