The Trees are Down – Charlotte Mew

遊んで学ぼう

問題に答えてエネルギーを集めたら、釣りや探検を楽しもう。アカウント不要。

教育者の方へ： The Trees are Down – Charlotte Mew（English、World Literature）向けのすぐ使えるレッスンスライド, 復習ノート — レッスンで使うか、学習者がライブゲームとして遊ぶインタラクティブなクラス活動としてトピックを実施できます。

レッスンノート

The poem at a glance

  • "The Trees are Down" by English poet Charlotte Mew (1869–1928), published after her death in 1929.
  • It records workmen cutting down the great plane-trees at the end of the gardens — often linked to the London square near Mew's home.
  • An epigraph from the Book of Revelation frames it: "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees".
  • The speaker moves from observation, to a memory of a dead rat in spring, to deep personal grief and a final spiritual protest.
  • Free verse with irregular stanzas and line lengths; key ideas: destruction of nature, human indifference, loss, the sacredness of life.

Stanza 1: the sound of destruction

  • "They are cutting down the great plane-trees at the end of the gardens": present tense — we witness it as it happens.
  • A soundscape: "the grate of the saw", "the swish of the branches", "the crash of the trunks", "the rustle of trodden leaves" — auditory imagery and a list that builds relentlessly.
  • Above it all, the men's "loud common talk" and "loud common laughs"; their shouts of "Whoops" and "Whoa".
  • Repetition of "loud common" shows their coarseness and indifference — to them it is just a job.

Stanza 2: the dead rat

  • "I remember one evening of a long past Spring" — the poem turns to memory.
  • She found "a large dead rat in the mud of the drive": disgusting, "god-forsaken".
  • Yet she reflects that in spring "even a rat should be alive": all life belongs to the season of renewal.
  • Death in spring "unmade" the Spring for a moment — an idea the poem returns to.

Stanzas 3–4: the last bough and the lost spring

  • "just one bough" remains, "Green and high / And lonely against the sky" — short, indented lines isolate it.
  • "(Down now!—)": a bracketed shout breaks the line as the branch falls — form enacts the cut.
  • Unlike the rat, this is no passing shock: "It is not for a moment the Spring is unmade to-day".
  • The trees are "the whole of the whispering loveliness", felled "from root to stem".
  • "Half the Spring, for me, will have gone with them": personal, permanent loss.

Stanza 5: grief and the angel

  • "It is going now, and my heart has been struck with the hearts of the planes": the speaker's heart and the trees' are one.
  • "Half my life it has beat with these" — through sun, rain, March wind, May breeze and great gales: a shared life across seasons.
  • "There was only a quiet rain when they were dying": nature's muted mourning.
  • "They must have heard the sparrows flying" — personification: the trees as sensitive beings.
  • "But I, all day, I heard an angel crying: / 'Hurt not the trees.'" — the epigraph returns as a heavenly command; the ending is a spiritual protest.

Form, methods and comparisons

  • Free verse, irregular stanzas and line lengths — natural speech, and a shape broken like the trees.
  • Epigraph and ending echo each other — a circular structure with moral force.
  • Contrast: violent, noisy human work vs quiet, whispering nature.
  • Shifts in time: present → memory → present → future ("will have gone").
  • Themes: nature destroyed, grief, indifference, the sacred.
  • Comparisons: "The Trees" (Larkin — trees and time), "Tears, Idle Tears" (grief), "Time's Fool" (loss of a cherished place).

スライド

Sign up free to view the lesson slides

Step through every slide for this topic — plus flashcards and revision notes — with a free account.

登録 — 無料ログイン

練習問題

無料プレビュー — 37問中8問。すべて見るには登録を。

  1. 1.Who wrote 'The Trees are Down'?

    Easy
    • ACharlotte Mew
    • BRuth Pitter
    • CPhilip Larkin
    • DFrances Cornford

  2. 2.What kind of trees are being cut down?

    Easy
    • AOak trees
    • BCherry trees
    • CPine trees
    • DPlane-trees

  3. 3.Where does the epigraph come from?

    Easy
    • AA newspaper
    • BWordsworth
    • CThe Book of Revelation
    • DShakespeare

  4. 4.What kind of imagery dominates the first stanza?

    Medium
    • AColour
    • BSound (auditory) imagery
    • CSmell
    • DTaste

  5. 5.How are the workmen presented?

    Medium
    • ALoud, common and indifferent
    • BSad and reluctant
    • CSilent and careful
    • DKind and gentle

  6. 6.What does the speaker remember finding one spring evening?

    Medium
    • AA bird's nest
    • BA lost child
    • CA broken bough
    • DA large dead rat

  7. 7.What does 'even a rat should be alive' suggest?

    Medium
    • AThe speaker killed the rat
    • BRats destroy trees
    • CIn spring all life, however humble, belongs to the season of renewal
    • DRats are the speaker's favourite animal

  8. 8.What is the effect of '(Down now!—)'?

    Medium
    • AIt shows the men are gentle
    • BIt interrupts the line as the last bough falls, enacting the cut
    • CIt gives the time of day
    • DIt is a stage direction for readers

Unlock all 37 questions, flashcards & more

無料アカウントを作って、このトピックのすべての問題・スライド・フラッシュカード・復習ノートを見よう。

登録 — 無料ログイン

過去問

このトピックの過去問練習は近日公開。
近日公開