By Anisha Mondal
PGT English, AGPN Convent and ER School, Purulia
M.A. in English, Sidho Kanho Birsha University (2019–2021)
B.Ed., Sponsored Teachers’ Training College, Purulia (2021–2023)
Email: anishadgp98@gmail.com
Phone/WhatsApp: +91 8906358668
Abstract
This paper explores the ecological consciousness rooted in Adrienne Rich’s poem The Trees, through the lenses of ecocriticism and ecofeminism. Rich’s poetic narrative reveals the silent rebellion of nature against anthropocentric oppression. By drawing from environmental criticism and connecting it with literary works by Arundhati Roy, Rachel Carson, Leslie Norris, and William Blake, the paper reflects on the metaphorical emancipation of the natural world as a symbol of the marginalised.
Introduction
Unlike traditional literary theories, ecocriticism investigates the interaction between literature and the natural environment. It critiques how human development subdues nature, while also highlighting nature’s growing resistance. Adrienne Rich, a poet known for giving voice to the oppressed, integrates these tensions within her poem The Trees. Subtle, layered motifs reveal how the natural world, long confined, begins to assert its autonomy.
Ecocriticism and Environmental Rebellion
Greg Garrard, in Ecocriticism (2004), states:
“Ecocriticism explores the ways in which we imagine and portray the relationship between humans and the environment in all areas of cultural production.”
Nature has often been rendered voiceless. In the rush for unsustainable development, human beings marginalise the natural world under the pretext of survival. In The Cost of Living, Arundhati Roy writes:
“Big dams are to a nation’s ‘development’ what nuclear bombs are to its military arsenal. They’re both weapons of mass destruction.”
This stark metaphor captures how acts of “development” can be ecologically catastrophic.
Nature’s Revolt in “The Trees”
In Rich’s The Trees, trees confined indoors symbolise nature stripped of its identity. Their silent struggle for freedom becomes a metaphor for rebellion:
“All night the roots work
to disengage themselves from the cracks
in the veranda floor.”
(Stanza 2, The Trees)
The trees are no longer passive victims. They are active agents of liberation, reclaiming their place beyond human boundaries.
Rachel Carson in Silent Spring (1962) profoundly noted:
“In nature nothing exists alone.”
This interdependence underscores the ecological and existential necessity of allowing nature its freedom.
Voices from Other Texts
Rich’s thematic resistance echoes in Leslie Norris’s A Tiger in the Zoo:
“He hears the last voice at night,
The patrolling cars,
And stares with his brilliant eyes
At the brilliant stars.”
Even the tiger, a symbol of primal power, is reduced to a shadow of itself in confinement—much like the trees.
William Blake’s The Tyger contrasts this with its revolutionary spirit of awe:
“Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”
Here, nature remains untamed, magnificent, and free—an ideal Rich seems to aspire toward through the rebellious trees.
Indifference and Guilt in the Human Voice
The speaker in The Trees reflects a quiet indifference:
“I sit inside, doors open to the veranda
writing long letters
in which I scarcely mention the departure
of the forest from the house.”
Yet beneath this detachment lies a flicker of guilt—an awareness that the next morning will not feel the same. The departure of the trees marks not only a loss of green but a rupture in human conscience.
The Subaltern Perspective in Ecocriticism
The subaltern theory within ecocriticism connects ecological degradation with the plight of marginalised groups. Rich, through her imagery, equates the trees’ rebellion with that of every silenced, oppressed entity striving to break free from imposed constraints.
In The Trees, this revolution is not merely botanical—it is societal, symbolic, and deeply human. The poem thus becomes a metaphor for reclaiming lost identities, and restoring the harmony of existence.
Conclusion
Adrienne Rich’s The Trees transcends its surface narrative to become a voice of resistance—for nature and for the subjugated. Through the symbolism of roots disengaging, trees marching, and verandas abandoned, she sketches a vision of ecological and existential renewal. The revolution, thus, begins not with the fall of governments but with the whisper of leaves and the cracking of concrete.
Works Cited
-
Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism. Routledge, 2004.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203644843 -
Roy, Arundhati. The Cost of Living. Flamingo, 1999.
http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA47226157 -
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring (1962). Yale University Press, 2017.
https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300188479-019 -
Rich, Adrienne. The Trees. In Diving Into the Wreck: Poems 1971–1972, W. W. Norton & Company, 1973.
-
Norris, Leslie. A Tiger in the Zoo. In Collected Poems, 1960.
-
Blake, William. The Tyger. In Songs of Experience, 1794.