Complete Summary and Solutions for Felling of the Banyan Tree – Woven Words Class XI English (Elective), Poetry Chapter 10 – Explanation, Questions, Answers
Detailed summary and explanation of Chapter 10 ‘Felling of the Banyan Tree’ from the Woven Words English Elective textbook for Class XI, covering the poem’s meaning, themes, symbolism, imagery, and complete NCERT questions, answers, and exercises.
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Felling of the Banyan Tree - Dilip Chitre | Woven Words Poetry Study Guide 2025
Felling of the Banyan Tree
Dilip Chitre | Woven Words Poetry - Ultimate Study Guide 2025
Introduction to Poetry - Woven Words
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings beyond literal comprehension. It can explore emotions, nature, society, and the human condition through imagery, metaphor, and sound.
In the ‘narrative poem’ like this one, the focus is on recounting events with emotional depth, blending personal memory with broader critique. Chitre’s "Felling of the Banyan Tree" uses vivid description to lament environmental loss and generational conflict, revealing pathos in destruction.
Poetry differs from prose in its compression; brevity demands layered language. Yet, it can expand into epic forms, though here it achieves novel-like resonance in evoking cultural roots.
Key Elements
Forms: Narrative, lyric, dramatic.
Devices: Imagery, metaphor, tone (critical here).
Types: Personal reflection (memory), eco-poetry (nature's voice).
Economy: Concise lines pack symbolism.
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Author: Dilip Chitre (1938–2009)
Dilip Chitre was born in Baroda. He writes poetry both in Marathi and English. Travelling in a Cage, from which the poem selected here has been taken, was published in 1980. Apart from poetry, Chitre has also written short stories and critical essays. An Anthology of Marathi Poetry 1945–1965 is one of his most important works of translation. He sees poetry as an expression of the spirit. He lives and works in Mumbai.
Major Works
Travelling in a Cage (1980)
An Anthology of Marathi Poetry 1945–1965 (Translation)
Short stories and critical essays
Key Themes
Loss of tradition and nature
Urban alienation vs. rural roots
Spiritual expression through bilingual poetry
Style
Realistic, evocative; blends personal narrative with cultural critique, using vivid imagery to mourn change.
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Full Poem Text: Felling of the Banyan Tree
My father told the tenants to leave
Who lived on the houses surrounding our house on the hill
One by one the structures were demolished
Only our own house remained and the trees
Trees are sacred my grandmother used to say
Felling them is a crime but he massacred them all
The sheoga, the oudumber, the neem were all cut down
But the huge banyan tree stood like a problem
Whose roots lay deeper than all our lives
My father ordered it to be removed
The banyan tree was three times as tall as our house
Its trunk had a circumference of fifty feet
Its scraggy aerial roots fell to the ground
From thirty feet or more so first they cut the branches
Sawing them off for seven days and the heap was huge
Insects and birds began to leave the tree
And then they came to its massive trunk
Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped
The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years
We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter
As a raw mythology revealed to us its age
Soon afterwards we left Baroda for Bombay
Where there are no trees except the one
Which grows and seethes in one’s dreams, its aerial roots
Looking for the ground to strike.
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Poem Summary: English & Hindi (Detailed Overview)
English Summary (Approx. 1 Page)
The poem narrates the poet's childhood memory of his father's ruthless demolition of surrounding structures and sacred trees on their Baroda hill home to assert control. Despite his grandmother's reverence for trees as divine, the father massacres the sheoga, oudumber, and neem. The ancient banyan, symbolizing deep-rooted heritage, resists longest—three times taller than the house, with a fifty-foot trunk and scraggy aerial roots. Over seven days, branches are sawn, displacing wildlife; fifty men then axe the trunk, exposing 200-year rings in a mythic slaughter watched in horrified awe. Soon after, the family relocates to treeless Bombay, leaving only a haunting dream-banyan whose roots seek unyielding ground, embodying enduring loss.
हिंदी सारांश (संक्षिप्त)
कविता कवि की बचपन की स्मृति का वर्णन करती है, जब उनके पिता ने बड़ौदा की पहाड़ी पर घर के आसपास के घरों और पवित्र वृक्षों को बेरहमी से ध्वस्त किया। दादी के वृक्षों को पवित्र मानने के बावजूद, पिता ने शीशम, औदुंबर और नीम काट डाले। विशाल बरगद, गहरी जड़ों वाला प्रतीक, सबसे लंबे समय तक टिका—घर से तीन गुना ऊंचा, 50 फुट व्यास का तना। सात दिनों में डालियां काटी गईं, जीव-जंतु भागे; 50 आदमियों ने कुल्हाड़ियों से धड़ काटा, 200 वर्ष की वलय प्रकट हुए। परिवार मुंबई चला गया, जहां केवल स्वप्न-बरगद उगता है, जड़ें जमीन तलाशतीं।
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Understanding the Poem
1. Identify the lines that reveal the critical tone of the poet towards the felling of the tree.
Answer:
"Felling them is a crime but he massacred them all" – Equates cutting to murder, indicting father's sacrilege.
"But the huge banyan tree stood like a problem" – Tree as moral obstacle, critiquing father's resolve.
"We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter" – "Slaughter" anthropomorphizes violence, evoking horror at destruction.
"As a raw mythology revealed to us its age" – Mythic sanctity violated, underscoring cultural loss.
2. Identify the words that help you understand the nature of the poet’s father.
Answer:
"Told the tenants to leave" – Authoritative, displacing others for self-interest.
"Massacred them all" – Ruthless, violent disregard for life/sacredness.
"Ordered it to be removed" – Commanding, treating nature as disposable obstacle.
Implied: Progress-driven, modern vs. traditional (ignores grandmother's wisdom).
3. ‘Trees are sacred my grandmother used to say’— what does the poet imply by this line?
Answer:
Contrasts generational values: Grandmother embodies reverence for nature as divine/spiritual, rooted in tradition.
Poet implies father's actions profane this sanctity, symbolizing erosion of cultural/ethical heritage.
Evokes nostalgia/regret; trees as living ancestors, felling as betrayal of roots.
4. ‘No trees except the one which grows and seethes in one’s dreams’— why is the phrase ‘grows and seethes’ used?
Answer:
"Grows": Persistent vitality in memory, defying physical destruction.
"Seethes": Simmering anger/resentment; tree's spirit rebels, roots "strike" like vengeance.
Together: Conveys haunting, restless legacy—loss festers subconsciously in urban exile.
5. How does the banyan tree stand out as different from other trees? What details of the tree does the poet highlight in the poem?
Answer:
Different: Monumental resilience ("stood like a problem," roots "deeper than all our lives"); mythic emblem vs. ordinary trees.
Details: Three times house height; 50-ft trunk; scraggy aerial roots from 30 ft; 200-year rings; branch-heap after 7 days; wildlife exodus.
Highlights endurance, age, interconnectedness—symbol of enduring heritage.
6. What does the reference to raw mythology imply?
