Hallo friends welcome to our page today we are discuss this question, The question is -“It takes much time to kill a tree, / Not a simple jab of the knife / Will do it.”-What does the phrase, ‘a simple jab of the knife’, mean? Why can’t ‘a simple jab of the knife’ kill a tree?
The phrase, a simple jab of the knife, means the attempt to kill a tree by mere stabbing it with a knife.
• The poet says that an attempt to kill a tree only by stabbing it with a knife cannot be successful. If a tree is struck hard with a knife, it does not die. The tree can overcome such a blow. It has become strong by absorbing the nutrients from the earth. Since birth, it has been absorbing sunlight, air and water. So a simple jabbing won’t kill it. A tree can withstand a simple jab of the knife. The poet defines the difficult task of cutting down trees by using such a phrase ironic