(i) The metaphorical expression used is "the trees are stumbling forward" — the trees' movement into the night is compared to the unsteady, forceful stumbling of living beings.
(ii) The tone of the extract is urgent and tense. Adrienne Rich presents a conflict in which nature (the trees) forcefully reclaims its freedom from man-made confinement. The breaking glass and stumbling trees suggest a violent, inevitable rebellion. The poet sides with nature, implying that man's attempt to contain nature is doomed to fail.
(iii) (B) Eerie and foreboding
(iv) The whispers will be silent tomorrow because the trees would have fully escaped into the open by then. Once the trees complete their journey into the night, the quiet struggle and murmuring of their movement will end — the act of liberation will be over, leaving silence behind.
Source: "The Trees," Adrienne Rich — First Flight (Class 10 Poetry)
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