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Quiz about Trees of Literature Legend and Song
Quiz about Trees of Literature Legend and Song

Trees of Literature, Legend, and Song Quiz


Trees have inspired authors, poets, and composers from ancient times to the present day. These are some memorable literary, legendary, and musical uses of this timeless symbol. Enjoy!

A multiple-choice quiz by jouen58. Estimated time: 15 mins.
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Author
jouen58
Time
15 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
135,850
Updated
Jun 04 23
# Qns
25
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
13 / 25
Plays
6106
Awards
Editor's Choice
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Question 1 of 25
1. In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Part of the reason for their expulsion was that God became concerned that, having eaten of this tree, they would be tempted to eat of yet another tree in the Garden. After their expulsion, this second tree was guarded by an angel with a flaming sword. What tree was this? Hint


Question 2 of 25
2. Tree and plant legends of all kinds feature in the mythology of ancient Greece. One very moving story concerns the sisters of Phaeton, son of Helios, who one day took his father's solar chariot out for an unauthorized spin. Unable to control the chariot, he drove it too close to the earth, scorching parts of the globe and causing terrible damage. To avert total disaster, Zeus hurled a thunderbolt at the chariot which destroyed it and killed Phaeton, whose body fell into the sea. His sisters gathered around the shore and wept for him until Zeus, unable to bear their lamentations, turned them into poplar trees ringing the shore. Even as trees, however, they continued to weep. What were their tears transformed into? Hint


Question 3 of 25
3. The legends of Robin Hood and his merry men take place, of course, in Sherwood Forest. Of what tree is Robin Hood's famous bow made? Hint


Question 4 of 25
4. One of the most beloved children's books is Shel Silverstein's bittersweet story "The Giving Tree", which tell of a tree's love for a small boy and her willingness, as he grows to adulthood, to give him whatever he asks of her, even allowing herself to be cut down. Eventually, the boy becomes an old man and visits the tree, which offers her stump for him to sit on and rest. What kind of tree is "the giving tree"? Hint


Question 5 of 25
5. One of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales might well have been subtitled "The Giving Tree". It features a tree which, along with the two birds perched on its branches, provides the heroine of the story with anything that she asks for and eventually helps her to marry a prince. Which story features this remarkable tree? Hint


Question 6 of 25
6. The fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson include the bittersweet "The Fir Tree". At the beginning of the story, the fir tree is beautifully formed, but so tiny that a rabbit is able to jump right over it. What does the fir tree ultimately dream of becoming? Hint


Question 7 of 25
7. Speaking of fir trees, an old German folksong praises the perpetual green of the fir tree's leaves in both winter and summer. In the second and third verses of the song, the fir tree itself speaks explaining that it may well be green, since it has no father or mother, but only the good God to make it grow strong and green. This song was set to a tune widely used in both Germany and America, where it was, and is, used as the melody of the state song of Maryland. In the mid nineteenth century, its lyrics underwent a significant change and it is now indelibly associated with a major holiday with which it originally had no connection. Which of these songs is it? Hint


Question 8 of 25
8. Wagner's "Die Walkure" is the second of the four operas which comprise his "Ring der Nibelungen" It concerns the doings of his warrior daughters, the Valkyries, headed by Brunnhilde, and the Walsungs, (Siegmund and Sieglinde) his illegitimate half-mortal twins. The latter are separated in early childhood. Sieglinde is forced into marriage with a coarse, brutal man named Hunding. At her wedding, a mysterious one-eyed stranger appeared (her father Wotan) and hurled a sword at the trunk of an ash tree, where it became embedded. No one present could pull the sword loose. What is interesting about this tree, apart from the sword in its trunk, is its position in relation to Hunding's hut; where does the tree grow? Hint


Question 9 of 25
9. This stately piece of Baroque music, long a mainstay of the classical music repertoire, is actually an operatic aria, though it is often performed in an instrumental arrangement. As an aria, it has been sung (and recorded) by artists as diverse as Enrico Caruso, Kathleen Battle, countertenor David Daniels, and Luciano Pavarotti. Its composer was of German birth, but became an honored British subject and a court composer. Most people assume it to be either a religious piece or a dignified love song; in fact, it is a Persian ruler's expression of his unalterable affection for his...plane tree. Hint


Question 10 of 25
10. In Act IV, scene 3 of Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello", Desdemona has a premonition of her impending death (she will shortly be murdered by her jealous husband). She finds herself singing a mournful song she remembers from her childhood as having been sung by a handmaid of her mother's, who was abandoned by her lover. The refrain of the song mentions a tree associated with mourning and sadness. Another tragic Shakespearean heroine, Ophelia (in "Hamlet"), meets her end when a branch from the tree she is climbing breaks and sends her falling into the brook running below it, where she drowns. Ironically, it is the same tree featured in Desdemona's song. Which tree is it? Hint


Question 11 of 25
11. Shakespeare's "As You Like it" takes place, principally, in the forest of Arden. The play features a number of characters, including a banished Duke, his daughter, and his loyal retainers living an idyllic pastoral existence in the forest. The play's philosophy is summed up in the song "Under the greenwood tree", sung by Amiens in Act II, scene 5: "Under the greenwood tree, who loves to lie with me and tune his merry note unto the sweet bird's throat". What turn of the century (19th-20th) English novelist used the first line of this song as the title for his book about life in an English village? Hint


Question 12 of 25
12. Which Russian author wrote the 1904 fin de siecle drama "The Cherry Orchard", which deals with the decline and fall of an aristocratic family? Hint


Question 13 of 25
13. The 1910 novel "Howard's End" by E.M. Forster also deals with the passing of an era, in this case the Edwardian era in England. Near the beginning of the novel Ruth Wilcox, the dying matriarch of the Wilcox family, tells young Margaret Schleigel of her love for Howard's End, her ancestral home (Margaret and her siblings are about to lose their own home). Ruth mentions a wych-elm tree on the property which has some quite unusual objects embedded in its bark. What are they? Hint


Question 14 of 25
14. A touching Roumanian-Jewish legend tells of an unhappily married young woman who pours her heart out one day in the woods to her visiting mother. Because the mother cannot be with her every day, she commands her daughter to come out once every week and tell her troubles to the tree they are standing under. The next time the mother comes to visit, the daughter looks much happier and more content. When the mother asks if things have improved in her marriage, the daughter replies that no, they are the same. Why, then, does the daughter seem happier? Hint


Question 15 of 25
15. In Charlotte Bronte's classic novel "Jane Eyre", the title character is hired as a governess at Thornfield, the home of Mr. Rochester. Her charge is a little French girl, Adele, who is Rochester's ward. During the course of the novel, she befriends her tormented employer and they grow to love each other. In Chapter 23, Rochester declares his feelings for Jane and asks her to marry him. She accepts his proposal, but cannot shake a feeling of foreboding. That night, something happens concerning a great horse-chestnut tree on the grounds of Thornfield which proves to be a portent of disaster; what is it? Hint


Question 16 of 25
16. "The Dream of the Red Chamber" ("Hong Lou Meng", a.k.a. "Story of the Stone"), attributed to Tsao Hsueh Chin, is thought by many to be possibly the greatest Chinese novel. It concerns the thwarted love of Pao'yu, the scion of the aristocratic Chia family, for Black Jade. Pao'yu, alternately pampered by his female relatives and terrorized (at one point almost killed) by his despotic father, finds his soul mate in his cousin, the delicate Black Jade. However, their union is not meant to be due to misadventure and family intrigue. At one point, the unusual behavior of a begonia tree growing near Pao'yu's pavillion is seen (correctly) as an ill omen; what happens to the tree? Hint


Question 17 of 25
17. One of the most beloved of Welsh folk ballads is this melancholy song in which a disconsolate lover sees, but cannot enjoy the beauties of nature, since his beloved "sleeps 'neath the green turf" down by this grove. Hint


Question 18 of 25
18. A old Cherokee legend tells of how the people of the Earth had decided that the world would be much better if there were no night-time. They petitioned the Ouga (Creator) who, at length, granted their request with predictably disastrous results. Once again, people petitioned the Creator, this time to take away the (by now) hated daytime and make it perpetually night-time, which proved equally disastrous. Eventually, people realized that they needed both day and night and asked that things be returned to the way they were. Sadly, many people had died during the time it took to learn this lesson, so the Creator decided to create a new tree in which to house their spirits. This tree was called a-tsi-na tlu-gv and was noted for the fragrance of its wood. What is the English name for this tree? Hint


Question 19 of 25
19. The English sovereign Henry VIII has often been credited with having composed the popular song "Greensleeves" for one of his mistresses. Musicologists generally agree that the song originated too late for Henry to have been the composer; however it is a fact that Henry (who was tutored in the courtly arts, including songwriting) did write a love song with lyrics not unlike those of "Greensleeves" in which he compares his undying and unchanging love (?!) to this evergreen tree, frequently associated with Christmas. Hint


Question 20 of 25
20. In Shakespeare's "Macbeth", the title character is told three prophecies by the witches: 1.) To beware Macduff, the thane of Fife 2.) That no man born of woman will ever defeat him, and 3.) That he will never be defeated until Birnam Wood itself comes to Dunsinane. Macbeth takes the latter two prophecies to mean that he is invincible, however he cannot understand why he is cautioned to "beware Macduff" since none born of woman can defeat him. In Act V, scene 5, while Macbeth is under siege from the forces under Malcolm, King Duncan's son, (which includes Macduff whose family have been massacred upon Macbeth's orders) a messenger delivers the incredible news that Birnam Wood has, indeed, been seen advancing upon Dunsinane. How did this amazing prophecy come true? Hint


Question 21 of 25
21. Daniel Defoe's classic novel "Robinson Crusoe" describes the struggle for survival of the title character after he finds himself alone on an island after a disastrous shipwreck. Having been born into a comfortable middle class existence, he finds the strength and the will to survive by his wits and the strength of his hands. In Chapter II he manages, with great difficulty, to cut down an extremely heavy tree known in Brasil as the ironwood tree and to carry a piece to his tent. What utilitarian object does he manage to fashion from it? Hint


Question 22 of 25
22. Edgar Allan Poe's detective novel "The Gold Bug" concerns the search for a buried treasure by one William Legrand. Formerly prosperous, Legrand has fallen on hard times and lives in seclusion on Sullivan's Island near Charleston, South Carolina, with his African servant, Jupiter. Having discovered a golden bug on a beach, Legrand draws a sketch of it on a piece of parchment which he had found nearby. When held near a fire, the parchment reveals the outline of a skull. Believing that the parchment contains a numerical code of some kind pointing to a buried treasure, Legrand convinces his friend (the story's narrator, who is unnamed) to join him and Jupiter on an expedition. At one point, they arrive at a huge tulip tree. Legrand orders Jupiter to climb, with the bug, up to the seventh bough. Jupiter climbs and goes almost to the very tip of the bough; what does he find there? Hint


Question 23 of 25
23. Trees can have their nefarious uses as well. In Daphne du Maurier's 1951 mystery novel "My Cousin Rachel" an English nobleman, Philip Ashley, falls in love with Rachel, the Italian widow of his beloved uncle Ambrose, even though Ambrose died believing that Rachel was trying to poison him. After Rachel abruptly refuses his marriage proposal, Philip falls violently ill. Although he recovers, apparently with Rachel's help, he comes to believe that she is poisoning him as well. His suspicions are strengthened when he comes across seed pods from a tree which he knows to be poisonous. What tree are they from? Hint


Question 24 of 25
24. One of the greatest wrongs in American history are the countless lynchings of African Americans during their struggle for freedom and civil rights. In 1938, a song written by a composer known only as "Lewis Allen" described the swinging bodies of lynching victims in terms both poetic and horrifying: "Southern trees bear a strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves and blood at the root./ Black body swinging in the Southern breeze/ Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees." This song was actually written by Jewish schoolteacher, Abel Meeropol (Meeropol, once a member of the American Communist party, adopted the Rosenberg's sons after their execution). The song premiered at the Cafe society in Greenwich Village provoking a storm of controversy. Only Commodore records would agree to record it and no radio stations would play it. Despite all this, it reached #16 on the charts and played a decisive part in publicizing this heinous practice. What famous (and tragic) blues singer gave the first performance of this song? Hint


Question 25 of 25
25. Perhaps the most famous tree in literature is the title "character" of Betty Smith's beloved novel "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". The story concerns young Francie Nolan's determination to better herself and become a writer, despite a childhood of terrible poverty in the slums of Brooklyn in the early 1900s, an alcoholic father, and an overworked and frustrated mother. The tree of the title, growing through cement and cellar gratings in Francie's back yard, is symbolic of her stubborn determination to rise above her surroundings and defeat all obstacles. The tree of the title goes by the botanical name "ailanthus altissima"; what is its (highly symbolic) common name? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Part of the reason for their expulsion was that God became concerned that, having eaten of this tree, they would be tempted to eat of yet another tree in the Garden. After their expulsion, this second tree was guarded by an angel with a flaming sword. What tree was this?

Answer: The tree of Life

In Genesis, Chapter 3, verse 22, God says "Behold, Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now, therefore, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever." (Trans. Douay-Challoner text). Interestingly, Adam and Eve were never forbidden to eat of the tree of Life while they were in Eden; equally interestingly, they never took the opportunity to do so when they had the chance.

The tree of Life is also mentioned in the final book of the Christian bible, the book of Revelation: "Happy are those who wash their robes so as to have free access to the Tree of Life and enter the city through its gates!" (Rev. 22: 14)
2. Tree and plant legends of all kinds feature in the mythology of ancient Greece. One very moving story concerns the sisters of Phaeton, son of Helios, who one day took his father's solar chariot out for an unauthorized spin. Unable to control the chariot, he drove it too close to the earth, scorching parts of the globe and causing terrible damage. To avert total disaster, Zeus hurled a thunderbolt at the chariot which destroyed it and killed Phaeton, whose body fell into the sea. His sisters gathered around the shore and wept for him until Zeus, unable to bear their lamentations, turned them into poplar trees ringing the shore. Even as trees, however, they continued to weep. What were their tears transformed into?

Answer: Amber

Amber is the compacted, fossilized resin of certain trees (frankincense is also the resin of a tree- Boswellia Thurifera) which hardens to the point where it can be cut and polished like a semi-precious stone and made into beads and jewelry. Orange-yellow in color and sometimes containing the remains of insects or botanicals, it is particularly plentiful in the Baltic countries where a body of folklore has also grown up around it.

A Lithuanian legend tells of Jurata, the queen of the mermaids, who lived in an amber palace.

She fell in love with a mortal, the fisherman Kastytis and took him beneath the waves to live with her in her palace. This so angered Perkunas, the thunder god, that he hurled a thunderbolt which destroyed her palace and killed her lover.

Not content with this, he chained her to the ruins of her palace where she continually weeps tears of amber.
3. The legends of Robin Hood and his merry men take place, of course, in Sherwood Forest. Of what tree is Robin Hood's famous bow made?

Answer: Yew

The yew tree, sacred to Saint Withold, has wood flexible yet sturdy enough to make the ideal bow. When Robin first challenges Little John, the latter protests that "...thou standest there with a good yew bough to shoot at my heart, while I have nought in my hand but a plain blackthorn staff with which to meet thee." Robin sees the justice in John's complaint and agrees to go at it with John armed with oaken cudgels.
4. One of the most beloved children's books is Shel Silverstein's bittersweet story "The Giving Tree", which tell of a tree's love for a small boy and her willingness, as he grows to adulthood, to give him whatever he asks of her, even allowing herself to be cut down. Eventually, the boy becomes an old man and visits the tree, which offers her stump for him to sit on and rest. What kind of tree is "the giving tree"?

Answer: Apple

The story begins with the boy coming to the tree every day to eat her apples, swing from her branches, and slide down her trunk. Eventually, he asks the tree for money and she suggests that he sell the apples. She offers her branches for timber so that he can build a house and, when he becomes too old and sad to play in the tree, she suggests that he cut her down so that he can build a boat (at this point the text, significantly, reads "and then the tree was happy... but not really").

The story is a touching parable about selfishness, sacrifice, and unconditional love.
5. One of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales might well have been subtitled "The Giving Tree". It features a tree which, along with the two birds perched on its branches, provides the heroine of the story with anything that she asks for and eventually helps her to marry a prince. Which story features this remarkable tree?

Answer: Cinderella

Near the beginning of the story, Cinderella's father goes off on a journey and asks her and her stepsisters what they would like him to bring back. The stepisters ask for jewels and fine clothes, but Cinderella asks only that he bring her the first branch that brushes against his cap on the way home. He brings her home a hazel branch which had brushed his cap; she plants it on her mother's grave and waters it with her tears until it grows into a tree in which two pigeons come to nest. When she needs a dress for the Prince's ball, she kneels under the tree and prays "Rustle and shake yourself, dear tree, and silver and gold throw down to me" and is thrown down a dress trimmed with gold and silver. When the prince finds the slipper Cinderella has left behind and takes it to each woman in the realm to try on, the stepsisters each cut off a piece of their foot to fit into it (one cuts off her heel, another her toe). Each time, however, the two pigeons warn the prince of the deception. Eventually, he demands to see Cinderella and have her try on the shoe, which fits her perfectly.

In Charles Perrault's "Cendrillon", a fairy godmother takes the place of the tree and birds; the Disney movie is largely based on this version. (Interestingly, in both the Perrault and the Grimm version, the stepsisters are described as beautiful, but wicked and heartless; it is only in later versions that their wickedness is equated with ugliness.)
6. The fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson include the bittersweet "The Fir Tree". At the beginning of the story, the fir tree is beautifully formed, but so tiny that a rabbit is able to jump right over it. What does the fir tree ultimately dream of becoming?

Answer: A Christmas tree

The fir tree notices other trees, not big enough to be used for lumber, being cut down and asks why this is. Some sparrows tell him that they have looked into the windows of houses and seen trees hung with ornaments, gilded apples, and cakes and lit with many candles.

When the fir tree hears this he longs to be cut down and made into a Christmas tree. The air and sunshine vainly entreat him to rejoice in them and in life; he wants to be the glittering center of attention. Too late, he realizes how fleeting his moment of glory will be.
7. Speaking of fir trees, an old German folksong praises the perpetual green of the fir tree's leaves in both winter and summer. In the second and third verses of the song, the fir tree itself speaks explaining that it may well be green, since it has no father or mother, but only the good God to make it grow strong and green. This song was set to a tune widely used in both Germany and America, where it was, and is, used as the melody of the state song of Maryland. In the mid nineteenth century, its lyrics underwent a significant change and it is now indelibly associated with a major holiday with which it originally had no connection. Which of these songs is it?

Answer: O Tannenbaum

"Tannenbaum" means "fir tree" in German, not Christmas tree (which is either Weinachtsbaum or Christbaum). Ironically, one of the wrong answers, "Am Weinachtsbaum" is actually about a Christmas tree, but is virtually unknown outside of German-speaking countries ("Der Nussbaum" and "Es steht ein Lind" are about a nut tree and a linden tree, respectively).

In addition to Maryland, the tune was used at one time or another for the state song of both Delaware and Missouri (it didn't last long as the Missouri state song; try singing the words "O Missouri, my Missouri" to the tune and you'll see why).

The tune has had some notable detractors; George Bernard Shaw thought that it sounded like "the funeral march of a dead eel". Around the mid-19th century, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert popularized the Christmas tree by featuring one in their home (Albert came from Germany, where the Christmas tree had been an established tradition since the 17th century); pictures of the royal family gathered around the tree appeared in the press and the tradition became established in England and, eventually, throughout Europe and America. With its Christmas text, written about this time, "O Tannenbaum" (a.k.a. "O Christmas Tree") has enjoyed lasting popularity.
8. Wagner's "Die Walkure" is the second of the four operas which comprise his "Ring der Nibelungen" It concerns the doings of his warrior daughters, the Valkyries, headed by Brunnhilde, and the Walsungs, (Siegmund and Sieglinde) his illegitimate half-mortal twins. The latter are separated in early childhood. Sieglinde is forced into marriage with a coarse, brutal man named Hunding. At her wedding, a mysterious one-eyed stranger appeared (her father Wotan) and hurled a sword at the trunk of an ash tree, where it became embedded. No one present could pull the sword loose. What is interesting about this tree, apart from the sword in its trunk, is its position in relation to Hunding's hut; where does the tree grow?

Answer: It grows inside the house and through the roof.

If you are familiar with British comedienne Anna Russell's hilarious "analysis" of Wagner's "Ring", you may recall her description of Hunding as "a funny sort of a man...he has an ash tree, with a sword stuck in it, growing through his living room floor!" (the following bracketed quotes are from Ms Russell's uproarious precis, available on CD). One night, Siegmund appears at Hunding's hut; he and Sieglinde do not recognize each other, but feel a bond of some kind. Sieglinde drugs her husband, and the twins talk at length about their past. Eventually, they realize who they are and, amazingly, fall in love! {A.R. "regardless of the fact that she's married to Hunding, which is immoral, and that she's his own sister, which is illegal!}. Before they flee together; Sieglinde reminds Siegmund about the sword {A.R. "Siegmund pulls out the sword that's stuck in the tree that grows in the house that Jack, er, Hunding built"}. Eventually, Hunding catches up with them. Brunhilde defends Siegfried (against her father's instructions; his wife Fricka had extracted a promise from him to punish the guilty pair) but Wotan intervenes and Hunding kills Siegmund, only to be killed himself by Wotan. Wotan punishes Brunnhilde for her disobedience by putting her to sleep on a rock protected by a wall of fire. Eventually, Sieglinde gives birth to Siegfried, who is strong and brave but, as may be expected, a tad dimwitted {A.R. "He's a regular Li'l Abner type!"}.

He eventually finds and awakens Brunnhilde and they fall in love. {A.R. "She's his aunt, by the way."}
9. This stately piece of Baroque music, long a mainstay of the classical music repertoire, is actually an operatic aria, though it is often performed in an instrumental arrangement. As an aria, it has been sung (and recorded) by artists as diverse as Enrico Caruso, Kathleen Battle, countertenor David Daniels, and Luciano Pavarotti. Its composer was of German birth, but became an honored British subject and a court composer. Most people assume it to be either a religious piece or a dignified love song; in fact, it is a Persian ruler's expression of his unalterable affection for his...plane tree.

Answer: Handel's "Largo"

"Xerxes" (a.k.a. "Serse") is a comic opera about the machinations of the Persian king of the title to win the beautiful Romilda away from his brother Aramene, which includes banishing the latter. Eventually, Xerxes realizes that he cannot win Romilda's love, leaves her to marry Aramene, and marries his own long-suffering betrothed, Amastre.

The famous "Largo" ("Ombra mai fu"; the name "Largo" is from the tempo indication, which means "slowly") occurs early in the opera and is addressed to another of Xerxes' innamoratas, his beloved plane tree to whom he addresses the words "Ombra mai fu, di vegetabile, cara ed amabile soave piu" ("Never was there shade of any plant more beloved, friendly, and gracious"). One has to feel sorry for poor Amastre, who plays second fiddle not only to another woman, but to a tree; not to mention that the role of her fiance Xerxes, as originally written, was performed by a castrato!
10. In Act IV, scene 3 of Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello", Desdemona has a premonition of her impending death (she will shortly be murdered by her jealous husband). She finds herself singing a mournful song she remembers from her childhood as having been sung by a handmaid of her mother's, who was abandoned by her lover. The refrain of the song mentions a tree associated with mourning and sadness. Another tragic Shakespearean heroine, Ophelia (in "Hamlet"), meets her end when a branch from the tree she is climbing breaks and sends her falling into the brook running below it, where she drowns. Ironically, it is the same tree featured in Desdemona's song. Which tree is it?

Answer: Willow

Desdemona's "Willow song" ("The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree, Sing all a green willow, her hand on her bosom and her head upon her knee, Sing willow, willow, willow. Ah me, the green willow must be my garland") was sung by her mother's maid, Barbary, after her lover abandoned her; she died singing it. Ophelia's tragic drowning is movingly described in Gertrude's Act IV speech "There is a willow grows aslant a brook, that shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream".
11. Shakespeare's "As You Like it" takes place, principally, in the forest of Arden. The play features a number of characters, including a banished Duke, his daughter, and his loyal retainers living an idyllic pastoral existence in the forest. The play's philosophy is summed up in the song "Under the greenwood tree", sung by Amiens in Act II, scene 5: "Under the greenwood tree, who loves to lie with me and tune his merry note unto the sweet bird's throat". What turn of the century (19th-20th) English novelist used the first line of this song as the title for his book about life in an English village?

Answer: Thomas Hardy

Hardy's novel concerns the disruptions which take place in the English village of Mellstock upon the arrival of the beautiful and charming new schoolmistress Miss Fancy Day. Fancy captures the hearts of young Dick Dewey, Farmer Shiner, and the new vicar Mr. Maybold.

She also disrupts the long established Mellstock choir, which sings at the church and also goes caroling around the village at Christmas-time (Hardy's family belonged to such a group when he was growing up)by starting a female chorus. Soon the vicar, who is both in love with her and captivated by her proficiency on the harmonium, decides to order a church organ for her to play and to replace the choir. Eventually, Fancy decides to marry Dick Dewey, despite the fact that he is less well-educated than she is, and the two are married under a greenwood tree.
12. Which Russian author wrote the 1904 fin de siecle drama "The Cherry Orchard", which deals with the decline and fall of an aristocratic family?

Answer: Anton Chekhov

The orchard of the title is on the estate of Madame Ranevskaya; it is so famous that it is mentioned in the Encyclopedia. As the play begins, the estate has been put up for sale at auction to pay her debts. The merchant Lopakhin, an erstwhile peasant whose family worked for Madame Ranevskaya's family when they were both children, offers her an alternative; to cut down the orchard and build a complex of summer cottages; the income from this would enable her to live very comfortably. Madame Ranevskaya is aghast at the thought, as are her relatives, but as they are unable to come up with a better idea, the estate goes up for sale and is purchased by Lopakhin.

When he purchases the orchard, he thinks of the oppression of his ancestors who planted it and envisions the opportunities that will arise from its soil for their successive generations. For Madame Ranevskaya, it means the destruction of a thing of beauty and of the glory of her own family's past (it is a measure of Chekhov's genius that we sympathize, alternatively, with each of these people and can, at least, understand why they each feel the way they do). Madame Ranevskaya tearfully departs for Paris.

At the end of the play, the sound of chopping wood is heard offstage as workmen begin to cut down the cherry trees.
13. The 1910 novel "Howard's End" by E.M. Forster also deals with the passing of an era, in this case the Edwardian era in England. Near the beginning of the novel Ruth Wilcox, the dying matriarch of the Wilcox family, tells young Margaret Schleigel of her love for Howard's End, her ancestral home (Margaret and her siblings are about to lose their own home). Ruth mentions a wych-elm tree on the property which has some quite unusual objects embedded in its bark. What are they?

Answer: Pig's Teeth

The pig's teeth were embedded in the bark many years ago; the country folk would come to the tree and chew on the bark believing that it would strengthen their own teeth. When Ruth dies, her family is shocked to learn that she has bequeathed Howard's End to Margaret. Since this surprising bequest was written on a piece of paper without witnesses or notary, they decide to disregard it. Years later, Ruth's widower Henry falls in love with Margaret and marries her (without telling her of his wife's bequest). Margaret tells him about the tree and its teeth, which he does not believe until she shows them to him.

The bark has grown over the teeth so that only the tips are visible and the country folk have long since ceased to come to the tree. Occasionally, however, the teeth can be seen almost glowing in the twilight (this happens at a couple of crucial spots in the novel).

The tree's gradually disappearing teeth can be seen as a metaphor for the dying, rather misguided "gallantry" of the Edwardian era which is also fading into oblivion, though not before a tragedy results.
14. A touching Roumanian-Jewish legend tells of an unhappily married young woman who pours her heart out one day in the woods to her visiting mother. Because the mother cannot be with her every day, she commands her daughter to come out once every week and tell her troubles to the tree they are standing under. The next time the mother comes to visit, the daughter looks much happier and more content. When the mother asks if things have improved in her marriage, the daughter replies that no, they are the same. Why, then, does the daughter seem happier?

Answer: The tree has absorbed her tears

The name of the story is "The Tree that Absorbed Tears". When the daughter takes her mother to the tree, the mother sees that it is withered and dried from all of the salt tears it has absorbed.
15. In Charlotte Bronte's classic novel "Jane Eyre", the title character is hired as a governess at Thornfield, the home of Mr. Rochester. Her charge is a little French girl, Adele, who is Rochester's ward. During the course of the novel, she befriends her tormented employer and they grow to love each other. In Chapter 23, Rochester declares his feelings for Jane and asks her to marry him. She accepts his proposal, but cannot shake a feeling of foreboding. That night, something happens concerning a great horse-chestnut tree on the grounds of Thornfield which proves to be a portent of disaster; what is it?

Answer: Lightning blasts the tree in half

This chapter begins with beautiful, almost idyllic weather which, ominously, changes at around the time of Rochester's proposal. The wind begins to blow and rain starts falling heavily. The next morning, Jane learns from Adele that the tree had been struck by lightning and half of it split away. On the day of her wedding, Jane learns that her husband has a living wife, a hopelessly mad creature who is kept in a cell (there have been hints of this earlier in the novel). Jane realizes that she cannot , in good conscience, commit bigamy; nor can she continue to stay on as if nothing has happened.

She leaves Thornfield and Rochester and strikes out, once again, on her own. By an amazing coincidence, she ends up with some long-lost cousins who take her in, but she eventually returns to Rochester upon hearing that his wife has died in a fire that she started (it is in this fire that Rochester is blinded and injured).
16. "The Dream of the Red Chamber" ("Hong Lou Meng", a.k.a. "Story of the Stone"), attributed to Tsao Hsueh Chin, is thought by many to be possibly the greatest Chinese novel. It concerns the thwarted love of Pao'yu, the scion of the aristocratic Chia family, for Black Jade. Pao'yu, alternately pampered by his female relatives and terrorized (at one point almost killed) by his despotic father, finds his soul mate in his cousin, the delicate Black Jade. However, their union is not meant to be due to misadventure and family intrigue. At one point, the unusual behavior of a begonia tree growing near Pao'yu's pavillion is seen (correctly) as an ill omen; what happens to the tree?

Answer: It blooms out of season

This violation of the natural order does, indeed, spell disaster. Pao'yu, subject to fits of melancholy, falls into a particularly severe state of lethargy. His parents plot to bring him out of this state by marrying him to Precious Virtue, Black Jade's healthier and more bright-tempered sister; however, they permit Pao'yu to believe that he will be marrying Black Jade.

The latter, who had been in bad health and spirits after the death of her father, is devastated by the news of the marriage, not knowing of the deception that has been practiced upon Pao'yu, and dies of grief.

The Chia family begins to fall into decline after this point, due to its corruption and arrogance; ironically, it will be the the despised Pao'yu who will bring honor upon the ruined family by his learning and accomplishments. Never having recovered, however, from the loss of Black Jade, he becomes a monk.
17. One of the most beloved of Welsh folk ballads is this melancholy song in which a disconsolate lover sees, but cannot enjoy the beauties of nature, since his beloved "sleeps 'neath the green turf" down by this grove.

Answer: The Ash Grove

"The Ash Grove" exists in many versions and the melody has been used for at least three church hymns ("Let All Things now Living", "The Master Hath Come", and "Sent Forth by God's Blessing"), a Christmas Carol ("On This Night Most Holy"), and even an anthem for Irish independence ("The Irish Free State"). (If you're interested, there is actually a site devoted entirely to this song at http://www.ashgrove.com/about/index.asp)
18. A old Cherokee legend tells of how the people of the Earth had decided that the world would be much better if there were no night-time. They petitioned the Ouga (Creator) who, at length, granted their request with predictably disastrous results. Once again, people petitioned the Creator, this time to take away the (by now) hated daytime and make it perpetually night-time, which proved equally disastrous. Eventually, people realized that they needed both day and night and asked that things be returned to the way they were. Sadly, many people had died during the time it took to learn this lesson, so the Creator decided to create a new tree in which to house their spirits. This tree was called a-tsi-na tlu-gv and was noted for the fragrance of its wood. What is the English name for this tree?

Answer: Cedar

In Cherokee legend, cedar trees contain the spirits of one's ancestors. A block of cedar wood was an indispensable item in the bag of a medicine man and they were also placed above the doors of houses. Special drums were also made of cedar wood. Its fragrance is thought to be a sign of the protective spirits within the wood.
19. The English sovereign Henry VIII has often been credited with having composed the popular song "Greensleeves" for one of his mistresses. Musicologists generally agree that the song originated too late for Henry to have been the composer; however it is a fact that Henry (who was tutored in the courtly arts, including songwriting) did write a love song with lyrics not unlike those of "Greensleeves" in which he compares his undying and unchanging love (?!) to this evergreen tree, frequently associated with Christmas.

Answer: Holly

The song is "Green Groweth the Holly"; it appears in the original "Oxford Book of Carols" from the 1920's, though it is not a Christmas song and probably cannot be classified as a carol. Its lyrics, however, bear a passing resemblance to those of "The Holly and the Ivy", (which is a Christmas carol and which dates from roughly the same period) as well as "O Tannenbaum" (see above).

The words of the refrain are "Green Groweth the Holly, so doth the Ivy, Though winter blasts blow never so nigh". There are some recordings of this song if you're interested in hearing it; it is quite a nice piece.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to determine for whom it was written (the field, like Henry himself, is rather wide!) possibly Anne Boleyn?
20. In Shakespeare's "Macbeth", the title character is told three prophecies by the witches: 1.) To beware Macduff, the thane of Fife 2.) That no man born of woman will ever defeat him, and 3.) That he will never be defeated until Birnam Wood itself comes to Dunsinane. Macbeth takes the latter two prophecies to mean that he is invincible, however he cannot understand why he is cautioned to "beware Macduff" since none born of woman can defeat him. In Act V, scene 5, while Macbeth is under siege from the forces under Malcolm, King Duncan's son, (which includes Macduff whose family have been massacred upon Macbeth's orders) a messenger delivers the incredible news that Birnam Wood has, indeed, been seen advancing upon Dunsinane. How did this amazing prophecy come true?

Answer: The advancing soldiers hide themselves with tree boughs.

The messenger describes the sight as a "moving grove"; the soldiers are, in fact, concealed behind the boughs. Macbeth threatens to hang the messenger himself from the nearest tree if he is speaking falsely, but finds that it is true. Two scenes later, he will learn the reason for the witch's caution regarding Macduff; the latter was "untimely ripp'd" from his mother's womb.
21. Daniel Defoe's classic novel "Robinson Crusoe" describes the struggle for survival of the title character after he finds himself alone on an island after a disastrous shipwreck. Having been born into a comfortable middle class existence, he finds the strength and the will to survive by his wits and the strength of his hands. In Chapter II he manages, with great difficulty, to cut down an extremely heavy tree known in Brasil as the ironwood tree and to carry a piece to his tent. What utilitarian object does he manage to fashion from it?

Answer: A shovel

The shovel takes quite a long time to make, owing to the extreme hardness of the wood, but it is an invaluable tool. Crusoe discovers that he can make anything he needs from the raw materials at his disposal and manages to live quite comfortably on the island.

The Defoe novel is based on the adventures of an actual person, Alexander Selkirk, who lived for four years on the island of Juan Fernandez until he was discovered in 1709 by the crew of an English vessel.
22. Edgar Allan Poe's detective novel "The Gold Bug" concerns the search for a buried treasure by one William Legrand. Formerly prosperous, Legrand has fallen on hard times and lives in seclusion on Sullivan's Island near Charleston, South Carolina, with his African servant, Jupiter. Having discovered a golden bug on a beach, Legrand draws a sketch of it on a piece of parchment which he had found nearby. When held near a fire, the parchment reveals the outline of a skull. Believing that the parchment contains a numerical code of some kind pointing to a buried treasure, Legrand convinces his friend (the story's narrator, who is unnamed) to join him and Jupiter on an expedition. At one point, they arrive at a huge tulip tree. Legrand orders Jupiter to climb, with the bug, up to the seventh bough. Jupiter climbs and goes almost to the very tip of the bough; what does he find there?

Answer: A skull

The skull is nailed to the bough. Legrand orders Jupiter to drop the bug through the skull's left eye. When the bug falls to the ground, Legrand makes several measurements and the men dig feverishly, but find nothing. Upon questioning Jupiter, Legrand learns that he had mistakenly dropped the bug through the right eye.

When Jupiter repeats the procedure correctly, the buried treasure is found. Legrand explains that, when he put the parchment in warm water, he had discovered a numerical code which, translated into words, detailed the location of the tree.
23. Trees can have their nefarious uses as well. In Daphne du Maurier's 1951 mystery novel "My Cousin Rachel" an English nobleman, Philip Ashley, falls in love with Rachel, the Italian widow of his beloved uncle Ambrose, even though Ambrose died believing that Rachel was trying to poison him. After Rachel abruptly refuses his marriage proposal, Philip falls violently ill. Although he recovers, apparently with Rachel's help, he comes to believe that she is poisoning him as well. His suspicions are strengthened when he comes across seed pods from a tree which he knows to be poisonous. What tree are they from?

Answer: Laburnum

Laburnum is also known as the "Golden Chain Tree" because of the pendant clusters of flowers, resembling yellow wysteria, which appear on the tree in the early spring. All parts of the plant are poisonous, but particularly the black seeds which grow in pods after the flowers fade. It is some of these pods that Philip finds in Rachel's possession (Rachel is always preparing "tisana"- herbal teas- for herself and Philip). Du Maurier's novel, if you haven't read it, is a far cry from your standard "whodunit"; don't expect a neat "solution".

Of the other choices, the yew and oleander are certainly poisonous, but do not produce pods. The hemlock tree, though certainly not recommended eating, is not notably poisonous; the poison called hemlock that was offered to condemned prisoners (such as Socrates and Seneca) in ancient times is from the herb Oenanthe, a member of the carrot family (umbelliferae).
24. One of the greatest wrongs in American history are the countless lynchings of African Americans during their struggle for freedom and civil rights. In 1938, a song written by a composer known only as "Lewis Allen" described the swinging bodies of lynching victims in terms both poetic and horrifying: "Southern trees bear a strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves and blood at the root./ Black body swinging in the Southern breeze/ Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees." This song was actually written by Jewish schoolteacher, Abel Meeropol (Meeropol, once a member of the American Communist party, adopted the Rosenberg's sons after their execution). The song premiered at the Cafe society in Greenwich Village provoking a storm of controversy. Only Commodore records would agree to record it and no radio stations would play it. Despite all this, it reached #16 on the charts and played a decisive part in publicizing this heinous practice. What famous (and tragic) blues singer gave the first performance of this song?

Answer: Billie Holliday

Born Eleanora Fagan in Baltimore, Maryland, "Lady Day" was the leading female blues singer of her time. Her troubled and ultimately tragic life was the subject of the film "Lady Sings the Blues", as well as a Broadway play. "Strange Fruit" became one of her signature songs and she eventually included it in all her performances. Holliday, who struggled with heroin addiction for much of her life, died in 1959.

Ethel Waters, incidentally, was also known for a related, but quite different song entitled "Suppertime", written by none other than Irving Berlin. This amazing song was the one totally serious number in the otherwise lighthearted musical revue "As Thousands Cheer", which premiered in 1933 and included such standards as "Easter Parade" and "Heat Wave" (also sung by Waters). Less incendiary than "Strange Fruit", it struck a purely human chord; a mother, preparing supper for her children after learning that her husband has been lynched, wonders how she will find the strength to tell them the news and carry on with her life.
25. Perhaps the most famous tree in literature is the title "character" of Betty Smith's beloved novel "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". The story concerns young Francie Nolan's determination to better herself and become a writer, despite a childhood of terrible poverty in the slums of Brooklyn in the early 1900s, an alcoholic father, and an overworked and frustrated mother. The tree of the title, growing through cement and cellar gratings in Francie's back yard, is symbolic of her stubborn determination to rise above her surroundings and defeat all obstacles. The tree of the title goes by the botanical name "ailanthus altissima"; what is its (highly symbolic) common name?

Answer: Tree of Heaven

The "Tree of Heaven" is actually a rather invasive plant, frequently found in cities, where it grows prolifically under any and every condition. The name may derive from its height, which can reach about 80 feet. The tree is cut down at one point in the novel, but in the final chapter Francie notices a new tree growing from its stump.

Perhaps I should mention in this context that July 30, 2003 marks the 85th anniversary of the death of poet Joyce Kilmer, who was killed in action in France in 1918, during WWI ("Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree."). RIP.
Source: Author jouen58

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ozzz2002 before going online.
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