Here’s a detailed analysis of Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Sound of Trees’; it’s tailored towards students taking the CIE / Cambridge A-Level syllabus but will be useful for anyone who’s working on understanding the poem at any level.
Great for revision, missed lessons, boosting analytic...
I wonder about the trees.
Why do we wish to bear
Forever the noise of these
More than another noise
So close to our dwelling place?
We suffer them by the day
Till we lose all measure of pace,
And fixity in our joys,
And acquire a listening air.
They are that that talks of going
But never gets away;
And that talks no less for knowing,
As it grows wiser and older,
That now it means to stay.
My feet tug at the floor
And my head sways to my shoulder
Sometimes when I watch trees sway,
From the window or the door.
I shall set forth for somewhere,
I shall make the reckless choice
Some day when they are in voice
And tossing so as to scare
The white clouds over them on.
I shall have less to say,
But I shall be gone.
VOCABULARY
To bear - to carry or endure through something difficult
Dwelling place - living place / home
Pace - speed
Fixity - stability
, Acquire a listening air - to change behaviour into being a listener
Tug - pull
Set forth - start off a journey
Reckless - irresponsible and impulsive
STORY / SUMMARY
The speaker tells us that the trees make him think. Why are humans happy to put up
with the constant noise of trees, more than other noises, so close to their homes? We
put up with them all day until we have no sense of what joyful task we were doing,
and instead we just sit and listen to the noise of the trees. The trees talk of going
(leaving), but they never get away themselves. As they grow older, they also grow
wiser, and they keep talking - they also wish to stay in the same place once they
mature. The speaker then switches back to himself, he says that sometimes when he
watches the trees sway from the window or door of his house, his ‘feet tug at the
floor’ - he also becomes rooted to the spot. He sways like a tree, his head resting on
his shoulder, imitating their posture and movement. He says he will not stay put like
them: ‘I shall set forth somewhere’, he won’t stay confined in the comforts of his own
home but instead make ‘the reckless choice’ and travel or move to a different place.
One day when they are ‘in voice’ and tossing around, as if to scare the white clouds
above them to move on, he will have less to say than them, but at least he will be
gone.
SPEAKER / VOICE
The speaker has a curious nature, he seems torn between listening to the advice of
the trees - he interprets the noise they make as they are buffeted by the wind as
saying that he should remain fixed and grow strong in his home, his ‘dwelling place’.
At times he seems to listen to and accept the wisdom of the trees, imitating their
movement and feeling at peace in his home. However, he is also resistant at other
points in the poem - he uses the verbs ‘bear’ and ‘suffer’ to show that he is putting
up with their opinion, and that it is difficult or damaging to him to listen to their
advice, no matter how wise they may be. He definitively decides towards the end of
the poem to ‘set forth for somewhere’ - although the abstract noun ‘somewhere’
somewhat undermines his confident decision, as he doesn’t have a clear plan of
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