Our Casuarina Tree Summary

The Poet Toru Dutt penned down our Casuarina Tree. She celebrates her reminiscent memory of his childhood in India with her lovely siblings. Our Casuarina Tree was produced in the collection of Ancient Ballads and the legends of Hindustan in 1882. The Tree holds a symbolic representation of his memories and has significance in Indian culture and tradition.

Summary of the Poem

The poem contains five stanzas, each with eleven lines, and the cumulative number of lines is fifty-five.

The poem's stanza lines represent the grandeur of the Casuarina in the extensive detailing, standing upright and wrapped with a scarf of the creeper that clutches like a "huge python." The Tree has been described as a source of life dominated by birds, and infants who used to play under the shady branches of trees have vanished.

The poem's second stanza details liveliness engulfing the Tree that denotes baboons, cows, and kokila nearby.

In the poem's third stanza, the speaker clarifies that it is not the greatness of Casuarina that is dear to him; rather, the memories of his ceased sibling associated with the Tree are very close to his heart. Even trees seem to be wailing at this thought.

In the poem's fourth stanza, the speaker tries to remember several foreign shores and where she listened to noise like the Tree's mournful sigh and remembered the Tree and her "own loved native clime."

As the poem culminates, the speaker as the poem comes to an end, the speaker reflects on the trees in Borrowdale that are described as being deathless and carrying a weight similar to the yew trees in William Wordsworth's poem, which she quotes as being associated with fear, hopelessness, and mortality. On the other hand, the speaker desires to revisit the Casuarina tree from her childhood, which she hopes will not be forgotten and lost forever.

Poetic Devices

The speaker has used subjective pronouns for the title and describes the poem's tone. The poem also describes the impact of colonialism on the Indian culture and tradition. It also tries to show the work of the Christian missionaries who converted a prosperous, wealthy Hindu family into a Christian. The poem is dominated by imagery, offering a holistic description and appearance of the Tree and memories that are associated with the trees. Examples of Metaphor and similes are:

Metaphor: Time the Shadow, trembling Hope, and The Giant wears the Scarf

Smilies: "The water-lilies spring like snow enmassed," "Baboon sits statue-like alone," and "Like a huge python."

About the Author

Toru Dutt, or Tarulatha Dutt, is considered an outstanding novelist, translator, polyglot, and a magnificent pioneer in the history of Indian Literature. She was born on 4 March 1856 to the rich and illustrious Dutt Family of Bagban. Now it is in Calcutta. Toru Dutt was the younger daughter in his family. His father's name was Govin Chunder Dutt, and his mother's was Kshetramoni.

The family also spent around three years in England and One year in France, Dutt had to attend boarding school, and she learned and wrote French. She came to India at 17 and was in despair because of losing her sister and literary soulmate. The old, conservative, and restrictive nature of Indian society has made its life more challenging to him. The Dutt family is known for its aristocracy. Toru comes from a family of writers, and his father was an employee of the Government of India and has produced some books. His mother deeply liked Hindu mythology and translated the Blood of Christ book into Bengali. Since the author was a government employee, the family had to travel frequently.

In 1862, the family converted to Christianity, and she was six years old. This is supposed to be one of the major events of his life. Toru faced social isolation and rejection because they decided to convert to Christianity. She has to move to Bombay for a year. After returning to Calcutta, her brother died due to consumption. Toru lived for just a small span of a year. She died at the age of 21.