In "Our Casuarina Tree" the poet arouses several related emotions: affection, awe, nostalgia, and gratitude for beauty. The tree is an everyday object in the sense that it is right outside the poet's window and she used to see it each day. However, she never allows it to become everyday in the sense of being overlooked and taken for granted. In the first image of the poem, the creeper that climbs round the trunk is compared to "a huge Python" and the top of the tree is "near the stars." This hyperbole emphasizes the majestic beauty of the tree, as do many other images throughout the poem.
The awe with which the poet regards the tree, and her appreciation of its beauty, and the animal life it draws to the garden, are modified by the personal memories it recalls. At the beginning of the third stanza, she writes:
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The awe with which the poet regards the tree, and her appreciation of its beauty, and the animal life it draws to the garden, are modified by the personal memories it recalls. At the beginning of the third stanza, she writes:
But not because of its magnificence
Dear is the Casuarina to my soul:
Beneath it we have played; though years may roll,
O sweet companions, loved with love intense,
For your sakes, shall the tree be ever dear.
This is why the poet thinks of the tree when she is far away from it, living in Europe. The physical details which she can clearly recall serve as an anchor for childhood memories of those who played around it with her. This combination of the tree's physical characteristics and its centrality to her memories of childhood awakes a feeling of almost religious awe. In the final stanza, the poet says that she will "consecrate a lay" to the tree, drawing together the language of religion and poetry.
The primary feeling that the poet inspires in the reader is nostalgia. The speaker is looking back to a time and place that no longer exist. This nostalgia mostly has a rosy glow, as the images of the bygone days are largely positive.
Two closely related feelings are homesickness and nationalism. Because the speaker is separated from their homeland, symbolized by the tree, they experience the bittersweet sensation of acknowledging but even treasuring the sense of loss that comes with distance. The speaker paints a picture of a luxuriously green and welcoming native country that is distinct from the place where they now reside.
Love of children and by extension family is also called up. The attachment to youth is primarily related to children, who may be the speaker's own children or their younger self, but is also invoked by the young baboons.
Grief is another intimately connected emotion. Not just the home in general, but specific people that the speaker knew in their youth are gone; presumably they have passed away, frozen in "blessed sleep."
One of the feelings that the poet Toru Dutt arouses in the poem "Our Casuarina Tree" is the feeling of respect for aged things, which by extension promotes a feeling of respect for aged individuals who have lived a life of varied experiences, both good and bad. The first verse of the poem alludes to this feeling with the line:
The rugged trunk, indented deep with scars,
Another feeling that the poet arouses is the felling of a great appreciation of nature in all its variety. The narrator of the poem delights and looks forward to staring out at the Casuarina tree to watch baboons on the crest of the tree and their young offspring down below. The narrator also desires to watch the water-lilies by the tree and other forms of life, both plant and animal.
A third feeling that "Our Casuarina Tree" arouses is the feeling of longing for enjoyable times past. The author conveys the image of past recreational times under the tree, enjoying the outdoors and all of nature with much beloved friends/companions. In addition, the writer longs for the native climate of her homeland.
Another feeling aroused by this poem is the longing for departed loved ones, who now repose in the earth. These people were major parts of her life and she has a deep desire to live life with them again:
Who now in blessed sleep for aye repose,— Dearer than life to me, alas, were they!
The narrator asks that they not be forgotten after she is gone - this arouses a felling of the importance of leaving a legacy behind of good memories and lives well-lived.