My Own True Family
~ Ted Hughes
( Poem summary Class 10th )
1
Once I crept in an oakwood – I was looking for a stag.
I met an old woman there – all knobbly stick and rag.
She said: ‘I have your secret here inside my little bag. ‘
2
Then she began to cackle and I began to quake.
She opened up her little bag and I came twice awake —
Surrounded by a staring tribe and tied me to a stake.
3
They said: ‘We are the oak trees and your own true family.
We are chopped down, we are torn up, you do not blink an eye.
Unless you make a promise now – now you are going to die.
4
‘Whenever you see an oak – felled tree, swear now you will plant two.
Unless you swear the black oak bark will wrinkle over you
And root you among the oaks where you were born but never grew!
5
This was my dream beneath the boughs, the dream that altered me.
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.
My Own True Family by Ted Hughes | Summary | Suggestive Question Answer
The poem describes the magical experience of a young child in an oakwood, and indicates that human beings and trees should thrive as a single family. It focuses strongly on the need to protect our natural environment for the welfare of mankind.
Stanza :
1) Once the poet saw in a dream that he had entered silently into an oakwood forest as a young child looking for a deer. There he met an old woman with a rough stick in her hand and ragged dress on her body. She said that she had her secret inside her little bag.
Stanza :
2) Then the old woman started laughing loudly with a harsh sound. The poet began to tremble in fear. She opened her little bag and the poet became very conscious by her magic spell (influence ) and saw (in his dream ) that he was surrounded by a tribe of trees staring at him and he himself was tied to a post.
Stanza :
3) The trees said that they are oak trees and members of the poet's ( Human ) family. They are cut down and uprooted mercilessly. But the poet and the people do not care to look to them. If the poet and the people (human beings ) do not make a promise, they are going to die.
Stanza :
4) (The promise is that) Whenever the poet sees a tree felled he will plant two . Unless he promises the black bark of oak will wrinkle his body. And he would be planted to where he was born to but he would never grow consciousness.
Stanza :
5) This was the dream the poet saw under the branches of oak trees. The dream brought about a change in his mind. When he comes out of the oak trees, and mixes with human beings he walks like a man with the heart of a tree.
Suggestive Question Answer
1. Why did the poet creep in an oak wood?
Ans: The poet crept in an oak wood looking for a stag.
2. What was the poet looking for?
Ans: The poet was looking for a stag.
3. What happened when she opened her little bag?
Ans: When she opened her little bag, she began to cackle and the poet began to quake.
4. How did the tribe introduce themselves?
Ans: The tribe introduced themselves as the poet’s own true family.
5. What condition did the tribe place before the poet?
Ans: The condition, the tribe placed before the poet, was that unless he makes a promise to plant oak trees, he would be going to die.
6. What kind of promise was the poet asked to make?
Ans: The poet had to make a promise that he would plant two oak trees if he had seen one oak tree was being felled.
7. How did the tribe threaten the poet?
Ans: The tribe threatened the poet telling him that unless he swore to plant more oak trees, the black bark would wrinkle over him and root him among the oaks.
8. What altered the poet?
Ans: The dream that the poet dreamed beneath the boughs of the oak trees, altered the poet.
9. What kind of change was felt by the poet when he came back to the human company?
Ans: When the poet came back to the human company he was felt that his walk was the walk of a human child but his heart was a tree.
10. “I came twice awake” – What does the line suggest?
Ans: The line suggests that the poet dreams a dream in his trance and the dream secret that makes him ‘twice awake’ is the knowledge of the way of the communication between nature and the other worlds, between nature and the human beings.
11. What does the poem focus on?
Ans: The poem focuses strongly on the need to protect our natural environment for the welfare of mankind.
12. What does the poet’s search for the stag symbolise? What does the old woman ‘all knobbly stick and rag’ stand for?
Ans: ‘The poet’s search for the stag’ symbolises quest for the ideal place of living. The old woman ‘all knobbly stick and rag’ stands for the despised and neglected mother nature.
13. What did the tribe tell the poet?
Ans: The tribe told the poet that they were the oak-trees and his own true family. They were chopped down, torn up but the poet had not blink an eye.
14. “The dream altered me” – How did the dream alter him?
Ans: The poet had been compelled to make a promise tying to a stake that he would plant two trees instead of cutting one. The tribe threatened to kill him. This dream alters the poem.
15. What message does the poem leave?
Ans: We should plant two trees instead of cutting one. The poem leaves this message.
16. Describe the appearance of the old lady in the oak wood.
Ans: The lady was old and unsteady. She held a stick in her hand and her dress was worn out like rags.
17. Why did the old woman begin to cackle?
Ans: The old woman tempted the poet into believing that she had his secret hidden inside her little bag. As soon as he fell prey to her witchcraft, the old woman began to cackle.
18. What would happen to the poet if he failed to make the promise?
Ans: Like other men who, in spite of being a part of nature, neglect their duty to preserve it, the poet also never cared to save the oak trees. That is why the oak trees said that though the poet was born, he never ‘grew up’ implying that he never developed psychologically.
19. What was the poet’s realisation coming out of the oak wood?
Ans: Coming out of the oak wood, the poet realised the intensity of pain caused to trees while cutting them. He also realised that this brutality on the part of the human beings is telling upon the natural environment as well.
20. What change took place in the poet when he came out of the forest?
Ans: When the poet came out of the forest he felt himself to be belonging to the tree family as he could realise the pain of the oak trees when they were felled by the human beings.
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