Please help me out in this, i'm dying.....?

Question

I urgently need the summary or explanation of the poem Laburnum Top by Ted Hughes.

I have searched through google but nothing.Poem is as follows:

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 suddeness,a startlement,at a branch end
Then sleek as a lizard, and alert and abrupt,
The enters the thickness,and a machine starts up
Of chitterings, and of 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

Answer 1

Very good

Answer 2

Please take heart, we will help you "crack" this poem. Next time, make the poem readily visible for the reader to easily analyze and not add it in EDIT. EDITS do not show when one wants to focus closely on a poem like this one.

The Laburnum Top is silent,quite still
- of course the laburman is a tree and it is silent, there is no disturbance, no wind, it is just "quite still"

in the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing,all its seeds fallen
- Notice that this is autumn season when leaves are turning yellow and some seeds have fallen off the tree.

-Then something disturbs the peace and quiet. A small bird, goldfinch approaches, chirruping (whistling). . . .
"Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup" and there is some commotion as it perches on some branch of the tree,
"A suddeness,a startlement,at a branch end"
and then the image of a reptile is deployed to convey its mien behavior, "Then sleek as a lizard, and alert and abrupt." It is sleek and alert like a lizard as it abruptly
"enters the thickness,". Obviously this relates to its nest. It enters the nest abruptly and quite suddenly! To the speaker, it is as if it is entering into a dense thicket; this conveys the sense of almost invisible entrance to the bird's nest, hardly visible to the naked eye. Still the speaker is looking and listening and hears some noises likened to machines "and a machine starts up." It is as if there arrival of the mother bird has awakaned a machine, a clamor of sounds as the nestlings are ruffled into making small squeeky sounds as if machines are clinging against each other. The small sounds are the "chitterings," of the nestlings and also of the wide wings of the mother bird whirling about them making a more deeper sound likened to a tremor,. Hence there are several small squeeling sounds amidst a kind of tremor, "of tremor of wings,and trillings-" of the big bird and its nestlings.
To the speaker viewing all this activity and listening to the sounds, it is as if "The whole tree trembles and thrills", that is, the tree shakes and sways, filled with new life inside the nest when the mother bird enters the nest.

The tree appears as the life-blood of the mother bird's family, "It is the engine of her family." The nest sways with abandon as the bird pays it homage knowingly,"She stokes it full," then suddenly, the mother bird flies out to perch on a branch again, "flirts out to a branch end" and does what birds do best "Showing her barred face identity mask", that is, pluming herself and revealing her unique goldfinch colors."

Then as if the wonders of nature will never cease to amaze, the bird perorms its last mysterious miracle as if performing a weird act for the speaker. Yes. . . "with eerie delicate whistle chirrup whisperings," (notice the sense of "nature's" indifference to the onlooker and notice the sounds with emotional bent) the bird flies away, "launches away, towards the infinite" unknown destination.
And slowly but gradually, the tree resumes its initial former status before the mother bird arrived, that is to say, "And the laburnum subsides to empty" It is as if the speaker has witnessed one of the great wonders of mother-nature. The speaker remains in shock and awe at the sight of this marvel!!

*Try now to figure out, what Ted could really be saying! What emotions is he trying to evoke by this seemingly simple revelation of nature's mysteries!



Good luck

Answer 3

If you've read the poem and still cannot imaging what it's about, then at least write about what it is obviously about. If you cannot see what it's obviously about (the bird, the bird's family, the life that the bird's family brings to the tree), then you should probably be taking an easier class. An honest answer from your own mind will tell your teacher more than you copying a post from someone who did your thinking for you. Don't fret the grade your deserve, work to improve it.

Answer 4

I think it;s talking about how winter brings the dieing leaves and how it changes all.

Answer 5

I am sorry. I never read the poem.