the tree enmassed - amassed shingle - rocky wraith - apparition tranced - dreamy condition, hypnotised sublime - glorious, grand fain - eagerly consecrate - to officially make something holy lay - amateur rehearse - repeat oblivion - a state of forgetfulness Glossary Toru Dutt ( - ) was a Bengali poet from the Indian subcontinent, who wrote in English and French. She was the third daughter of the family. The Dutt family was a family of distinguished intellectuals and poets. She also had the advantage of being taught by excellent English tutors at home and later on of the long stay in Europe and England.
Toru, with all her exposure to and involvement in Western life and culture loved the land of her birth and remained thoroughly Indian in her consciousness and sensibility. Besides her well-known collection of poems with the title ‘Ancient Ballads’ and ‘Legends of Hindustan’ ( ) she has to her credit a volume of poems in French titled ‘Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields’ ( ). ‘Our Casuarina Tree’, the most well- known of Toru’s poems, was included in her ‘Miscellaneous Poems’. About The Author .
Fill in the blanks choosing the words from the box given and complete the summary of the poem. The casuarina tree is tall and strong, with a creeper winding around it like a ( ) . The tree stands like a ( ) with a colourful scarf of flowers. Birds surround the garden and the sweet song of the birds is heard.
The poet is delighted to see the casuarina tree through her ( ) . She sees a grey monkey sitting like a ( ) on top of the tree, the cows grazing and the water lilies ( ) in the pond. The poet feels that the tree is dear to her not for its ( ) appearance but for the ( ) memories of her happy childhood that it brings to her. She strongly believes that ( ) communicates with human beings.
The poet could communicate with the tree even when she was in a far-off land as she could hear the