When Great Trees Fall Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs
Read the extracts and answer the following questions:
Question 1.
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
……………………..
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
a. What are the two animals mentioned in the poem?
b. What happens to these animals when great trees collapse or fall?
c. What are the other things that happen when great trees fall?
d. How does the poetess strike a comparison between nature and humans?
Answers:
a. The two animals mentioned in the poem are the lions and the elephants.
b. When great trees fall, the lions hunker down in the tall grasses and the elephants also lumber after safety or shelter.
c. When great trees fall or collapse the rocks of the distant hills also vibrate or shudder. The earth seems to shake with the fall of massive trees. The small animals also react to the falling of great enormous trees in the forest. They seem to recoil into silence. This means that they are not sure what they feel, for their senses are eroded beyond fear. This refers to the numbness of the soul that is followed by the loss of someone great.
d. The poetess opens the poem with the metaphor of the falling of great trees.In the literal sense it means that when great trees fall, the effect of it is felt for miles.Inanimate and immovable objects like rocks shudder.
Powerful animals like lions “hunker down in tall grasses”.Big animals like the elephants lumber after shelter”.Small animals recoil in silence. The falling of great trees is being compared to the loss of a person making it very symbolic. When a great soul departs,the effects are felt deep and far just like the need to hide away to safety.
Question 2.
When great souls
the air around us becomes
……………………
see with
A hurtful clarity.
a. What becomes light, rare and sterile? Why?
b. Describe the brief moments of “hurtful clarity” mentioned in the poem?
c. When and how do our souls shrink?
d. What does the speaker say of the healing of this loss?
Answers:
a. The air that we breathe becomes light ,rare and sterile.
The air becomes light, rare and sterile because when any great souls die or any loved ones die we can’t even breathe or the air becomes unfit for us to breathe.
b. The speaker describes the way in which those who are affected by loss have a brief moment of “hurtful clarity” in which they are able to see and understand, what a valuable soul has been lost. These moments serve as a reminder of the loss of a person.
c. The loss of our beloved soul has a great impact on our day to day life. The loss changes our reality because we were once dependent on the nurture and guidance of the lost person and due to the absence of the person, our souls also seem to shrink or we are left to feel small.
d. The loss that we have to face in the form of death of the person, who has a great influence in our lives, cannot be actually erased totally from our minds.
Somewhere in the background of our minds we feel the pain and the agony combined with grief but as time passes, our senses are restored, we slowly heal and recover when we think of their memories. This memory incites us to survive in our lives because we know that death is an inevitable part of our lives. The scar of pain, anguish and grief remains in our souls though they are healed up.
Question 3.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened
Examines,
Promised walks never taken.
a. Name the poem and the poet
b. What feeling does the poet explore in the lines of the above extract?
c. Explain the meaning of the above line.
d. What does the poetess say about the death of great souls just before the above extract?
Answers:
a. The name of the poem is “When Great Trees Fall.” It is written by Maya Angelou.
b. The poetess explores the feeling of regret as she highlights the “unexpressed feeling”in the heart.
c. With the loss of our beloved one,we become crestfallen and so our memories become sharpened and they are able to remember the moments that had been spent by us with the departed person. We have a feeling of regret as to why we haven’t spoken kind words to the person or we also remember of the walks that had once been promised to be taken with the departed person.
d. Just before the above extract,the poetess says that when he/she has lost an important and loved one, it becomes hard for him/her to breathe. The air seems to become light, rare and sterile and his/her eyes can see briefly or for a short moment with “hurtful clarity” what a precious person has departed from him/her that is one realizes the value of the great person who has departed. These moments serve a reminder of the loss of the person.
Question 4.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
with a kind of
Soothing electric vibration.
a. How do the empty spaces get filled?
b. How does the loss of a great soul affect people?
c. What do the lines of the above extract mean?
d. What does the speaker say about the restoration of senses just after this extract?
Answers:
a. The empty spaces get filled with a kind of soothing electrical vibration.
b. The loss of a great soul alters people’s senses such that they cannot be restored again in its original form.
c. The poetess through the lines of the above extract wants to say that when great people or loved ones die,slowly with time,we heal and recover the loss. After a period, peace blooms slowly and iiregularly.
This shows that though despair and anguish remain in the back of our minds, we recover and the feelings in between the healing is described as something “electric vibration”. In a sense, the pain still buzzes in the background yet the memory of the lost one is soothing and comforting.
d. The speaker says that our ‘senses’ are restored even if they are “never to be the same.” In the back of our mind, we hear the presence of the one lost. We can hear the whisper” they existed”. This gives us hope and thus we are able to heal, recover and live our lives as this gives us a new meaning or purpose in our lives. So even if there will be sadness, there is hope for healing in the middle of the great loss.
Question 5.
Our senses, restored, never
To be the same, whisper to us.
The existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.
a. What ‘whisper’ comes to us?
b. What theme does the speaker highlight in the above lines?
c. Explain the above lines.
d. Who is the poetess and when did she write this poem?
Answers:
a. We can hear the whisper coming to us saying “they existed”. Here ‘they’ is referred to the departed souls of the loved ones.
b. The poetes discusses or highlights the theme of hope in the above lines.
c. The above lines express the theme that life undergoes loss but still there is hope and recovery. The speaker says that because the great soul existed, we can do better. It even offers great hope to us who have experienced this loss.
Since on the back of our minds, we can remember and recollect the memories of the lost person, our senses are restored though never in the same way. But we know that they existed and so we can do better. If there is always pain and sadness, there is also hope of healing that brings joy and peace in the middle of this great loss.
d. The poetess of “When Great Trees Fall” is Maya Angelou. She wrote this poem in response to the death of her friend, James Baldwin who was a renowned writer and civil rights activist.
When Great Trees Fall Poem MCQs
Question 1.
The beginning line of the poem ‘When Great Trees Fall’ is ………….
a. an alliteration
b. a personification
c. an extended metaphor
d. a simile
Answer:
c. an extended metaphor
Question 2.
What does the falling of a tree symbolize?
a. the loss of the shelter of big animals
b. the loss of a great person
c. the loss of our minds
d. the loss of the senses of the small animals
Answer:
b. the loss of a great person
Question 3.
Find the word from the poem which means the same as’ lucidity’
a. lumber
b. strile
c. recoil
d. clarity
Answer:
d. clarity
Question 4.
And even elephants ……….. after safety. Fill in the gap.
a. hunker
b. shudder
c. lumber
d. recoil
Answer:
c. lumber
Question 5.
How many types of animals are mentioned in the poem?
a. two
b. one
c. three
d. four
Answer:
a. two
Question 6.
The air around us becomes…………
Fill in the blanks from the poem.
a. light, clear, sterile
b. light, rare, sterile
c. heavy, rare, clear
d. light, rare, clear
Answer:
b. light, rare, sterile
Question 7.
Where do the lions hunker down when great trees fall?
a. in the bushes
b. behind the trees
c. in tall grasses
d. in the caves
Answer:
c. in tall grasses
Question 8.
Small things recoil into silence because …………
a. their senses are eroded away
b. their fears are eroded away
c. their shelter is eroded away
d. none of the above
Answer:
a. their senses are eroded away
Question 9.
What does the elephants do when great trees fall?
a. they hide in the tall grasses
b. they shudder into fear
c. they recoil into silence
d. they lumber for safety
Answer:
d. they lumber for safety
Question 10.
In the poem the adjective used for ‘ignorance’ is similar to the word …………
a. undaunted
b. inexperienced
c. unspeakable
d. untaught
Answer:
c. unspeakable
Question 11.
What are the two adjectives used to describe the word “vibration” in the poem?
a. soothing, electric
b. soothing, magnetic
c. relieving, comforting
d. none of the above
Answer:
a. soothing, electric
Question 12.
What happens to the small creatures when great trees fall? They
a. shudder
b. recoil
c. lumber
d. hunker down
Answer:
b. recoil