Grandma Climbs A Tree Summary [Class 10] By Ruskin Bond

Quick Introduction about “Grandma Climbs A Tree”

Grandma Climbs A Tree which portrays Ruskin Bond’s love for his family, in this poem we get to know how his grandmother had a passion for climbing trees from a very teenage age & how she could climb trees till the age of sixty-two. Here’s the prose summary of this chapter described in CBSE English Note format. Children’s can have a glance at the prose summary of Grandma Climbs A Tree here. They can check the English essay Notes– Grandma Climbs A Tree while gearing up for his or her Board exams.

Students can also practice CBSE Essays on many topics to enhance their writing section for the English examination.

Summary- “Grandma Climbs a Tree”

Stanza 1:

My grandmother was a genius. You’d like to know why?

Because she could climb trees. Spreading or high,

She’d be up their branches in a trice, and mind you

When last she climbed a tree she was sixty-two.

Ever since childhood, she’d had this gift

For being happier in a tree than in a lift;

This stanza is describing the speaker’s grandmother and why they consider her to be a genius. The grandmother’s talent for climbing trees, whether they were low or high, is presented as the reason for her exceptional ability. The stanza emphasizes that the grandmother’s skill is not a recent development, as she was still climbing trees at the age of sixty-two. The final line of the stanza implies that the grandmother has always preferred being in trees to being in elevators, suggesting that she has a deep connection to nature.

Stanza 2:

And though, as years went by, she would be told

That climbing trees should stop when one grew old-

And that growing old should be gone about gracefully-

She’d laugh and say, ‘Well I’ll grow disgracefully,

I can do it better’. And we had to agree;

For in all the garden there wasn’t a tree

In this stanza, the speaker describes how the grandmother continued to climb trees even as she grew older, despite being told that it was not appropriate for someone her age. The grandmother rejected the idea of growing old gracefully and instead declared that she would grow disgracefully. The speaker acknowledges that the grandmother’s determination to climb trees was impressive, as there wasn’t a tree in the garden that she couldn’t climb, no matter how high or how old it was. The stanza ends with a simile that compares the grandmother’s speed and agility in climbing trees to that of a bold squirrel.

Stanza 3:

She hadn’t been up, at one time or another

[Having learned to climb from a loving brother

when she was six] but it was feared by all

That one day she’d have a terrible fall.

The outcome was different-while we were in town

She climbed a tree and couldn’t come down.

In this stanza, the speaker provides additional background information about the grandmother’s love of climbing trees. The grandmother had learned to climb from her brother at a young age, and the stanza implies that she had climbed many trees throughout her life. However, despite her expertise, there was always a fear that she might have a terrible fall.

The stanza then describes an incident when the grandmother climbed a tree while the rest of the family was in town. The outcome was unexpected, as the grandmother couldn’t come down from the tree. The stanza leaves the reader wondering what happened next and what the family’s reaction was when they returned to find the grandmother stuck in the tree.

Stanza 4:

After the rescue, The doctor took Granny’s temperature and said,

‘I strongly recommend a quiet week in bed’.

We sighed with relief and tucked her up well.

Poor Granny! For her, it was like a brief season in hell.

Confined to her bedroom, while every breeze

Whispered of summer and dancing leaves.

This stanza describes what happened after the grandmother was rescued from the tree. The doctor who examined her recommended that she spend a quiet week in bed to recover from the experience. The family was relieved that the grandmother was safe and followed the doctor’s orders to take care of her.

However, the grandmother found this time in bed to be like a brief season in hell. She was confined to her bedroom while the outside world whispered of summer and dancing leaves. The stanza creates a sense of contrast between the grandmother’s love of nature and her confinement in a small, indoor space. The stanza also emphasizes the grandmother’s resilience and her determination to be active and adventurous, despite the risks involved.

Stanza 5:

But she had held her peace till she felt stronger.

Then she sat up and said, ‘i’ll lie here no longer!’

And she called for my father and told him undaunted

That a house in a treetop was what she now wanted.

My dad knew his duties. He said, That’s all right

You’ll have what you want, dear. I’ll start work tonight.’

In this stanza, the grandmother is shown to be a determined and bold character who is not deterred by her recent experience. She waits until she feels stronger before telling her family that she wants a house in a treetop. The grandmother’s desire for a treehouse reflects her deep connection to nature and her love of climbing trees.

The stanza also shows the grandmother’s relationship with her son (the speaker’s father) and highlights his willingness to fulfill her wishes. He readily agrees to build her a treehouse and promises to start working on it that night. This shows the love and respect the family has for the grandmother and their desire to support her adventurous spirit.

Stanza 6:

With my expert assistance, he soon finished the chore:

Made her a tree – house with windows and a door.

So granny moved up, and now every day

I climb to her room with glasses and tray.

She sits there in state and drinks sherry with me.

Upholding her right to reside in a tree.

This stanza provides the resolution to the story. The speaker’s father, with the help of the speaker, builds the grandmother her dream treehouse. The treehouse has windows and a door and becomes the grandmother’s new home.

The stanza goes on to describe the speaker’s visits to the grandmother in her treehouse. The grandmother sits there in state and drinks sherry with the speaker, upholding her right to reside in a tree. The stanza highlights the happiness that the treehouse has brought to the grandmother and the family’s support for her adventurous spirit.

About the Author

Ruskin Bond was born on 19 May 1934 in a base hospital in Kasauli, to Aubrey Bond & Edith Clerke. His sister and brother were Ellen & William. Ruskin’s father was with the RAF (Royal Air Force). When Bond was 4 years old, his mother divorce from his father & married a Punjabi-Hindu, Mr. Hari, who itself had been married once.

Bond spent his early babyhood in Jamnagar & Shimla. At the age of ten Ruskin visited live at his grandmother’s house in Dehradun after his father’s sudden demise in 1944 from malaria. Ruskin was grown up by his mother. He finished his schooling at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, from where he passed in 1952 after winning several writing contesting in the school like the the Hailey Literature Prize & the Hailey Literature Prize.

Following his high school education he visited his aunt’s house in England & stayed there for 4 years. In London he started writing down his first novel, “The Room on the Roof, the semi- autobiographical fiction of the orphaned Anglo-Indian boy Rusty. It won the 1957 John Llewellyn Rhys prize, awarded to a Commonwealth of nation writer under 30.

Grandma Climbs a Tree Poem Word Meanings

• in a trice : very fast
• hold one’s peace: shut one’s mouth demise
• undaunted : without ambivalence
• chore : function
• sherry : brown or yellow Colored wine

Grandma Climbs a Tree MCQ

Grandma climbs a tree MCQ

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Conclusion- “Grandma Climbs A Tree”

In this chapter– Grandma Climbs A Tree teaches students that we should always be respectful, helpful & obedient towards are elders, especially our parents & grandparent’s . The poet expresses his love for nature and offers us the message that age is simply variety. We hope this brief Summary of Grandma Climbs A Tree will facilitate you to possess an deep understanding of the poem. Meanwhile, you can visit edukar.in to access resources on CBSE Notes and CBSE Study Material & etc. for your Board exams preparation. You can also visit our webpage edukar.in for educational content.

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