Question

Read the following extract and answer the questions given below: 
The banyan tree was three times as tall as our house
Its trunk had a circumference of fifty feet
Its scraggly 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

(1) How does the poet describe the banyan tree?

(2) According to you, how are trees important to maintain ecological balance?

(3) Pick out an example of repetition from the extract.

(4) Pick out the words in the extract which are related to the killing.

Answer 1

(1) The banyan tree is described as extremely huge, high and with the circumference of fifty feet.

(2) Trees give us oxygen. Trees are known to breathe out oxygen and intake carbon - dioxide. Thus supplying the atmosphere with sufficient pure air for human breath, they absorb all the carbon dioxide during the day and night. They provide shelter for both birds and animals in the forest. Thus we can say that trees are the natural protector of our environment.

(3) Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped.

(4) Sawing, chopped, slaughter.