Laburnum Top Summary

The Laburnum Top                 by Ted Hughes।                   

Summary of the Poem     Initial Stillness:

The poem begins by describing a laburnum tree in September, during the autumn season. The top of the tree is silent, still, and appears "death-like," with yellowing leaves and fallen seeds.                       The Goldfinch Arrives:

This silence is suddenly broken by the arrival of a small goldfinch mother bird. She lands at a branch end with a sharp, "twitching chirrup," moving with the sleek, alert abruptness of a lizard.         Burst of Activity:

As the bird enters the thickness of the branches where her nest is hidden, a flurry of sound and movement erupts. Her young ones start a "machine" of chitterings, trillings, and wing tremors, excited by their mother's arrival with food. The whole tree is filled with life and shakes with excitement.

Return to Silence: After feeding her chicks and "stoking" the "engine" of her family, the goldfinch moves to a branch end, revealing her distinctive "barred face identity mask". She then launches away into the "infinite" sky, and immediately, the tree "subsides to empty" and returns to its original silent, still, and lifeless state.         

Message-The poem, "The Laburnum Top" by Ted Hughes describes a mutual relationship between a Laburnum Tree which is large, beautiful but quite alone and a goldfinch bird which is quite amusing, beautiful but without a shelter. The Laburnum Tree gives the house to the bird and its young chicks and the bird, in turn, takes away its dead silence.