1. Discuss the significance of the last line of “The Orange Tree”

The young girl stood beside me.
I Saw not what her young eyes could see:
– A light, she said, not of the sky
Lives somewhere in the Orange Tree.

– Is it, I said, of east or west?
The heartbeat of a luminous boy
Who with his faltering flute confessed
Only the edges of his joy?

Was he, I said, borne to the blue
In a mad escapade of Spring
Ere he could make a fond adieu
To his love in the blossoming?

– Listen! the young girl said. There calls
No voice, no music beats on me;
But it is almost sound: it falls
This evening on the Orange Tree.

– Does he, I said, so fear the Spring
Ere the white sap too far can climb?
See in the full gold evening
All happenings of the olden time?

Is he so goaded by the green?
Does the compulsion of the dew
Make him unknowable but keen
Asking with beauty of the blue?

– Listen! the young girl said. For all
Your hapless talk you fail to see
There is a light, a step, a call
This evening on the Orange Tree.

– Is it, zi said, a waste of love
Imperishably old in pain,
Moving as an affrighted dove
Under the sunlight or the rain?

Is it a fluttering heart that gave
Too willingly and was reviled?
Is it the stammering at a grave,
The last word of a little child?

– Silence! the young girl said. Oh, why,
Why will you talk to weary me?
Plague me no longer now, for I
Am listening like the Orange Tree.

Upon re-reading this poem, I am reminded of my sister who is only nine years old. I believe the girl in this poem portrays a sense of wisdom which is developed through her seemingly untainted innocence towards the world. I am constantly reminded of how  my sisters  perception to the world around her is different to my own. Thus, I am repeatedly in the respective situation where I am the narrator badgering my sister with questions about her views. Throughout the poem, the girl is dismissive of the narrator and the nagging questions and eventually calls for “Silence!” Likewise to my sister, as she too is persistent and holds her stance around adults. The poem depicts a narrator and young girl who are having a  (one-sided) conversation about the Orange Tree and its symbolism through its apparent beauty. Essentially, the girl observes and listens to the Orange Tree and its surroundings to understand its deeper beauty and  meaning. In comparison to the narrator who is analysing every aspect and overthinks the responses the girl provides, highlighting the stark differences between those who “think” and” feel.” The narrator sees the Orange Tree as a means to provide for the environment around it,  “To his love in the blossoming?”. Whereas the girl sees the Orange Tree as simply an Orange Tree, which the narrator does not understand due to their understanding of how everything in the environment is in service to the other. The girl attempts to describe this idea to the narrator, but it falls onto silent ears as the narrator is unable to be open-minded and adopt new understandings of the purpose of nature.

The purpose of the Orange Tree in the poem is to epitomise the understanding of being an observer to the world and nature around you. The Orange Tree is silent and is beautiful,  and the poem proves to the narrator that it does not need to be anything else or analysed to gain understanding of its beauty.