This document provides information about a presentation on the poem "On Killing a Tree" by Gieve Patel. It includes biographical information about the poet, an overview of the poem's themes about how deeply rooted evil is and how difficult it is to uproot, and summaries of each stanza describing the lengthy process required to fully kill a tree by extracting its roots from the ground. The presentation was given by Sanjay Dange, a teacher from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya.

1. NAVODAYA VIDYALAYA SAMITI
BHOPAL REGION

2. READ BEFORE YOU DO
 In this poem the tree is a symbol of evil which is
very deep-rooted and cannot be wiped off easily.
 cutting a tree merely will not kill it because it has the ability to sprout
again after some time.
 A tree cannot be killed by a simple jab of knife.
 A tree grows very slowly by feeding itself on the earth. It indicates that
evil is also deep rooted in the surroundings and can not be uprooted so
easily without changing the environment.
 For uprooting the tree one has to tie the rope to it and then pull it out
completely.
Then it will come out of the cave and expose its white roots to the sunlight.
 After that the roots will get dry and the sun and the air will make the roots
brown and hard. They will make it twist and wither slowly and finally the
tree is killed.

3. WELCOME TO WATCH A
PRESENTATION ON
“ON KILLING A TREE”

4. GIEVE PATEL was born in1940. He is a
poet and playwright . He is a medical
practitioner by profession. He was
educated at St. Xavier High School and
Grant medical college, Bombay. His
Poems are unspectacular take-offs on
the Indian scene on which he comments
with fastidiousness. He gives very
minute detail in the Frostian style. In
1984, he was awarded Woodrow Wilson
Fellowship to the Smithsonian
Institute, Washington D.C. to write a
play-Mr. Behram’.
Some his famous poems are: On
killing a tree, Servants, Naryal purnima,
Nargal, on my own cadaver and
commerce.

5. FIRST STANZA
It takes much time to kill a tree,
Not a simple jab of the knife
Will do it. It has grown
Slowly consuming the earth,
Rising out of it, feeding
Upon its crust, absorbing
Years of sunlight, air, water,
And out if its leprous hide
Sprouting leaves.

6. SECOND STANZA
So hack and chop
But this alone won’t do it.
Not so much pain will do it.
The bleeding bark will heal
And from close to the ground
Will rise curled green twigs,
Miniature boughs
Which if unchecked will expand
again
To former size.

7. THIRD STANZA
No,
The root has to be pulled out –
Out of the anchoring earth;
It is to be roped, tied,
And pulled out – snapped out
Or pulled out entirely,
Out from the earth-cave,
And the strength of the tree exposed,
The source, white and wet,
The most sensitive, hidden
Four years inside the earth.

8. LAST STANZA
Then the matter
Of scorching and choking
In sun and air,
Browning, hardening,
Twisting, withering,
And then it is done

9. THANKS A LOT.
PRESENTED BY:
SANJAY DANGE
TGT ENGLISH
JNV PRABHAT PATTAN DISTT.
BETUL
M.P.

10. It takes much time to kill a tree,
Not a simple jab of the knife
Will do it. It has grown
Slowly consuming the earth,
Rising out of it, feeding
Upon its crust, absorbing
Years of sunlight, air, water,
And out of its leprous hide
Sprouting leaves.

11. So hack and chop
But this alone won’t do it.
Not so much pain will do it.
The bleeding bark will heal
And from closed to the ground
Will rise curled green twigs,
Miniature boughs
Which if unchecked will expand again
To former size.

12. No.
The root is to be pulled out
Out of the anchoring earth;
It is to be roped, tied,
And pulled out- Snapped out
Or pulled out entirely,
Out from the earth cave,
And the strength of the tree exposed
The source, white and wet,
The most sensitive, hidden
For years inside the earth.
Then the matter
Of scorching and choking
In sun and air,
Browning, hardening ,
Twisting, withering,
And then it is done.