The cherry tree is a beautiful narrative poem where the poet gives his experience of planting a tree and later on enjoying the benifits of the tree
The poem is Written by Ruskin Bond who's home town Kasauli is amidst beautiful nature which has been a fascination for him. He has written poems and short stories which has brought fame to him through prestigious awards and recognition.
The poem depicts the struggle put up by the cherry tree to grow and also the writers curiosity to see the tree bloom.
The seed of cherry was sowed in the soil as the poet wanted to have a tree of his own. Initially he cared for it but later on he left the tree unattended and allowed it to grow on it's own which was the law of nature. The small sapling faced lot of threat but didn't give up and finally after a period of 8 years the tree bloomed bringing joy to the creatures of nature and of course our poet. The poet enjoys watching the tree lying down on grass on a starry moon lit night.
The poem has various figures of speech which add beauty to it. We can come across Alliteration for example 'Shrivelled the slender stem', 'Who watched wandering wild', Personification ex. ' The young tree struggle ', It's arms in a fresh lust', Antithesis ex. Came back thinner, rather poor, but richer by a cherry tree... The rhyming words add musical effect like 'said-bed', 'child-wild', 'sun-one' and so on. Another aspect which makes the poem lively is the colour imagery used by the poet ex. blue, pink, green the ripened cherry colour etc.
The narrative style is beautiful maintained in the poem with a proper beginning, middle and end. The different characters in the poem brings liveliness. The conversation tone add beauty to it. The poem shares the personal experience of the poet.
The underlying message that we get from this poem is that trees are important for ecological balance of the environment. It brings joy to all the creatures in nature. We also learn that inspite of struggle the tree grows and brings happiness to all. We too should follow the footsteps of the tree.
I love this poem because in this concrete jungle world this poem brings a ray of hope to us by highlighting the importance of tree growing for the welfare of all living beings.
