“So hack and chop/But this alone won’t do it.”-What does ‘it’ refer to? Why won’t hacking and chopping do it?

Here ‘it’ refers to killing a tree.

Hacking and chopping cannot destroy a tree completely. They may inflict pain for the time being and affect the tree. But they won’t kill the tree because its “bleeding bark’ will heal itself. Then fresh twigs are sure to come out from it and develop into small branches. These fresh twigs that grow near the ground will develop to their former size if unchecked. The poet wants to mean that killing a tree is a difficult task because it also has a life which has been nourished for years.

How does the tree in ‘On Killing a Tree’ heal itself?

“But this alone won’t do it.”-What does this’ refer to? Why won’t this be able to do it? What is to be done to do’it completely?

“No, / The root is to be pulled out—”—What does the word “No’ suggest? What are the methods used by man to completely destroy a tree?

“The source, white and wet, /The most sensitive, hidden” What does the word ‘source’ refer to here? How does the poet describe the root and its function?

Explain: “And then it is done”.

How does the poet describe the killing of a tree in the poem, ‘On Killing a Tree’?

Why does the poet describe the killing of a tree in such graphie detail?

What is the message of the poem ‘On Killing a Tree’ according to you? Explain.

‘On Killing a Tree’ is an ironical poem.- Justify.

Give the central idea of the poem, ‘On Killing a Tree’.

Justify the appropriateness of the title of the poem, ‘On Killing a Tree’.

The poem, ‘On Killing a Tree’, describes man’s cruelty and violence to nature.-Discuss.