THE LABURNUM TOP -- TED HUGHES

 The poet is trying to convey the message that life is a process of exchange and transformation. People are alive because they undergo exchange of energy. The laburnum top symbolizes the pattern of our life in general, which is dull and inanimate. The goldfinch breaks her usual pattern and make it lively. The goldfinch transforms the tree and make it alive, without the goldfinch and the chicks the laburnum is just another tree.

The Laburnum Top

The laburnum top is silent, quite still

In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,

A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.

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 chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings--

The whole tree trembles and thrills.

It is the engine of her family.

She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end

Showing her barred face identity mask

Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings

She launches away, towards the infinite

And the laburnum subsides to empty.

Stanza 1 (Lines 1-3)

It is the afternoon of a day in September. The sun is shining brightly. The poet sees a laburnum tree bathed in the yellow sunlight. The top of the tree is all silent. It is quite still. A few of the laburnum leaves are turning yellow. All its seeds have fallen to the ground. The poet here draws a lovely picture of a laburnum tree as it appears on an autumn afternoon. The poet uses 'yellow' to describe both, the leaves' colour and the sunlight. Over here, yellow represents silence, death and beauty. Thus, he uses this colour and describes the whole setting perfectly.

Stanza 2 (Lines 4-12)

The tree lies in silent state till a goldfinch comes there with a twitching chirrup. She suddenly and startingly perches at the end of a branch. Then very swiftly, abruptly and alertly, like a lizard, she enters the thickness of the tree. At once, the whole of her brood starts chittering. There is tremor of wings, trillings of the neslings. The whole tree comes to life and starts trembling with a thrill of pleasure. It is the young ones in the goldfinch's family who had woken up the tree alive. The mother feeds the chicks fully. Then she comes out to the end of a branch. Her face is partially covered with the stringed clusters of laburnum flowers hanging from the branches. This serves as her identity mask as she has become a part of the laburnum tree.

Stanza 3 (Lines 13-15)

After feeding the nestlings, the goldfinch comes out of the tree and flies away into the infinite sky. It makes sad, delicate, whistling chirps as it flies away. The laburnum once again comes to its previous state all silent and still. It seems as if it has become empty. 

In conclusion we can say that both the tree and the bird play an important role of nurturing in each other's life. In other words, it is the attitude of a person towards life that makes life meaningful and worth living.

Poetic Devices

1. Simile: Where one thing is compared to another by using the words 'like' or 'as'.

for e.g. 'Sleek as a lizard'.

2. Metaphor: Where a word/phrase represents something else.

for e.g. 'engine of her family'

Here engine represents the mother goldfinch, and machine represents the nest with its brood of bird chicks.

3. Alliteration: Where a number of words having the same first consonant sound occur close together in a series.

for e.g. 'September sunlight', 'A suddenness, a startlement' and 'tree trembles and thrills'

4. Assonance: Where a number of words having the same first vowel sound occur close together in a series.

for e.g. 'and alert and abrupt'.

5. Onomatopoeia: Where a word is formed from a sound similar to it.

for e.g. 'twitching chirrup', 'chitterings', 'trillings', 'whistle-chirrup'.

6. Transferred Epithet: Where a word is transferred from its place.

for e.g. 'her barred face identity mask'.

Symbolism: The bird 'Goldfinch' may stand for the soul and the 'tree' for the body. It is the entry of the soul in the body that brings the body to movement and when the soul departs, again there is lifelessness.

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse

Even a Hardened Heart cannot resist Love

Once a rod was to be broken in two pieces. The Hammer was proud of its strength and said "With just a blow I'll break it into two". With that it raised its head and mercilessly fell upon the rod. But to its utter surprise, his head was hurled back, whereas there was hardly any change in the rod. It was the time for the Saw, who was also boastful of its relentless teeth. It said, "Ha! My gnashing teeth will cut the rod into two". With that its teeth went to and fro relentlessly. Soon, its teeth were worn out and being toothless it moved away glumly.

Then came forward the meek looking candle and said "Let me try". Both the Hammer and the Saw laughed at her minute demeanor. They were sure that where they have failed, this meek candle would fail utterly. But the candle bent on trying. She embraced the rod with her tiny flame and started giving her warmth. Slowly, the rod started melting and was separated into two parts.

Hence it is said that however hardened heart one may have, can't resist love.

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse

Everyone of us, at some time or the other, fall prey to the evil side of our conscience and commit mistakes which could have serious repercussions on our future. We don't mend our ways until some amicable heart pricks our conscience and make us realize the mistake we were about to commit. 

The story 'The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse' deals with the theme of change of heart after being conscience-stricken. The chapter also deals with the child's perspective of stealing for fun as distinct from stealing for the purpose of making money.

The story is about two Armenian boys who belong to a tribe whose hallmarks were trust and honesty.

The story is narrated by a 9 yrs old Aram Garoghlanian, a member of an Armenian community living among the lush fruit orchards and vineyards of California.

Characters:-

    Mourad:- 13 Yrs old Armenian boy

    Aram:- 9 Yrs old Armenian boy

    Uncle Khosrove:-  Armenian, considered crazy by everyone

    John Byro:- An Assyrian farmer, owns the white horse

Summary:-

• Mourad's appearance at Aram's window with a beautiful white horse
• Aram couldn't believe what he saw as they belonged to a tribe which was leaving on the edge of town and were poverty stricken.
• According to Aram, "We never get enough money to keep us with food in our bellies."
• Moreover, the Garoghlanian family was proud first, honest next and believe in what was right and wrong.
• So, to believe that Mourad has stolen the horse was also hard to believe.
• Horse has a fascination for Aram when he says, "So magnificent...... so lovely... so exciting."
• Aram thinks stealing a horse for a ride is not same as stealing money.
• Aram leaps behind Mourad and they start to ride.
• Mourad starts roaring (singing loudly).
• Mourad is considered as a crazy member of the family, the natural descendant of Uncle Khosrove.
• Uncle KHosrove - furious in temper, irritable and impatient.
• Mourad is a fantastic rider as he can tame the wild running horse as he has a way with the horses.
• Aram wants to ride alone. But when he was riding, he was thrown away by the horse.
• After their early morning ride, they hid the horse in a deserted barn.
• Suddenly Aram realizes that Mourad has been keeping the horse for couple of weeks. As John Byro, as Assyrian farmer came searching for his lost horse.
• Uncle Khosrove gets irritated and roars "It's no harm, pay no attention to it."
• Aram rushes to Mourad to tell about the farmer and insists that they keep the horse till he learnt to ride.
• Mourad was tending a hurt wing of a robin. He says that they need to return the horse as this would bring the shame to the fame of the family.
• They were enjoying these early morning rides when one morning they ran into John Byro.
• John Byro inspects the horse and says that the horse is the twin of his horse.
• Next day, Mourad and Aram return the horse to John Byro's barn. There were dogs, but Mourad has a way with the dogs too.
• John Byro came in his surrey to tell that the horse has been returned and is well tempered too.
• Uncle Khosrove becomes too irritated and leaves.

TWO CONFLICTS IN THE STORY

One is between the boys and the farmer about the stolen horse which is resolved when the boys returned the horse.

Other is between John Byro and Uncle Khosrove about the different attitude towards life. This conflict can never be resolved.

JOHN BYRO - A CLEVER MAN

When he runs into two boys with a horse, he does not point out the horse is stolen from himself weeks ago even though he can swear that "Yet the horse is the twin of my horse." It is very surprising to us because there is a good chance for John Byro directly take his horse. But Byro respects the fame of the boys' family and does not dare to confront the fact.

UNCLE KHOSROVE

By using Uncle Khosrove's verbal ironies, the author wants us to pay attention to different values like: patriotism, identity or solidarity. He makes the point that the appreciation of life is more valuable than to prize the material things.

QUESTIONS:

1. "I could not believe what I saw", says the narrator. What was so unbelievable? Why?

2. Justify the statement "Mourad showed special concern for animals."

3. Discuss the significance of John Byro.

4. What makes the story interesting?

5. What message is conveyed through the story?

6. Did the boys return the horse because they were conscience-stricken or because they were afraid?

7. Give character sketches of Aram, Mourad and Uncle Khosrove.