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1. The Laburnum Top
/ləˈbəːnəm/
Ted Hughes
Goldfinch
MUSHIKA RAJU
PGT ENGLISH

2. The Laburnum Top is silent, quite still
in the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen
Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup
A suddeness, a startlement, at a branch end
Then sleek as a lizard, and alert and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Of chitterings, and of tremor of wings, and trillings -
The whole tree trembles and thrills
It is the engine of her family.
She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask
Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings
She launches away, towards the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty

3. Important Words
Laburnum : a short tree with hanging branches, yellow flowers, and poisonous
seeds.
Laburnum Top : The top of the laburnum tree - its highest branches
Goldfinch : Wild canary - A small, yellow bird - The male of the species has
black markings across the face, on the wings and tail.
Twitch : Small, often involuntary movement of a body part
Chirrup : An onomatopoeic word capturing the sound made by a bird
Startlement : Amazement - a sudden unexpected action which causes surprise
Sleek : Smooth - In the context of the poem, it could imply a quick movement
without much disruption.
Abrupt : Sudden or unexpected
Chittering : An onomatopoeic word capturing bird sounds
Tremor : Shiver - shake
Trillings : Singing repeatedly - In the context of the poem, an onomatopoeic
word, capturing bird sounds
Stokes : Adds fuel - In the context of the poem, the goldfinch feeds its family,
providing the fuel (nutrition) that the machine (the bird's family) needs to be
energetic
Flirts : In the context of the poem, move abruptly or jerkily with light steps
Eerie : Strange in a frightening or mysterious way
Infinite : In the context of the poem, the sky
Launches : In the context of the poem, flies
Subsides : Returns, reduces in intensity

4. Poetic Devices
• Onomatopoeia refers to a word that phonetically mimics or resembles the sound
of the thing it describes.
• Chirrup: of a small bird) make repeated short, high-pitched sounds.
• Chittering: make a twittering or chattering sound.
• Trillings: When birds trill, they sing a series of quickly repeated high notes.
• Simile – comparison between two things using like or as.
Sleek as a lizard
• Metaphor – an indirect comparison between two things. Generally, a quality is
compared.
“She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up” - the noise created by the
movement of the birds is compared to the machine’s noise
“It is the engine of her family.”
“Showing her barred face identity mask”
• Personification – the attribution of personal nature characteristics to something
non-human. Ex: The whole tree trembles and thrills.
• Transferred Epithet – the figure of speech where the adverb is transferred to
another noun. Ex: her barred face identity mask

5. Summary
• The poem starts with a description of the Laburnum tree whose top was still and
silent. Its leaves had turned yellow and seeds had fallen down. It was a daytime in
the month of September when the tree was standing still and death-like.
• The life-less tree becomes alive by the arrival of the Goldfinch bird. She came to
feed her younger ones who are on the thickness of the branch. The tree is her shelter.
She arrives at the end of the branch with the chirping sound. She further moves to
the other side of the branch with rapid and precautionary movement like a lizard. As
soon as she arrives, her younger ones start chirping like a machine and vibrating and
flapping their wings. The death-like tree becomes alive and it trembles and shakes.
• After feeding them, she flies to the other side of the branch. Her dark coloured face
with the yellow body was barely visible as she vanished behind the yellow leaves.
She flew away in the sky, leaving the tree death-like again.