"My Own True Family" was published in a children's book by Ted Hughes called Meet My Family! with illustrations by George Adamson. The first edition of the volume, published on 7 April 1961 by Faber & Faber, did not include "My Own True Family." The poem "My Own True Family" and three other poems were added for a new Puffin Book edition published in August 1977.
In the poem “Our Own True Family” we found a magical experience of a young child in an oakwood and indicates that the human race and the trees should stay side by side. It focuses on the need of trees in our environment. Since the beginning, trees have furnished us with two of life's essentials, food and oxygen. As we evolved, they provided additional necessities such as shelter, medicine, and tools. Today, their value continues to increase and more benefits of trees are being discovered as their role expands to satisfy the needs created by our modern lifestyles.The poem deals with such relationship between human beings and the trees. Trees are the best friends of human beings.
Trees are an important part of every community. Our streets, parks, playgrounds and backyards are lined with trees that create a peaceful, aesthetically pleasing environment. Trees increase our quality of life by bringing natural elements and wildlife habitats into urban settings. We gather under the cool shade they provide during outdoor activities with family and friends. Many neighborhoods are also the home of very old trees that serve as historic landmarks and a great source of town pride. Using trees in cities to deflect the sunlight reduces the heat island effect caused by pavement and commercial buildings.
In the related poem “Our Own True Family” a child entered in a oakwood in search of a stag and met an ‘old women’ who put him under a spell. He dreamt that he was surrounded by ‘a staring tribe of oak –trees that was his own true family. They forced the poet to swear to plant two trees instead of the one felled trees. In the light of reality, trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. During the process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we breathe. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, "One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people." Trees, shrubs and turf also filter air by removing dust and absorbing other pollutants like carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. After trees intercept unhealthy particles, rain washes them to the ground.Trees control climate by moderating the effects of the sun, rain and wind. Leaves absorb and filter the sun's radiant energy, keeping things cool in summer. Trees also preserve warmth by providing a screen from harsh wind.So it is very important idea in this modern age to plant two when one tree is cut in our need or any prosperous development.
If such ideas are related to “My Own True Family”, the boy’s search for the stag symbolises quest for the ideal place of living, the old women ‘all knobbly stick and rag’, becomes the despised and neglected Mother nature and the dream secret that makes him ‘twice awake’ is the knowledge of the way of communication between the inner and the outer worlds, between trees and human being.
In the poem, the narrator encounters an old woman who captures the narrator and ties him to a stake. The narrator dreams that his is then surrounded by a staring tribe of oak spirits who make him promise, under the threat of death, that when he sees an oak tree chopped down he will always plant two in its place. When he returns to the waking world, he has a mystical connection to nature, as expressed in the lines:
“When I came out of the oakwood, back to human company,
My walk was the walk of a human child, but my heart was a tree.”
Comments
Post a Comment