12th Standard English · Poem · Study Guide
Our Casuarina Tree – Questions and Answers
A student-friendly guide to Toru Dutt’s poem, with textual answers, appreciation, figures of speech, paragraph answers and listening activity.
Poet: Toru Dutt (1856–1877)
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Question 1. You visit your school after several years. As you cross the banyan tree at the entrance, cheerful memories fill your mind. Fill the bubbles with your memories.
Answer: This is a subjective question. Suggested points based on nostalgia and childhood:
- The laughter of friends playing under the shade.
- The sight of the tree during morning assembly.
- Secrets shared and games played around the trunk.
- The feeling of safety and comfort the tree provided.
1. Fill in the Blanks — Summary of the Poem
[python, statue, nature, casement, nostalgic, lamenting, impressive, forgotten, giant, consecrates, springing, sanctified]
The casuarina tree is tall and strong, with a creeper winding around it like a (1) _____ The tree stands like a (2) _____ with a colourful scarf of flowers. Birds surround the garden and the sweet song of the birds is heard. The poet is delighted to see the casuarina tree through her (3) _____ She sees a grey monkey sitting like a (4) _____ on top of the tree, the cows grazing and the water lilies (5) _____ in the pond. The poet feels that the tree is dear to her not for its (6) _____ appearance but for the (7) _____ memories of her happy childhood that it brings to her. She strongly believes that (8) _____ communicates with human beings. The poet could communicate with the tree even when she was in a far-off land as she could hear the tree (9) _____ her absence. The poet (10) _____ the tree’s memory to her loved ones, who are not alive. She immortalizes the tree through her poem like the poet Wordsworth who (11) _____ the yew tree of Borrowdale in verse. She expresses her wish that the tree should be remembered out of love and not just because it cannot be (12) _____
| Blank | Answer |
|---|---|
| (1) | python |
| (2) | giant |
| (3) | casement |
| (4) | statue |
| (5) | springing |
| (6) | impressive |
| (7) | nostalgic |
| (8) | nature |
| (9) | lamenting |
| (10) | consecrates |
| (11) | sanctified |
| (12) | forgotten |
2. Short Answer Questions — Based on Understanding
What is the creeper compared to?
Answer: The creeper is compared to a huge python winding round and round the tree.
How does the creeper appear on the tree?
Answer: The creeper appears like a huge python winding around the rugged trunk of the Casuarina tree.
Describe the garden during the night.
Answer: At night, the garden overflows with a sweet, endless melodious song sung darkling from the Casuarina tree while people are sleeping.
How does the poet spend her winter?
Answer: In winter, the poet observes a gray baboon sitting statue-like on the crest of the Casuarina tree, watching the sunrise, while its young ones leap and play on the lower branches.
Name the bird that sings in the poet’s garden.
Answer: The nightingale (referred to as “darkling” in the supplied answer) sings in the poet’s garden.
Why is the Casuarina tree dear to the poet’s heart?
Answer: The Casuarina tree is dear to the poet because she, her childhood friends, and her siblings played under it and created cherished memories.
Does nature communicate with human beings?
Answer: Yes. The poet believes that nature communicates with human beings, and William Wordsworth is cited as a strong advocate of this communication.
What has Wordsworth sanctified in his poem?
Answer: Wordsworth has sanctified the yew trees in Borrowdale in his poems.
To whom does Toru Dutt want to consecrate the tree’s memory?
Answer: Toru Dutt wants to consecrate the tree’s memory to her loved ones—her siblings—who are now dead.
The Casuarina tree will be remembered for ever. Why?
Answer: The Casuarina tree will be remembered forever because it is immortalized in Toru Dutt’s poem and thus escapes oblivion.
3. Appreciation Questions — Read the Lines and Answer
“A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound / No other tree could live.”
Which tree is referred to in the above lines?
Answer: The Casuarina tree is referred to in these lines.
How does the tree survive the tight hold of the creeper?
Answer: The tree survives the tight hold by treating the creeper’s embrace like that of a lady love. It does not hurt the tree; instead, it grows stronger, bearing the “bite marks of love.”
Why does Toru Dutt use the expression “a creeper climbs”?
Answer: The poet uses this expression because a creeper needs support. It twines around the tree and climbs towards sunlight, even though it saps the tree’s energy.
“The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung / In crimson clusters all the bough among!”
Who is the giant here?
Answer: The Casuarina tree is the giant.
Why is the scarf colourful?
Answer: The scarf is colourful because crimson flowers bloom in clusters along the boughs, making the creeper look like a colourful scarf.
“Fear, trembling Hope, and Death, the skeleton, / And Time the shadow”, and though weak the verse / That would thy beauty fain, oh, fain rehearse, / May Love defend tree from oblivion’s curse.
What does “May love defend thee from oblivion’s curse” mean?
Answer: The poet means that her love for the tree, expressed through her verse, will ensure its immortality. The tree will live in her poetry and not be forgotten.
What does the expression “fain” convey?
Answer: “Fain” means eagerly or gladly.
What does the poet convey through “Fear, trembling Hope”?
Answer: It conveys fear of lurking death and the trembling hope that death may not arrive in the near future.
Additional Questions — Read the Lines and Answer
“And oft at nights the garden overflows / With one sweet song that seems to have no close, / Sung darkling from our tree, while men repose”
What overflows the garden at night?
Answer: One sweet song overflows the garden at night.
What is called the “darkling”?
Answer: In the supplied answer, the nightingale is called the darkling.
When does the bird sing her sweet song?
Answer: The bird sings her sweet song when people sleep at night.
“A gray baboon sits statue-like alone / Watching the sunrise; while on lower boughs / His puny offspring leap about and play;”
What is called a baboon?
Answer: A baboon is a type of large monkey.
What is curious about the baboon?
Answer: The baboon sits statue-like and watches the sunrise from the crest of the Casuarina tree.
What do the puny offspring of the monkey do?
Answer: The young ones leap and play on the lower branches of the tree.
“But not because of its magnificence / Dear is the Casuarina to my soul: / Beneath it we have played; though years may roll,”
What is not the cause for Toru Dutt’s love for the Casuarina tree?
Answer: The magnificence or impressive appearance of the tree is not the cause for her love.
What makes the tree dear to the poet?
Answer: The memories of playing under the tree as a child with her friends and siblings make it dear to her.
What is the poet unable to forget despite the passage of years?
Answer: The poet is unable to forget the wonderful time she spent under the tree with her loved ones.
“For your sakes, shall the tree be ever dear. / Blent with your images, it shall arise / In memory, till the hot tears blind mine eyes!”
For whose sake will the tree be dear to the poet?
Answer: For the sake of her dear departed siblings, who died of tuberculosis, the tree will remain dear.
Whose images bring out hot tears?
Answer: The images of her siblings, who died due to tuberculosis, bring out hot tears.
What blinds the poet’s eyes?
Answer: Tears fill and blind her eyes.
“What is that dirge-like murmur that I hear / Like the sea breaking on a shingle-beach? / It is the tree’s lament, an eerie speech,”
What do you mean by “dirge”?
Answer: “Dirge” means a lament for the dead.
Why does the tree lament?
Answer: According to the supplied answer, the tree laments the absence of the poet.
What appears to be an “eerie speech”?
Answer: The dirge-like murmur appears to be an eerie speech—an unearthly or ghostly sound.
“Mine inner vision rose a form sublime, / Thy form, O Tree, as in my happy prime / I saw thee, in my own loved native clime.”
What rose in the mind of the poet?
Answer: A glorious inner vision of the tree rose in the poet’s mind.
What was found in the sublime inner vision?
Answer: The tree’s youthful and handsome form appeared in the inner vision.
What do you mean by “native clime”?
Answer: It means the poet’s homeland or the place and environment where she grew up.
“Therefore I fain would consecrate a lay / Unto thy honor, Tree, beloved of those / Who now in blessed sleep for aye repose,”
What does the poet want to do?
Answer: The poet wants to consecrate, or dedicate, a song or poem to the tree.
In whose honour does she want to consecrate the tree?
Answer: She wants to consecrate the tree to the memory of her beloved siblings.
What does “blessed sleep” mean?
Answer: “Blessed sleep” means death.
“Mayst thou be numbered when my days are done / With deathless trees – like those in Borrowdale, / Under whose awful branches lingered pale”
What does the poet predict in “when my days are done”?
Answer: The poet predicts her own death.
What were the condition of the trees in Borrowdale?
Answer: In the supplied answer, the trees are described as ageing and sickly, as if waiting for death.
Who made the trees deathless? How?
Answer: William Wordsworth made the trees in Borrowdale deathless in literary memory by writing about them in his poem.
4. Explain the Lines with Reference to the Context
“Dear is the Casuarina to my soul;”
Reference to the context and explanation: These words are from “Our Casuarina Tree” by Toru Dutt. The poet highlights the importance of the tree in her life. She, her friends, and her siblings spent long hours playing under its shade, so it is dear to her soul.
“It is the tree’s lament, an eerie speech,…”
Reference to the context and explanation: These words are from “Our Casuarina Tree” by Toru Dutt. The poet describes the grief she senses from the tree during her long absence. Even when she was far away in Italy and France, she could hear what seemed to be a murmur of grief from the tree.
“Unto thy honor, Tree, beloved of those / Who now in blessed sleep for aye repose,”
Reference to the context and explanation: These lines are from “Our Casuarina Tree” by Toru Dutt. The poet dedicates the tree’s memory to her dear departed siblings. She remembers with pain the younger members of the Dutt family who died of tuberculosis.
“A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound / No other tree could live”
Reference to the context and explanation: These words are from “Our Casuarina Tree” by Toru Dutt. The poet appreciates the strength of the tree. The creeper depends on it for support, but the tree treats its tight hold as a lover’s embrace and allows it to climb around the trunk.
“The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung”
Reference to the context and explanation: These words describe the might of the Casuarina tree. The creeper winds around it like a python, but the gallant tree wears it like a scarf around its neck, untroubled by the creeper’s hold.
“Sung darkling from our tree, while men repose”
Reference to the context and explanation: The poet describes the Casuarina and its inhabitants at night. While people sleep, a bird sings sweetly from the tree, like a lullaby to sleeping humans.
“When first my casement is wide open thrown / At dawn, my eyes delighted on it rest;”
Reference to the context and explanation: The poet explains how the tree has been part of her life from the beginning of each day. When she opens her window at dawn, the Casuarina tree is the first sight that delights her.
“Unknown, yet well-known to the eye of faith! Ah, / I have heard that wail far, far away”
Reference to the context and explanation: The poet describes a faith-filled bond between herself and the tree despite the distance between them. Even when far away, she feels that she can hear the tree’s wail or lament.
“Thy form, O Tree, as in my happy prime / I saw thee, in my own loved native clime.”
Reference to the context and explanation: The poet recalls the appearance of the Casuarina tree when she was young. Its image remains vividly etched in her memory of her beloved homeland.
“Dearer than life to me, alas, were they!”
Reference to the context and explanation: The poet recalls her younger siblings, who died of tuberculosis. She remembers the many days they spent together under the Casuarina tree, making the memory especially poignant.
“May Love defend thee from oblivion’s curse.”
Reference to the context and explanation: The poet expresses her wish to make the tree immortal. Her love, preserved in the poem, will help the tree escape oblivion, or being forgotten.
“Mayst thou be numbered when my days are done / With deathless trees – like those in Borrowdale,”
Reference to the context and explanation: The poet worries that the ageing Casuarina tree will eventually die like all living things. Inspired by Wordsworth’s treatment of the yew trees in Borrowdale, she hopes her poem will make her beloved tree live on in memory.
5. Identify the Figure of Speech
| Line / Expression | Figure of Speech |
|---|---|
| “LIKE a huge Python, winding round and round / The rugged trunk, indented deep with scars” | Simile (and zoomorphism, as given in the supplied answer). |
| “A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound / No other tree could live. But gallantly / The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung.” | Personification: the creeper is said to embrace, and the tree is described as gallantly wearing a scarf. |
| “A gray baboon sits statue-like alone” | Simile. |
| “The water-lilies spring, like snow enmassed.” | Simile. |
| “What is that dirge-like murmur that I hear / Like the sea breaking on a shingle-beach?” | Simile. |
| “It is the tree’s lament” | Personification. |
| “Fear, trembling Hope” | Personification, as given in the supplied answer. |
| “Time the shadow” | Metaphor. |
| “The giant wears the scarf” | Personification. |
| “Like snow enmassed” | Simile. |
| “The waves gently kissed” | Personification. |
| “The earth lay tranced in dreamless…” | Personification. |
| “Ah, I have heard that wail far away” | Personification. |
6. Paragraph Questions (100–150 Words)
Describe the reminiscences of the poet when she sees the Casuarina tree.
The poet remembers how her days started with the sight of the Casuarina tree from her casement. She remembers how her loving companions played under the giant tree. The memory of her beloved companions brings hot tears because they had died of tuberculosis. She remembers how the tree accommodated birds that sang during the day and night. The tree allowed the creeper to embrace it like a lady love. Though the creeper sapped its vitality, the tree allowed it to stay around its neck like a scarf. She also remembers a baboon seated at the crest of the tree, watching the sunrise while its young ones leapt and played on the lower branches.
How does nature communicate with the poet?
Like Wordsworth, Toru Dutt is a great lover of nature and experiences a mystical communion with it. The emotional bond between her and the Casuarina tree goes beyond ordinary reasoning. When she is away on the shores of Italy and France, she feels that she can hear the dirge-like murmur of her beloved tree, as though it misses her. She perceives this as the tree’s lament and eerie speech, expressing anguish during her absence. Ordinary eyes may not perceive such communication, but the poet believes it can be experienced through the eye of faith. In her inner vision, she vividly sees the sublime form of the Casuarina tree in her beloved native land.
The poet immortalizes the tree. Elucidate.
Toru Dutt knows that her beloved Casuarina tree is growing old and may eventually die, as all living things do. Time is presented as a force that ultimately claims every life. As a well-read poet, she recalls how William Wordsworth immortalized the yew trees of Borrowdale through poetry. Inspired by him, she decides to protect her favourite tree from oblivion by writing about it. Through her poem, the tree continues to live in the memories of readers. The poem expresses her faith that the tree will endure in literary memory for generations.
Give a summary of the poem “Our Casuarina Tree”.
Toru Dutt describes the tall and mighty Casuarina tree. A creeper winds around its wide trunk like a python, and birds sing in its branches. The poet delights in seeing the tree from her casement each morning. She notices a baboon sitting like a statue at the top while its young ones play on the lower branches; the surrounding landscape and water lilies add to the beauty. Yet the tree is dear to her not merely for its magnificence but for the nostalgic memories attached to it. She remembers the happy days spent beneath it with her siblings, who are now dead. Their absence makes the tree even more precious. Even when she is far away in France and Italy, she feels she can hear its grief-filled lament. She dedicates the tree’s memory to her departed loved ones and hopes, inspired by Wordsworth, to immortalize it through poetry.
Here is a crisp summary of the poem **”Our Casuarina Tree”** by Toru Dutt in Indianized English, along with its Tamil translation. —
Summary of the Poem
The poet Toru Dutt remembers her beloved Casuarina tree, which stands tall and strong like a giant. A creeper winds around its trunk like a huge python, and crimson flowers hang in clusters on its branches. The poet sees this tree through her window every morning and feels delighted.
At night, the garden overflows with the sweet song of the nightingale (darkling). In winter, a gray baboon sits statue-like on the tree’s top, watching the sunrise, while its young ones leap and play on the lower branches. Water lilies bloom in the pond like snow.
But the tree is dear to the poet not because of its beauty. It is dear because she and her childhood friends and siblings played under its shade. Those days are gone, and her dear ones have died of tuberculosis. The tree brings back those nostalgic memories, and she weeps.
Even when the poet is far away in Italy and France, she hears the tree’s lament — an eerie, dirge-like murmur — as if the tree is grieving her absence. Through the eyes of faith, she communicates with the tree.
The poet wants to consecrate (dedicate) her poem to the tree’s memory and to her departed loved ones. Like William Wordsworth, who immortalized the yew trees of Borrowdale in his verse, Toru Dutt wishes to make her Casuarina tree deathless through her poetry. She prays that love will protect the tree from oblivion’s curse (forgetfulness). Thus, the tree will live forever in the hearts of readers.
—
Tamil Translation
(சுருக்கம்) கவிஞர் தோரு தத் தனது அன்புக்குரிய காசுவரினா மரத்தை நினைவு கூர்கிறார். அது ஒரு பெரிய ராட்சதன் போல் உயரமாகவும் வலிமையாகவும் நிற்கிறது. ஒரு கொடி மலைப்பாம்பு போல் அதன் அடிமரத்தை சுற்றி படர்கிறது. அதன் கிளைகளில் குங்குமப்பூ நிற மலர்கள் கொத்தாக தொங்குகின்றன. கவிஞர் ஒவ்வொரு காலையிலும் தனது ஜன்னல் வழியாக இந்த மரத்தைப் பார்த்து மகிழ்ச்சி அடைகிறார்.இரவில், தோட்டம் நைட்டிங்கேல் (இருளில் பாடும் பறவை) பாடும் இனிய பாடலால் நிரம்பி வழிகிறது. குளிர்காலத்தில், ஒரு சாம்பல் நிற பபூன் மரத்தின் உச்சியில் சிலை போல் அமர்ந்து சூரிய உதயத்தைப் பார்க்கிறது. அதன் குட்டிகள் கீழ் கிளைகளில் துள்ளி விளையாடுகின்றன. குளத்தில் அல்லி மலர்கள் பனி போல் பூக்கின்றன.
ஆனால் அந்த மரம் கவிஞருக்கு பிடித்தமானது அதன் அழகினால் அல்ல. அவரும் அவரது குழந்தைப் பருவ நண்பர்களும், உடன்பிறப்புகளும் அதன் நிழலில் விளையாடியதால் அது பிடித்தமானது. அந்த நாட்கள் போய்விட்டன, அவரது அன்புக்குரியவர்கள் காசநோயால் இறந்துவிட்டனர். அந்த மரம் அந்த நினைவுகளை மீட்டுத் தருகிறது, அவர் அழுகிறார்.
கவிஞர் இத்தாலி மற்றும் பிரான்சில் வெகு தொலைவில் இருந்தாலும், மரத்தின் புலம்பலை — ஒரு பேய் போன்ற, இரங்கல் பாடல் போன்ற முணுமுணுப்பை — கேட்கிறார். மரம் அவரது பிரிவை நினைத்து வருத்தப்படுவது போல் இருக்கிறது. நம்பிக்கையின் கண்களால், அவர் மரத்துடன் தொடர்பு கொள்கிறார்.
கவிஞர் தனது கவிதையை மரத்தின் நினைவுக்கும், இறந்துபோன தனது அன்புக்குரியவர்களுக்கும் அர்ப்பணிக்க (consecrate) விரும்புகிறார். வில்லியம் வேர்ட்ஸ்வொர்த் தனது கவிதையில் போரோடேலின் யூ மரங்களை அழியாததாக்கியது போல், தோரு தத் தனது காசுவரினா மரத்தையும் தனது கவிதையின் மூலம் அழியாததாக்க விரும்புகிறார். அன்பு அந்த மரத்தை மறதியின் சாபத்திலிருந்து (oblivion’s curse) காப்பாற்றும் என்று பிரார்த்திக்கிறார். இவ்வாறு, அந்த மரம் வாசகர்களின் இதயங்களில் என்றென்றும் வாழும்.
Listening Activity: “Midnight Wonders”
Question 1. The poet was tossing in the bed awake because ________.
Answer: (b) he was struggling to sleep
Question 2. The ________ were “sparkling as pearls”.
Answer: (c) stars
Question 3. The ________ gave the poet a motherly smile.
Answer: (c) moon
Question 4. ________ made the poet’s eyelids droop.
Answer: (a) Nature
Question 5. ________ is the title of the poem.
Answer: (b) Midnight Wonders
About the Poet
Toru Dutt (1856–1877) was a Bengali poet from the Indian subcontinent who wrote in English and French. She was the third daughter in a family known for its intellectuals and poets. Although she was taught by British tutors, she retained her fondness for Indian culture and sensibilities. Her well-known English collections include Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (1882). She also published a volume of French poems titled Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (1875). “Our Casuarina Tree” is among her best-known poems and was included in Miscellaneous Poems.
Study note: These answers have been organized from the supplied text. Where a question’s wording or interpretation may be debatable, the page retains the supplied answer rather than silently replacing it.
Our Casuarina Tree – Glossary
Learn the English meanings and Tamil meanings of important words from the poem by Toru Dutt.
| Word | Meaning | Tamil Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| baboon | a type of large monkey found in Africa and Asia | ஒரு வகைக் குரங்கு இனம். |
| casement | a type of window that is fixed on one side and opens like a door | ஜன்னலின் சட்டம் |
| consecrate | to officially make something holy | புனிதப்படுத்தப்பட்ட |
| enmassed | amassed | பெருந்திரளாக குவி |
| fain | eagerly | உவகையுடன் / மகிழ்ச்சியாக |
| gallantly | bravely or heroically | வீரமிக்க/துணிச்சல் மிக்க |
| hoar | white frost deposits on the tree | மரத்தின் மீது படிந்திருக்கும் உறைபனி |
| kokilas | a type of bird similar to the cuckoo | குயிலை ஒத்த ஒருவகை பறவை. |
| lay | amateur | ஏற்பாடு செய் |
| oblivion | a state of forgetfulness | அறியாதிருத்தல் |
| rehearse | repeat | ஒத்திகை செய் |
| repose | a state of rest | இளைப்பாறு |
| shingle | rocky | பாறை |
| sublime | glorious, grand | மேன்மைமிக்க / சிறந்த |
| tranced | dreamy condition, hypnotised | மெய்ம்மறந்த நிலை |
| wend | stroll | நடந்து செல் |
| wraith | apparition | பேய் |
| boughs | any of the larger branches of a tree | மரக்கிளை |
| embrace | squeeze (someone) tightly in your arms, usually with fondness | தழுவுதல் |
| fain | having made preparations | உவகையுடன். |
| indent | make a depression into | பள்ளம், இடைவெளிகள்(உட்கிடையே) |
| lament | express grief verbally | ஒப்பாரி |
| rugged | having long narrow shallow depressions in the surface | முரடான |
| slumbered | be asleep | இலேசான தூக்கம் |
| winding | marked by repeated turns and bends | வளைந்து |
English and Tamil glossary for revision and classroom reference.