Central Idea and Summary

The central idea of the poem is the sudden transformation of a still, seemingly lifeless tree into a place full of life and energy the moment a mother goldfinch arrives to feed her chicks — and its return to silence when she leaves. Hughes celebrates the deep bond between the bird and the tree, and the way life passes back and forth between them.

The poem opens in complete stillness. On a yellow September afternoon the top of the laburnum tree is silent and quite still; a few of its leaves are turning yellow and its seeds have already fallen. The tree seems to be nearing the end of its season, drained of life.

Then a goldfinch arrives with a quick, twitching chirp — a sudden, startling flash of movement at the end of a branch. Sleek and alert as a lizard, she slips into the thick foliage, and at once the whole tree comes alive. It fills with chirpings, a tremor of beating wings and trilling notes; the poet compares this burst of activity to a machine or an engine starting up — the "engine of her family", because she is feeding her waiting young. The tree itself seems to tremble and thrill with the sound. …