CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF OUR OWN TRUE FAMILY ( PART 1)

                   OUR OWN TRUE FAMILY                                                                           

               

                    CENTRAL IDEA OF THE POEM

This famous and remarkable poem was written by the noted Poet Laureate Edward James Ted Hughes. The poem revolves round the hypocrisy of human beings who exploit Mother Nature for their own selfish gain and never try to repair her wounds. this poem is a warning to the mankind that if  humans do not restraint their greed and continue to chop down trees and don't plant trees back to fill up the absence then this will surely lead to the destruction of all the living creatures on earth. The poem focuses strongly on the need to protect our natural environment for the welfare of mankind before it is too late. it also preaches that humans and trees should thrive as a single family.

                     EXPLANATION OF THE POEM

            EXPLANATION: "Once I crept in...to a stake".

The poem is written in a dream narration. One day while looking for a stag a child enters an oak-wood.There he comes across an old woman. She is very weak and feeble and her clothes were worn out. She tells him that she has his secret in her little bag. Saying this, the woman begins to laugh with a strange harsh sound and this makes the boy tremble in fear. She opens up her little bag and puts the child into under a spell. Suddenly the poet finds himself encircled by a tribe and he is tied into a stake.

         EXPLANATION: "They said...and never grew".

It was a moment of his moral awakening. In a visionary dream the child finds himself surrounded by an old tribe speaking to him. The members are none else but the oak trees. They introduce themselves as his own true family. They declare that they are nipped and mutilated indiscriminately, but human beings do not pay attention to them. They remain cruelly indifferent. They ask him to make an oath right now to protect trees, or it will bring about their ruin in the long run. 

                           

 whenever he finds a tree felled, he must plant two instead. Else the black oak bark will shroud over him and engrave him among the roots.

     EXPLANATION: "This was my dream...heart was a tree".                                                   

But this incident is not a real incident. It is happening in the dreams of the poet, a dream that transforms his inner conscience. when he wakes up he realizes his mistake and becomes aware of the harm they are causing to the nature. he feels sorry for the trees and his heart is filled with compassion for the trees. Therefore, on his way back to the human society, he was a human child in form but a tree at heart.

     POETIC DEVICES USED IN THE POEM

1. Metaphor- the old woman " all knobbly stick and rag" stands for the poor and exploited state of Mother Nature.
2. Personification- the oak trees have been given human attributes.
3. Symbolism- This poem is replete with symbols.

• the child's search for the stag is a symbol of man's quest for the ideal attained.
• "The black oak bark" suggests aridity and barrenness.
• "Twice awake" suggests a moral awakening- a transmission from ignorance to knowledge. 
• the dream that altered the child is a symbol of spiritual reawakening.