(i) Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest. (ii) What picture do these words create in your mind: "… sun bury its feet in shadow…"? What could the poet mean by the sun's 'feet'?
The three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest are: no bird could sit, no insect hide, and no sun bury its feet in shadow.
The words create a vivid image of sunlight slipping into the cool, dark shade beneath the forest canopy. By the sun's 'feet', the poet metaphorically refers to the sun's rays. Without trees, there are no shadows to hide or absorb the sun's rays.
Explanation
The first stanza of the poem explicitly lists what cannot happen in an empty, treeless forest: birds cannot sit, insects cannot hide, and the sun cannot bury its feet in shadow. The metaphor of the sun's 'feet' refers to its rays; a forest needs trees to cast shadows where the sunlight can filter through and be hidden or 'buried'.