Questions and Answers

The Pedestrian Story Questions and Answers & MCQs

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The Pedestrian Story Questions and Answers

The Pedestrian Story Questions and Answers & MCQs

A. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o’clock of a misty evening in November, to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do.

He would stand upon the comer of an intersection and peer down long moonlit avenues of sidewalk in four directions, deciding which way to go, but it really made no difference; he was alone in this world of A.D. 2053, or as good as alone, and with a final decision made, a path selected, he would stride off, sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar. Sometimes he would walk for hours and miles and return only at midnight to his house.

And on his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows. Sudden gray phantoms seemed to manifest upon inner room walls where a curtain was still undrawn against the night, or there were whisperings and murmurs where a window in a tomblike building was still open.

Question 1.
Who was the pedestrian?
Answer:
The pedestrian was a simple and usual person named Leonard Mead who loves to have his evening walk at the roads of a city, which remains silent every evening, years after years.

Question 2.
What did Leonard love?
Answer:
Leonard loved to walk in the misty evenings in November, putting his feet upon the buckling concrete walk, stepping over the grassy seams, making his way through the silences.

Question 3.
Which year is mentioned in the story? Why was Leonard alone?
Answer:
The year 2053 is mentioned here. Leonard was alone because there was no one outside to enjoy the beauty of the evening. People were inside as they were busy in their own meaningless habit and so the streets were empty. Therefore, while walking, he sometimes spent hours and walked for miles and returned only at midnight to his house.

Question 4.
What did Leonard use to see on his way?
Answer:
On his way, while walking, Leonard used to see cottages and homes with their dark windows behind which people used to stay busy in their own world. The writer here used the imagery of the ‘gray phantoms’ to express how lifeless lives these inside- people used to live.

B. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

Mr. Leonard Mead would pause, cock his head, listen, look, and march on, his feet making no noise on the lumpy walk. For long ago he had wisely changed to sneakers when strolling at night, because the dogs in intermittent squads would parallel his journey with barkings if he wore hard heels, and lights might click on and faces appear and an entire street be startled by the passing of a lone figure, himself, in the early November evening.

On this particular evening he began his journey in a westerly direction, toward the hidden sea. There was a good crystal frost in the air; it cut the nose and made the lungs blaze like a Christmas tree inside; you could feel the cold light going on and off, all the branches filled with invisible snow.

He listened to the faint push of his soft shoes through autumn leaves with satisfaction, and whistled a cold quiet whistle between his teeth, occasionally picking up a leaf as he passed, examining its skeletal pattern in the infrequent lamplights as he went on, smelling its rusty smell.

Question 1.
… “he had wisely changed to sneakers when strolling at night”—Why?
Answer:
As the street of the city were of no people, the dogs used to roam around freely without fear. Therefore he had to walk very quietly at night to avoid the dogs’ squad. Due to this, he could not even wear – hard heels.

Question 2.
Why was Leonard the lone figure in the streets of early November evening?
Answer:
In the beautiful November evenings, people were busy inside their houses with their television. Therefore, no one was outside to enjoy the beauty of the environment except Leonard. So, he was the lone figure in the streets.

Question 3.
… “There was a good crystal frost in the air” – Why?
Answer:
As it was the month of November, winter had crept into the city and made the environment cold and freezing. The wintry air carried chills in it and so it felt like “there was a good crystal frost in the air” that “cut the nose” making the lungs blaze, as if there was a Christmas tree inside.

Question 4.
What is talked about in the above passage?
Answer:
In the above passage, the loneliness of Leonard is depicted. As there was no one at the streets, he had to stroll alone every evening. The beauty of the cold November evenings is beautifully painted with the description of the cold air, branches of the trees with “invisible snow”, the falling of the autumn leaves, and so on.

C. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

“Hello, in there,” he whispered to every house on every side as he moved. “What’s up tonight on Channel 4, Channel 7, Channel 9? Where are the cowboys rushing, and do I see the United States Cavalry over the next hill to the rescue?” The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in midcountry.

If he closed his eyes and stood very still, frozen, he could imagine himself upon the center of a plain, a wintry, windless Arizona desert with no house in a thousand miles, and only dry river beds, the streets, for company. “What is it now?” he asked the houses, noticing his wrist watch. “Eight-thirty P.M.? Time for a dozen assorted murders? A quiz? A revue? A comedian falling off the stage?”

Question 1.
“Hello, in there,” – Who is the speaker here? To whom did he speak?
Answer:
Here, the speaker is Leonard Mead, the lone stroller of the night. As he was the lone stroller in the streets of the city, he had no one to keep him company. So, he spoke to every house on every side as he moved, imagining those to be his listeners.

Question 2.
“What’s up tonight on Channel 4, Channel 7, Channel 9?”- Why did the speaker say so?
Answer:
The speaker Mr Leonard said so because everyone in each house was busy in watching television every evening and so they had no intention to go outside. Leonard knew this. So, imagining each house as his companion, he said so.

Question 3.
Why was Leonard’s shadow compared with the “shadow of a hawk”?
Answer:
Leonard was the only person who was taking a walk at the evening in the streets. There was no one outside and that is why the streets were “silent and long and empty.” As he was the lone figure, his shadow was compared with the shadow of a hawk. Like a hawk, he used to stand alone and looked at the houses, seeking for company.

Question 4.
… “Eight-thirty P.M.? Time for a dozen assorted murders?”- Why did the speaker say so?
Answer:
The speaker, Leonard, was a lone stroller in the streets. He used to spend his evenings, walking alone for hours, enjoying the beauty of the surroundings. He longed for company but he could not get any as everyone was busy in watching television. He wanted to know what contents they used to see every day, avoiding everything around them. So, guessing what could be the contents, he said so.

D. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

“Was that a murmur of laughter from within a moon- white house?” He hesitated, but went on when nothing more happened. He stumbled over a particularly uneven section of sidewalk. The cement was vanishing under flowers and grass. In ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time.

He came to a cloverleaf intersection which stood silent where two main highways crossed the town. During the day it was a thunderous surge of cars, the gas stations open, a great insect rustling and a ceaseless jockeying for position as the scarab beetles, a faint incense puttering from their exhausts, skimmed homeward to the far directions.

But now these highways, too, were like streams in a dry season, all stone and bed and moon radiance. He turned back on a side street, circling around toward his home. He was within a block of his destination when the lone car turned a corner quite suddenly and flashed a fierce white cone of light upon him. He stood entranced, not unlike a night moth, stunned by the illumination, and then drawn toward it.

Question 1.
… “Was that a murmur of laughter from within a moon-white house?”- Why did the speaker say so?
Answer:
As the speaker, Leonard, was the lone stroller, he used to seek company every evening but unfortunately, he could not get any because there was no one outside. Everyone was busy in watching television and he had been experiencing this for years. So, in mind, he sometimes hallucinated voices of people. That is why he said so.

Question 2.
For how many years was Leonard walking? How many miles did he cover?
Answer:
Leonard had been walking for ten years alone, without a single company to keep. He covered thousands of miles like this, with a hope that he might find someone at the road, someday.

Question 3.
What would happen during the days?
Answer:
During the days, number of cars used to roam in the streets, honking. The gas stations were open and there were lots of activities happening outside. Unlike the evenings, there was not a single hint of silence. It seems, that everyone had their own work to do, own duties to perform.

Question 4.
According to you, how did the speaker feel, being alone?
Answer:
No one in this world, liked to stay alone all the time. According to me, Leonard though enjoyed his walks, in mind he felt somewhat miserable being the lone stroller. He longed for company and as he did not get any, he used to talk to the houses, considering the houses to be his listeners.

E. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

A metallic voice called to him: “Stand still. Stay where you are! Don’t move!” He halted. “Put up your hands!” “But-” he said. “Your hands up! Or we’ll shoot!” The police, of course, but what a rare, incredible thing; in a city of three million, there was only one police car left, wasn’t that correct?

Ever since a year ago, 2052, the election year, the force had been cut down from three cars to one. Crime was ebbing; there was no need now for the police, save for this one lone car wandering and wandering the empty streets.

“Your name?” said the police car in a metallic whisper. He couldn’t see the men in it for the bright light in his eyes. “Leonard Mead,” he said. “Speak up!” “Leonard Mead!” “Business or profession?” “I guess you’d call me a writer.” “No profession,” said the police car, as if talking to itself.

The light held him fixed, like a museum specimen, needle thrust through chest. “You might say that,” said Mr. Mead. He hadn’t written in years. Magazines and books didn’t sell any more. Everything went on in the tomblike houses at night now, he thought, continuing his fancy. The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the dead, the gray or multicolored lights touching their faces, but never really touching them.

Question 1.
… “Stand still. Stay where you are!”—Who is the speaker here? Who is the person spoken to?
Answer:
Here, the speaker is a metallic voice that called to Leonard. The person spoken to is Leonard Mead, who enjoys his walk alone every evening, without any company.

Question 2.
… “Leonard Mead!” “Business or profession?” – Why did the speaker say so?
Answer:
The speaker here is a metallic voice that stopped Leonard when he was enjoying his evening walk. As there was no one on the street, the metallic voice doubted Leonard’s intention. The metallic voice was coming from a police car. So, out of suspicion, the speaker wanted to know his whereabouts.

Question 3.
… “I guess you’d call me a writer.”—Who is the speaker? Why did he say so?
Answer:
Here the speaker is Leonard Mead. When Leonard was stopped by a police car and was asked about his profession, he said so. Though he could have been called a writer, he had not written in years and his magazines and books did not sell anymore. It was as if, he had no such profession.

Question 4.
… “Your hands up! Or we’ll shoot!” Why did the speaker say so?
Answer:
Here, the speaker is a metallic voice coming from a police car. The voice, seeing Leonard alone at night, doubted his intentions. As there was no one outside, the voice considered him to be an anti-social or a person with an evil intention. That is why, the speaker said so to know about his whereabouts.

The Pedestrian Story MCQs

Choose the correct alternative to complete the following sentences:

Question 1.
Where does Mr Leonard Mead like to stand?
a. Top of the hills
b. In the market
c. Comer of an intersection
d. Any other place
Answer:
c. Comer of an intersection

Question 2.
When was he alone?
a. A.D. 2053
b. A.D. 2054
c. A.D. 2052
d. A.D. 2043
Answer:
a. A.D. 2053

Question 3.
When was Mr Leonard Mead going for a walk?
a. At morning
b. At night
c. At day
d. At evening
Answer:
d. At evening

Question 4.
On a particular evening, to which way Mr Leonard Mead began his journey?
a. South direction
b. South direction towards the hidden sea
c. Westerly direction, towards the hidden sea
d. Towards graveyard
Answer:
c. Westerly direction, towards the hidden sea

Question 5.
“Hello, in there” – Who is the speaker here?
a. The writer
b. Mr. Leonard Mead
c. Every house on every side of the road
d. None of them
Answer:
b. Mr. Leonard Mead

Question 6.
“If he closed his eyes and stood very still”- Where could he imagine himself?
a. He imagined himself at Arizona desert
b. He imagined himself at Thar Desert
c. He imagined himself at play ground
d. He imagined himself at home
Answer:
a. He imagined himself at Arizona desert

Question 7.
What with was the narrator’s shadow compared?
a. Tiger
b. Unicom
c. Hawk
d. Crow
Answer:
c. Hawk

Question 8.
“What is it now?”—To whom did Mr Leonard Mead ask this?
a. To the street
b. To the houses
c. To the tree
d. To the hawk
Answer:
b. To the houses

Question 9.
What was the time when Mr Leonard Mead noticed his watch?
a. Eight-twenty P.M
b. Seven P.M
c. Eight-thirty five P.M
d. Eight-thirty P.M
Answer:
d. Eight-thirty P.M

Question 10.
From which house did the murmur of laughter come?
a. Moon-white house
b. White house
c. Black house
d. Red house
Answer:
a. Moon-white house

Question 11.
For how long was Mr Leonard Mead walking?
a. Five years
b. Nine years
c. Ten years
d. Eleven Years
Answer:
c. Ten years

Question 12.
“Stand still. Stay where you are! Don’t move!”— Who said this?
a. Mr Leonard Mead
b. The narrator
c. The writer
d. The police
Answer:
d. The police

Question 13.
How many people lived in the city?
a. Three million
b. Two million
c. Five million
d. Ten million
Answer:
a. Three million

Question 14.
How many police cars. was/were left in the city?
a. Ten
b. One
c. Twenty
d. Five
Answer:
b. One

Question 15.
In which year was the election conducted?
a. 2018
b. 2023
c. 2050
d. 2052
Answer:
d. 2052

Question 16.
Why couldn’t he see the men?
a. Because of snow
b. Because he was blind
c. Because of the bright light in his eyes
d. Because of the sunlight
Answer:
c. Because of the bright light in his eyes

Question 17.
“No profession”—Who said this?
a. Mr Leonard Mead
b. The police
c. The writer
d. None of them
Answer:
b. The police

Question 18.
From where did the gray or multicolored lights come?
a. From the television
b. From the sky
c. From the lamppost
d. From the bulb
Answer:
a. From the television

Question 19.
“I protest!”—Who said this?
a. The Police
b. The Writer
c. Mr Mead
d. None of them
Answer:
c. Mr Mead

Question 20.
What is Mr Mead’s house number?
a. Ten
b. Twelve
c. Nine
d. Eleven
Answer:
d. Eleven

Question 21.
Why was Mr Mead walking?
a. For air
b. For a person to meet
c. For food
d. For his office
Answer:
a. For air

Question 22.
Where did the people sit like the dead?
a. In front of doctor
b. In front of television
c. In front of police
d. In front of people
Answer:
b. In front of television

Question 23.
“That’s my house”—Who said this?
a. Mr Mead
b. The police
c. The writer
d. None of them
Answer:
a. Mr Mead

Question 24.
Who wrote the story “The Pedestrian”?
a. Rabindranath Tagore
b. Satyajit Ray
c. Ray Bradbury
d. Oscar Wilde
Answer:
c. Ray Bradbury

Question 25.
In which month is the story set?
a. January
b. November
c. December
d. March
Answer:
b. November

Question 26.
What time is mentioned at the beginning of the story?
a. Nine O’clock
b. Ten O’clock
c. Seven O’clock
d. Eight O’clock
Answer:
d. Eight O’clock

Question 27.
When did Mr Leonard Mead use to return his house?
a. At evening
b. At midnight
c. At morning
d. At afternoon
Answer:
b. At midnight

Question 28.
How was the voice that was coming from the police car?
a. Sweet
b. Loud
c. Metallic
d. Rough
Answer:
c. Metallic

Question 29.
In which year was Ray Bradbury born?
a. 1920
b. 1820
c. 1930
d. 1910
Answer:
a. 1920

Question 30.
In which year Ray Bradbury died?
a. 2014
b. 2012
c. 2011
d. 2015
Answer:
b. 2012

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Short Stories Workbook Answers

The Girl Who Can Story Questions and Answers & MCQs

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The Girl Who Can Story Questions and Answers

The Girl Who Can Story Questions and Answers & MCQs

A. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

They say that I was born in Hasodzi; and it is a very big village in the central region of our country, Ghana. They also say that when all of Africa is not choking under a drought, Hasodzi lies in a very fertile lowland in a district known for its good soil.

Maybe that is why any time I don’t finish eating my food, Nana says, “You Adjoa, you don’t know what life is about… you don’t know what problems there are in this life …” As far as I could see, there was only one problem. And it had nothing to do with what I knew Nana considered as “problems,” or what Maami thinks of as “the problem.” Maami is my mother.

Nana is my mother’s mother. And they say I am seven years old. And my problem is that at this seven years of age, there are things I can think in my head, but which, maybe, I do not have the proper language to speak them out with.

And that, I think, is a very serious problem because it is always difficult to decide whether to keep quiet and not say any of the things that come into my head, or say them and get laughed at. Not that it is easy to get any grown-up to listen to you, even when you decide to take the risk and say something serious to them.

Question 1.
Who is the speaker of the above text? Where was she born?
Answer:
The speaker of the above text is a little girl of seven years old. She was born in Hasodzi, a very big village in the central region of Ghana, Africa.

Question 2.
Who is Nana? Who is Maami?
Answer:
Nana is the grandmother of the speaker and Maami is the mother of the speaker. Though these two get along well, sometimes they argue about Adjoa and her thin legs.

Question 3.
What does Adjoa think to be a serious problem? Why?
Answer:
Adjoa is a little girl who has many thoughts buzzing in her head. She wants to find answers of these thoughts or wants to share her thoughts with someone but she does not have the proper language to speak them out with. To her, this is a serious problem because it is difficult to decide whether to keep quiet or say them and get laughed at.

Question 4.
“Not that is easy to get any grown-up to listen to you,”—Why?
Answer:
According to the speaker, grown-ups do not care much about what the kids are thinking or what they want to say. Kids’ mind thus keeps searching for answers to the questions which trouble them all the time. But they do not have any listener. That is why the speaker said those above mentioned words.

B. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

Take Nana. First, I have to struggle to catch her attention. Then I tell her something I had taken a long time to figure out. And then you know what ‘ always happens? She would at once stop whatever she is doing and, mouth open, stare at me for a very long time. Then, bending and turning her head slightly, so that one ear comes down towards me, she’ll say in that voice:

“Adjoa, you say what?”After I have repeated whatever I had said, she would either, still in that voice, ask me “never, never, but NEVER to repeat THAT,” or she would immediately burst out laughing. She would laugh and laugh and laugh, until tears run down her cheeks and she would stop whatever she is doing and wipe away the tears with the hanging edges of her cloth.

And she would continue laughing until she is completely tired. But then, as soon as another person comes by, just to make sure she doesn’t forget whatever it was I had said, she would repeat it to her. And then, of course, there would be two old people laughing and screaming with tears running down their faces.

Sometimes this show continues until there are three, four or even more of such laughing and screaming tear-faced grownups. And all that performance for whatever I’d said? I find something quite confusing in all this. That is, no one ever explains to me why sometimes I shouldn’t repeat some things I say; while at other times, some other things I say would not only be all right, but would be considered so funny they would be repeated so many times for so many people’s enjoyment.

Question 1.
“Adjoa, you say what?”—Who is the speaker here? Who is the person spoken to?
Answer:
Here the speaker is an old lady, Nana, who is the grandmother of the speaker. Here, the person spoken to his Adjoa, a little girl of seven years old.

Question 2.
Why does Nana “laugh and laugh and laugh”?
Answer:
Nana does not pay attention to what her granddaughter Adjoa has to say. And when somehow she listens to her, she thinks those to be baseless and thus laugh at her.

Question 3.
Why does the narrator have to struggle to catch Nana’s attention?
Answer:
The narrator is a kid and so she has various things in mind to which she wants to find answers. She wants to discuss things to her elders but neither Nana nor Maami listens much to those, especially Nana who does not pay heed to her words. That is why she has to struggle much.

Question 4.
What is the above mentioned passage about?
Answer:
The above mentioned passage is about Adjoa’s thoughts which do not get priority to Nana, her grandmother. She is a kid and so she has many unsolved queries in mind and when she expresses those to Nana, she is mocked at by her. Nana laughs at her and ignores her.

C. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

“Legs that have meat on them with good calves support solid hips…to be able to have children.” So I wished that one day I would see, for myself, the legs of any woman who had had children.

Question 1.
Why are legs important in this story?
Answer:
in the story, Adjoa’s legs are too thin. Legs are important because her grandma thinks that those legs are meant to raise a family. When Adjoa is selected to run for the junior athletes and she becomes the best junior athlete, she realizes that legs can be useful in so many other ways.

Question 2.
What is the role of women in the story?
Answer:
According to Nana, the role of women is to create a family and take care of the children. At the end of the story, it has been established that women can contribute to society in many ways.

Question 3.
Why does Nana criticize the narrator’s legs?
Answer:
Nana worries that the narrator’s legs are too thin, and that she doesn’t have good legs and hips to have children later. Clearly this is an example of the society values created for women to behave only like child-bearers.

Question 4.
What are the limitations of the narrator’s abilities?
Answer:
If anything the narrator’s abilities when it comes to running free the narrator from the traditional outlook that Nana has when it comes to the abilities of a woman to give birth. This might be impotent as Aidoo may be suggesting that the narrator may not necessarily carry on the traditions that Nana has lived her life by.

D. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

“Some people have no legs at all,” my mother would try again with all her small courage. “But Adoja has legs,” Nana would insist; “except that they are too thin. And also too long for a woman. Kaya listen, once in a while, but only once in a very long while somebody decides- nature, a child’s spirit mother, and accident happens, and somebody gets born without arms or legs or both sets of limbs…”

Question 1.
“Some people have no legs at ail,”—Who is the speaker here? Who is the person spoken to?
Answer:
Here, the speaker is Maami, whose another name is Kaya and she is the mother of Adjoa. The person spoken to is Nana, the grandmother of Adjoa.

Question 2.
According to Nana, what is an accident?
Answer:
According to Nana, when a child is born without arms or legs or both sets of limbs then that is an accident because the nature who is also called a child’s spirit mother, decides that disabilities to be the future of the unborn child.

Question 3.
Write a few words about the character of Maami.
Answer:
Maami has not much role to play in this story. She is a hesitant and speechless character who remains static in the whole story. She loves Adjoa and supports her dreams but when it comes to save her from, the disheartened comments of her own mother, she turns timid.

Question 4.
Why does Maami and Nana argue?
Answer:
Nana is not pleased with the thin legs of her granddaughter, Adjoa because she thinks that a woman should have strong legs that would help her when she would give birth to a child. But Maami supports her daughter and does not have any issues with her legs. That is why they argue to state each other’s point of view.

E. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

School is another thing Nana and my mother discussed often and appeared to have different ideas about. Nana thought it would be a waste of time. I never understood what she meant. My mother seemed to know and disagreed.

She kept telling Nana that she, that is, my mother— felt she was locked into some kind of darkness because she didn’t go to school. So that if I, her daughter, could learn to write and read my own name and a little besides- perhaps be able to calculate some things on paper- that would be good. I could always marry later and may be…

Question 1.
Why did Maami feel “locked into some kind of darkness”?
Answer:
Maami felt “locked into some kind of darkness” she never had the opportunity to go to school and explore the unknown. She felt sad about this and always feel regretted.

Question 2.
Did Maami want her daughter to go to school?
Answer:
Yes, Maami always wanted her daughter to attend school because she wanted her to leant and explore the unknown. She wanted Adjoa to have the freedom of choices which she did not have the opportunity to get.

Question 3.
Why, according to the story, the school was a waste of time for women?
Answer:
As per the social stigma existing in the society, women are meant only to create a family and take care of theme. Education is not important. African countries were under colonial rule for a long time and the colonizers did not take my effective step for their education. So after colonization, the women especially were stuck to their earlier condition.

Question 4.
Give a brief note on the character of Nana, after reading the story “The Girl Who Can.”
Answer:
Nana is the mother Maami and grandmother of Adjoa. She is an authoritative woman who loves to silence people around her, in her own exquisite style. She thinks that she is the most knowledgeable person in the house and often argues with Maami when it comes to Adjoa.

Adjoa’s thin legs displease her as thinks that this stresses their incapability to hold a solid figure for a woman giving birth. But Adjoa makes her realise that a woman’s body has more to do than just giving birth to babies. She appreciates Adjoa’s skill as a runner in the end of the story and changes her view of life.

The Girl Who Can Story MCQs

Choose the correct alternative to complete the following sentences:

Question 1.
In which village is ‘The Girl Who Can’ set?
a. Bobrapa
b. Hasodzi
c. Asempa
d. Domiaabra
Answer:
b. Hasodzi

Question 2.
What distinguishes Hasodzi from other villages in the story?
a. Its people
b. Its market
c. Its fertile soil
d. Its chiefs
Answer:
c. Its fertile soil

Question 3.
Who is the narrator of the story?
a. Adjoa
b. Nana
c. Maami
d. Ama Ata Aidoo
Answer:
a. Adjoa

Question 4.
How old is the narrator of the story?
a. 12
b. 8
c. 7
d. 6
Answer:
c. 7

Question 5.
Who is the mother of Adjoa?
a. Maami
b. Ama Ata Aidoo
c. Nana
d. None of them
Answer:
a. Maami

Question 6.
What is the other name of Maami in the story?
a. Pokua
b. Kaya
c. Rose
d. Adjoa
Answer:
b. Kaya

Question 7.
What is the relation between Nana and Maami?
a. Friends
b. Grandmother-mother
c. Mother-daughter
d. Sisters
Answer:
c. Mother-daughter

Question 8.
Which of these amuses Adjoa?
a. Nana’s ignorance
b. No one explains to her why she shouldn’t repeat certain things
c. Nana’s laughter
d. Her struggle to catch her grandmother’s attention
Answer:
b. No one explains to her why she shouldn’t repeat certain things

Question 9.
About what doNana and Kaya constanly argue?
a. Adjoa’s legs
b. Parental issues
c. Politics
d. Adjoa’s education
Answer:
a. Adjoa’s legs

Question 10.
Which of these set of characters are Adjoa’s favourite people?
a. Her mother and father
b. Maami and Esinam
c. Kaya and Nana
d. Maami and teacher
Answer:
c. Kaya and Nana

Question 11.
“The land of sweet, soft silence”- What does this literary device best exemplify?
a. Onomatopoeia
b. Personification
c. Oxymoron
d. Alliteration
Answer:
d. Alliteration

Question 12.
“Out of the land of sweet, soft silence” What is the meaning of this expression?
a. Competing in a race
b. Being born
c. Arriving at school
d. Playing in the school
Answer:
b. Being born

Question 13.
According to Adjoa what did Nana and Maami discuss when she was born?
a. Her beauty
b. Her head
c. Her skin colour
d. Her legs
Answer:
d. Her legs

Question 14.
Which of these characters are said to have many voices?
a. Adjoa
b. Ama Ata Aidoo
c. Nana
d. Kaya
Answer:
c. Nana

Question 15.
Why is Adjoa confused about what to say and what not to say?
a. She lacks the proper language to speak them out
b. She fears Nana’s reaction
c. Her mother will scold her
d. Everyone will laugh at her
Answer:
a. She lacks the proper language to speak them out

Question 16.
What kind of legs does Nana believe every woman should have?
a. This legs
b. Fat legs
c. Short legs
d. Legs that have meat on them
Answer:
d. Legs that have meat on them

Question 17.
Why was Nana worried about Adjoa’s legs?
a. She believes thin legs can easily break
b. She believes thin legs are for lazy people
c. Thin legs are for malnourished people
d. She believes that women with thin legs cannot give birth
Answer:
d. She believes that women with thin legs cannot give birth

Question 18.
What does Nana believe about thin legs?
a. Of no use
b. For lazy people
c. Good for running
d. Good for walking
Answer:
a. Of no use

Question 19.
Which of these does Nana use to shut Kaya up in their arguments?
a. Adjoa’s school
b. Adjoa’s legs
c. Issues of Adjoa’sfather
d. Kaya’s ignorance
Answer:
c. Issues of Adjoa’sfather

Question 20.
Why was it difficult for Adjoa’s to see the legs of the older women who had children?
a. It was a taboo for older women to expose their legs
b. They wore long-wrap around all the time
c. Older women don’t bath in the river
d. The village is always bushy
Answer:
b. They wore long-wrap around all the time

Question 21.
What were Nana’s initial thoughts about education?
a. School is a waste of time
b. School was profitable
c. School was very helpful
d. Education is for the rich
Answer:
a. School is a waste of time

Question 22.
What is Adjoa’s attitude towards school?
a. Indifference
b. Enthusiasm
c. Nonchalant
d. Melancholy
Answer:
b. Enthusiasm

Question 23.
Why does Kaya feel that she is locked into some kind of darkness?
a. Their lantern went off
b. Their village has no light
c. She didn’t go to school
d. She lost her husband
Answer:
c. She didn’t go to school

Question 24.
What was Nana’s reaction to Adjoa representing her school in the district games?
a. Blissfulness
b. Confusion
c. Contentment
d. Disbelieve
Answer:
d. Disbelieve

Question 25.
What did Nana borrow from Mr. Mensah’s house during the district sports?
a. A football
b. A charcoal pressing iron
c. Story books
d. Jerseys
Answer:
b. A charcoal pressing iron

Question 26.
“The big brass bowl”-What literary device is used here?
a. Alliteration
b. Consonance
c. Personification
d. Oxymoron
Answer:
a. Alliteration

Question 27.
What did Nana do when Adjoa won the best round junior athlete?
a. She encouraged her
b. She stopped discussing her legs
c. She bought her an ice cream
d. She carried the cup on her back
Answer:
d. She carried the cup on her back

Question 28.
Where does Adjoa come from?
a. The central region of Ghana
b. The greater Accra region of Ghana
c. The eastern region of Ghana
d. The Ashanti region of Ghana
Answer:
a. The central region of Ghana

Question 29.
“They are too that and I am not asking you!” Who made this statement?
a. Kaya
b. Nana
c. Abena
d. Adjoa
Answer:
b. Nana

Question 30.
“You can hear the cloth creak when she passes by”. What does the statement exemplify?
a. Metaphor
b. Onomatopoeia
c. Metaphor
d. Personification
Answer:
b. Onomatopoeia

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Short Stories Workbook Answers

Oliver Asks for More Story Questions and Answers & MCQs

by
Oliver Asks for More Story Questions and Answers & MCQs

Oliver Asks for More Story Questions and Answers & MCQs

A. Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow:

Oliver had not been within the walls of the workhouse a quarter of an hour, when Mr. Bumble informed him that the board had said he was to appear before it forthwith. Not having a very clearly defined notion of what a live board was, Oliver was rather astonished by this information, and was not quite certain whether he ought to laugh or cry. He had no time to think about the matter.

Mr. Bumble asked Oliver to follow him into a large white-washed room where eight or ten fat gentlemen were sitting round a table. At the top of the table, seated in an armchair rather higher than the rest, was a particularly fat gentleman with a very round, red face.

‘Bow to the board,’ said Bumble. Oliver brushed away two or three tears that were lingering in his eyes; and seeing no board but the table, bowed to that.‘What’s your name, boy?’ said the gentleman in the high chair. Oliver was frightened at the sight of so many gentlemen, which made him tremble.

Question 1.
What did Mr Bumble inform Oliver?
Answer:
Mr Bumble informed Oliver that the board had asked to make Oliver appear before it.

Question 2.
How/did Oliver feel when he was told to appear before the live board?
Answer:
Oliver Twist did not have any clearly defined notion of what a live board was. So, he was astonished by this information and was not quite certain whether he ought to laugh or cry. He had no time to think about the matter.

Question 3.
Why did Oliver tremble and cry in the white washed room?
Answer:
Oliver followed Mr. Bumble into the white-washed room where the members of the board were sitting round table. They were all fat. Oliver was frightened at the sight of so many gentlemen and so he trembled. He stood trembling in silence when the gentleman in the high chair asked him what his name was. So, the beadle gave Oliver a tap on his back with his cane, which made him cry.

Question 4.
Describe Oliver’s condition after reading the above passage,
Answer:
In the above passage we can see Oliver who was a small boy, was staying in a parish workhouse. He did not know the rules of the place much, he also did not know the board members. Accompanying Mr Bumble, Oliver went to the board, terribly frightened about what would happen to him. He was anxious and confused as well.

B. Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow:

‘Hush!’ said the gentleman who had spoken first. ‘You know you’ve got no father or mother, and that you were brought up by the parish, weren’t you?’
‘Yes, sir,’ replied Oliver, weeping bitterly.
‘What are you crying for?’ inquired the gentleman in the white waistcoat.
‘I hope you say your prayers every night,’ said another gentleman in a gruff voice; ‘andpray for the people who feed you, and take care of you-like a Christian.’
‘Yes, sir,’ stammered the boy.
“Well! You have come here to be educated, and taught a useful trade,’ said the red – faced gentleman in the high chair.
‘So you’ll begin to pick oakum tomorrow morning at six o’clock,’ added the surly one in the white waistcoat.
Oliver bowed low, directed by the beadle, and was then hurried away to a large ward; where, on a rough, hard bed, he sobbed himself to sleep. Poor Oliver! As he lay sleeping, unconscious of everything around him, the board had taken a decision that would change the course of his life.

Question 1.
Why was Oliver weeping bitterly?
Answer:
Oliver was asked by the board if he knew that he was an orphan. At this, Oliver wept bitterly because he knew if he had someone who would look after him, he would not have to spend his days at that parish workhouse.

Question 2.
Why was Oliver in a hurry to return to his bed?
Answer:
Oliver was confused anxious and scared after meeting the board members and hearing their Instructions. So he just wanted to escape from this situation. Therefore as soon as the meeting was over, he ran to his bed.

Question 3.
What would change the course of Oliver’s life?
Answer:
Mr Bumble took Oliver to the board where the board members had a chat with him. After meeting Oliver, the board took a decision which was unfavourable for Oliver. They decided something hard and ruthless so treat Oliver harshly. Therefore it would change the course of his life whenever it will be executed.

Question 4.
What kind of people were the members of the board? Justify your opinion.
Answer:
The members of the board were very wise and philosophical men. They were happy when they came to know that the workhouse was the regular place of public entertainment for the poorer classes. They didn’t have any mercy or sympathy towards the poor.

They were shocked when they came to know that it was all play and no work in works house. They were of the opinion that the poor should starve quickly outside the workhouse or gradually inside the house. So. they ordered to restrict the food given to the poor. If anyone demanded (or requested. for more, he would be thrown out.

C. Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow:

The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a big copper bowl at one end, out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladled the gruel at mealtime. Of this festive composition each boy had one basinful, and no more- except on occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides.

The basins never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again. When they had performed this operation they would sit staring at the copper bowl, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the big bowl itself and everything in it. At the same time they sucked their fingers most carefully to catch up any stray splashes of gruel that might have stuck thereon. Boys have generally excellent appetite.

Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months; at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger, that one boy, who was tall for his age, and hadn’t been used to that sort of thing (for his father had kept a small cook-shop., hinted darkly to his companions, that unless he had another basin of gruel per day, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next to him, who happened to be a weakly – youth of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye; and they believed him. A council was held; lots were cast who should walk up to the master after supper that evening, and ask for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.

Question 1.
How was the room where the boys were given food?
Answer:
The room in which the boys were fed was a large stone hall with a big copper bowl at one end out of which the master, dressed in an apron for serving food, assisted by one or two women ladled the gruel at the mealtime.

Question 2.
How. did the boys polish the basins?
Answer:
The basins never get washed, So the boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again.

Question 3.
Why were the boys remained so hungry?
Answer:
The boys were not given proper food to satisfy their hunger. A small amount of food was given to them just to stay alive and active. That is why they even used to suck their fingers so that even a last drop of gruel did not get wasted. They were suffering this slow starvation for three months because they had no other place to go.

Question 4.
What duty was given to Oliver? Why?
Answer:
Oliver was given the duty of fetching some more food for a boy from the master after supper. Oliver and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months so they became voracious with hunger.

Among them, a tall boy, unable to suffer more, threatened the other boys to bring some more food or he would eat up someone who would sleep next to him. Hearing this, they got frightened and so the duty of arranging some more food went to Oliver.

D. Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

‘For more!’ said Mr. Limbkins. ‘Compose yourself, Bumble, and answer me distinctly. Do I understand that he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper allotted by the board?’‘He did, sir,’ replied Bumble.

Question 1.
“Compose yourself.”- Who is the speaker here? To whom did he speak to?
Answer:
Here, the speaker is Mr Limbkins and the person spoken to is Mr Bumble.

Question 2.
What is the context of the above passage?
Answer:
Oliver asked for some more gruel for a tall boy among them who was badly in need of more food and so threatened his companions. When Oliver asked for more food, everyone including the master and other board members got shocked and decided to take a decision against Oliver.

Question 3.
How do you look at Oliver’s request, ‘Please, sir, / want some more!’? What compelled him to say this?
Answer:
Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation. They became wild with hunger. A tall boy of them announced that he would eat the boy who slept next to him unless he had enough food to eat.

A council was held and it was decided that Oliver should ask the master for more. That evening after they had eaten the served gruel, Oliver went to the master and requested him for more. Thus, the hunger of the tall boy compelled him to say this. His hunger and misery too compelled him to say this.

Question 4.
Why Mr Bumble was asked to compose himself?
Answer:
At the workhouse, when Oliver had oared to ask for more food, everyone got shocked. No one had ever imagined that someone could take a stand against their. So when that unexpected thing happened, both the marter and Mr Bumble got awestruck. When Mr Bumble went to Limbkins to state the fact, he was quite excited. That is why he was asked to compose himself.

Oliver Asks for More Story Poem MCQs

Choose the correct alternative to complete the following sentences:

Question 1.
What city is the novel centred on?
a. Dublin
b. New York City
c. London
Answer:
c. London

Question 2.
How were the board members?
a. Very angry
b. Very sad
c. Very wise and
Answer:
c. Very wise and

Question 3.
From which novel is the text ‘Oliver ask for more’ taken?
a. Oliver Twist
b. Oliver Waugh
c. Oliver Kid
Answer:
a. Oliver Twist

Question 4.
What is the name of the beadle?
a. Dorey
b. Mr. Bumble
c. Joe Bumble
Answer:
b. Mr. Bumble

Question 5.
What is meant by the word ‘strides’?
a. Keep
b. Stones
c. Steps
Answer:
c. Steps

Question 6.
Why was Oliver trembling?
a. He was sick
b. He was frightened by seeing so many gentlemen
c. He was nervous
Answer:
b. He was frightened by seeing so many gentlemen

Question 7.
What is meant by the word ‘forthwith’?
a. Immediately
b. Same
c. From
Answer:
a. Immediately

Question 8.
What was common among all the men in the board?
a. They were all old
b. They were all black
c. They were all fat
Answer:
c. They were all fat

Question 9.
Why could Oliver not see the people sitting behind the table?
a. He was blind
b. He was small
c. He was cruel
Answer:
b. He was small

Question 10.
Why did the beadle beat Oliver?
a. He did not answer
b. He was crying
c. He was not walking
Answer:
a. He did not answer

Question 11.
What is meant by the word ‘weeping’?
a. Bad
b. Ciying
c. Sad
Answer:
b. Ciying

Question 12.
Who is looking after the orphan boys?
a. The parish
b. Ngo
c. Common people
Answer:
a. The parish

Question 13.
“What is that, sir” inquired poor Oliver- What does ‘that’ refer to?
a. ‘That’ refers to the word ‘orphan’
b. ‘That’ refers to a small boy
c. None of these
Answer:
a. ‘That’ refers to the word ‘orphan’

Question 14.
What is the meaning of ‘Gruel’?
a. It is a drink
b. It is a food of oats, rice etc.
c. None of these
Answer:
b. It is a food of oats, rice etc.

Question 15.
In what kind of room the boys were fed?
a. Small stone hall
b. Nonnal hall
c. Large stone hall
Answer:
b. Nonnal hall

Question 16.
For hoW many months did Oliver Twist and his companions suffer the tortures of slow starvation?
a. 8 months
b. 3 months
c. 6 months
Answer:
b. 3 months

Question 17.
When was Oliver ordered to pick oakum?
a. At seven o’clock
b. At five o’clock
c. At six o’clock
Answer:
c. At six o’clock

Question 18.
‘Please, sir, I want some more.’ Who said this?
a. Oliver Twist
b. The Master
c. None of these
Answer:
a. Oliver Twist

Question 19.
What is the name of the gentleman in the high chair?
a. Mr. Bumble
b. Mr. Limbkins
c. Oliver Twist
Answer:
b. Mr. Limbkins

Question 20.
‘I beg your pardon, sir’- Who said this?
a. Mr. Bumble
b. Mr. Limbkins
c. None of them
Answer:
a. Mr. Bumble

Question 21.
How much money was offered for Oliver?
a. 10 pounds
b. 15 pounds
c. 5 pounds
Answer:
c. 5 pounds

Question 22.
‘That boy will be hung’- Who is the speaker here?
a. The master
b. Gentleman in the white waistcoat
c. Mr. Bumble
Answer:
b. Gentleman in the white waistcoat

Question 23.
‘I know that boy will be hung.’ Who is ‘that boy’?
a. Oliver Twist
b. Mr. Bumble
c. None of these
Answer:
a. Oliver Twist

Question 24.
In which year Charles Dickens was born?
a. 1810
b. 1815
c. 1812
Answer:
c. 1812

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Short Stories Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 10 The Power of Music

by
Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 10 The Power of Music

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 10 The Power of Music

The Power of Music Poem Comprehension Questions Answers

Question 1.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
When summer comes, we hear the hums Bhisma Lochan Sharma. 
You catch his strain on hill and plain from Delhii down to Burma
He sings as though he’s staked his life, he sings as though he’s hell-bent;
The people, dazed, retire amazed although they know it’s well-meant.

i. Who is Bhisma Lochan Sharma? What happens when summer arrives?
ii. How far is Bhisma Lochan Sharma’s voice audible?
iii. Why does it seem as if Bhisma Lochan Sharma has staked his life?
iv. How does people react hearing Bhisma Lochan ‘s voice?
Answer:
i.Bhisma Lochan is a so called budding singer whose awful voice terrorizes everything under the sun. Bhisma Lochan however, begins practicing song with the advent of summer.

ii. The voice of Bhisma Lochan Sharma is audible far and wide. Whether be on hills or in valleys from Delhi to Burma, Bhishma Lochan is awfully audible everywhere.

iii. Since Bhishma Lochan Sharma sings terrifyingly loud, it seems as if he has staked his life. Normally people do not sing so inharmoniously loud. Hence, the poet says that Bhishma Lochan perhaps has” staked his life” because his thunderous voice might shock him to death.

iv. People are simply terrified when they hear Bhisma Lochan sing terrifyingly loud. They run away to avoid the dreadful voice of Bhisma Lochan who continues singing aloud without being moved.

Question 2.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
They’re trampled in the panic rout or languish pale and sickly,
And plead/My friend, we’re near our end,oh stop your singing quickly! 
The bullock-carts are overturn ed, and horses line the roadside;
But Bhisma Lochan, unconcerned, goes booming out his broadside.

i. What happens when people try to run away to avoid Bhisma Lochan’s voice?
ii. What do they say to Bhisma Lochan? How does Bhisma Lochan react hearing their plea?
iii. How does Bhisma Lochan’s song affect the bullock cart and the horses on the road?
iv. How do they react hearing the strange voice of Bhisma Lochan?
v. What effect is produced with the picture of overturned bullock-cart and their confounded look?
Answer:
i. When people try to run away to avoid Bhisma Lochan’s voice, they often collide with one another and are even 210 stomped under their feet. In a way, a total picture of chaos is established as people desperately seek for a safer zone when they hear Bhisma Lochan sing horribly.

ii. Feeling desperately miserable hearing thunderous voice of Bhisma Lochan, people pleads with him to stop singing. This however will help them to survive and live in peace.

iii. Not only humans, Bhisma Lochan’s song horribly affects even the animals and aquatic creatures. For example, bullock-carts are overturned when Bhisma Lochan sings aloud. The horses stand in a row, renouncing their work. They all protest and with confused eyes they continue staring at Bhisma Lochan with their feet in the air.

iv. Having never heard of such dreadful voice, animals like horses and bullock are terribly shocked. While horses abandon their work and stand in a row, the bullock carts are overturned and the poor animals continue staring at Bhisma Lochan with their feet in the air. In a way, these animals protest vehemently staring at Bhisma Lochan with confused eyes.

v. The picture of overturned bullock cart and the confused look of the “wretched brutes” evoke enough mirth. Sukumar Ray intends to ridicule Bhisma Lochan Sharma for his desperate attempt to be a maestro.

But, little does he realise that he has hardly the ability to reach into such platform. His rewaj simply terrorizes all near him including the animals. The poet thus, mocks the pseudo-maestro with such pictures which indicates how awfully does Bhisma Lochan sings.

Question 3.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
The fishes dived below the lake in frantic search for silence,
The very trees collapse and shake – you hear the crash a mile hence
And in the sky the feathered fly turn turtle while they’re winging,
Again we cry, ‘We’re going to die, oh won’t you stop your singing?’

i. How do fishes react hearing Bhisma Lochon’s song?
ii. How do birds react hearing Bhisma Lochon’s dreadful hum?
iii. What other thing are affected by the terrifying hum of Bhisma Lochan?
iv. How do people react observing the calamities around?
v. What impression of Bhisma Lochan do you form based on your reading the poem?
Answer:
i. Bhisma Lochan’s dreadful hum affects the aquatic world. Fishes dive deep into the lake in search of safer zone when they hear the terrifying hum of Bhisma Lochan.

ii. The hum of Bhisma Lochan affects the birds too. Birds start losing control over their wings. They turn upside down, while Bhisma Lochan continues singing horribly loud.

iii. Other things affected by the terrifying hum of Bhisma Lochan are trees and the sky. Trees continue collapsing on the ground and the sky falls into tear when Bhisma Lochan is busy with his hum.

iv. People feel scared observing the series of calamities around. Hence, they earnestly plead with Bhisma Lochan to stop singing, fearing that the furious noise might kill them. People in fact want to live in peace. Hence, they beg Bhisma Lochan to renounce his practice which terrifies all under the sun.

v. Bhisma Lochan Sharma is a powerful caricature of a pseudo intellectual, desperately striving to be the part of the enlightened world without testifying his ability.

His dreadful voice terrorizes all around him and scares them away. This is deeply insulting for a singer as he craves for public attention. But, Bhisma Lochan is such a weird creature that he remains unmoved and continues singing horribly despite public disapproval.

Question 4.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
But now there comes a billy goat, a most
sagacious fellow,
He downs his horns and charges straight, with
bellow answering bellow.
The strains of song are tossed and whirled by
blast of brutal violence,

i. What is a billy goat? Why is he called sagacious?
ii. What does the goat do while he hears Bhisma Lochan singing?
iii. How does it affect Bhisma Lochan?
iv. How does Bhisma Lochan grants the world the golden gift of silence?
Answer:
i. A billy goat is a male goat. He is called sagacious since he know the way to stop Bhisma Lochan’s song.

ii. Irked with Bhisma Lochan’s horrible voice, the ram lowers his horns and hits the singer from behind. The nudge however was so powerful indeed that Bhisma Lochan at once bounced high up in the air and finally falls down on the ground.

iii. When the ram hits Bhisma Lochan from behind, the awful singer at once bounced high up in the air and finally falls down on the ground.

iv. Deeply injured because of the sudden nudge of the ram, Bhisma Lochan finally renounces singing. Silence thus, pervades all around and the people are saved from being tortured by the dreadful hum of Bhisma Lochan.

The Power of Music Poem Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
Bhismalochan Sharma was a …………..
a. painter
b. singer
c. playwright
d. writer
Answer:
b. singer

Question 2.
Bhismalochan begins his song with the advent of ………….
a. winter
b. monsoon
c. autumn
d. summer
Answer:
d. summer

Question 3.
People plead with Bhismalochan to …………….
a. continue singing
b. stop singing
c. sing with musical instruments
d. sing softly
Answer:
b. stop singing

Question 4.
What do people do when Bhismalochan sing?
a. They sit and enjoy his song
b. The applaud to encourage the singer
c. They dance
d. They run away
Answer:
d. They run away

Question 5.
What happens to bullock cart when Bhismalochan sings?
a. They stand in a row
b. The bullock try to free themselves from the cart
c. They are overturned
d. They blow horns
Answer:
c. They are overturned

Question 6.
How do animals react hearing Bhismalochan’s song?
a. They protest and with confused eyes continue staring at Bhisma Lochan
b. They start dancing
c. They hear the singer with deep interest
d. They cry out in fear
Answer:
a. They protest and with confused eyes continue staring at Bhisma Lochan

Question 7.
How do fishes react hearing Bhismalochan’s song?
a. They come out of the water
b. They swim merrily
c. They dive into water in search of safer zone
d. They dance in water
Answer:
c. They dive into water in search of safer zone

Question 8.
What happens to the trees when Bhismalochan sings?
a. They dance merrily
b. They remain sombre
c. They collapse to the ground
d. They become colourless
Answer:
c. They collapse to the ground

Question 9.
Birds loose control of their ……….. when Bhismalochan sings.
a. emotion
b. wings
c. feathers
d. none of the above
Answer:
b. wings

Question 10.
Who finally to stops Bhismalochan from singing?
a. a cat
b. a ram
c. a dog
d. an elephant
Answer:
b. a ram

Question 11.
Bhismalochan’s song finally comes to an end with ………….
a. people’s protest
b. the advent of monsoon
c. the nudge of a ram
d. the nudge of a cow
Answer:
c. the nudge of a ram

The Power of Music Poem Annotations with Comments

Lines 1 to 8:

Hums: song
Bhisma Lochan Sharma: a fictitious character
Strain: song
You catch…..Burma: the inharmonious holler of Bhisma Lochan Sharma audible far and wide: on the hills as well as in the valleys from Delhi to Burma
Staked: bet
He sings….life: Since Bhisma Lochan Sharma sings so furiously loud it seems as if he has staked his life.
Hell-bent: determined
Dazed: shocked
Retire: leave
Amazed: shocked

Lines 9 to 20:

Trampled: stamped
Rout: disorder
Languish: weaken
Pale: colourless
Sickly: ill
Plead: request
‘My friend: refers to Bhisma Lochan Sharma
near our end: almost to die soon
overturned: turned upside down
unconcerned: undisturbed
booming: deafening
broadside: (here)sing furiously loud
wretched: miserable
brutes: animals
resent: protest
blare: loud noise
whine: complain
stare with feet: the cacophonous song of Bhisma Lochan Sharma threw the animals on the ground, they now continue staring at this weird human with their feet in the air
confounded: confused

Lines 21 to 32:

Frantic: desperate
Collapse: fall to the ground
Crash: refers to the sound of trees falling to the ground
feathered fly: birds
turn turtle: turn upside down
we: refers to people around
soared: song reached to an
intolerable pitch
grumble: protest
welkin: sky
screech: scream
mansions: tall buildings

Lines 33 to 40:

billy goat: mate goat/ram
sagacious: wise
downs: lowers
charges: hits
bellow: loud bleating
bellow answering bellow: the loud bleat of the goat is similar to that of Bhisma Lochan’s cacophonous song
whirled: circled
brutal: fierce
brutal violence: refers to the nudge of the ram with his horn.
Bhisma Lochan grants …….. silence: Bhishma Lochan is finally stopped by the “nudge” of a ram which brings an end to his dreaming of a maestro.

The Power of Music Poem Paraphrase

With the advent of summer, Bhisma Lochan Sharma begins his clamorous song, audible far and wide. Whether be on hills or in valleys from Delhi to Burma, he is awfully audible. One feels as if Bhisma Lochan has staked his life as he sings thunderously loud. Scared ot his song, people always run away, leaving Bhisma Lochan completely unmoved.

In such agitation, people often collide with one another and are even stomped under their feet. As they feel miserable, they plead with the singer to stop singing. The bullock-carts are overturned and the horses stand in a row, renouncing their work. They all protest and with confused eyes, continue staring at Bhisma Lochan with their feet in the air.

Bhisma Lochan’s song even affects the aquatic world. Fishes dive deep into the lake in search of safer zone. Trees continue collapsing on the ground and the birds start losing control over their wings. They turn upside down, while Bhisma Lochan carries on with his rewaz. Scared of such disaster, people beg him to stop singing, fearing that the furious noise might kill them. But Bhisma Lochan’s song does not cease. Instead, his song goads the sky to cry and the houses fall down due to intolerable boom.

One day, a ram on its way hears Bhisma Lochan singing furiously aloud. Annoyed of the scream, he lowers his horns and hits the singer. The powerful nudge raises Bhisma Lochan into the air and casts him onto the ground. The wounded singer finally stops singing .and silence pervades all around. Bhisma Lochan’s dream of becoming a maestro finally ends.

The Power of Music Poem Summary by Sukumar Ray

Lines 1 to 8:

With the advent of summer, Bhisma Lochan Sharma begins his clamorous song, audible far and wide. Whether be on hills or in valleys from Delhi to Burma, Bhishmalochan is awfully audible. One feels as if the Bhisma Lochan has staked his life as he sings thunderously loud. People are deeply scared. They run away to avoid the dreadful song, leaving Bhisma Lochan unmoved.

Lines 9 to 20:

In such agitation, people often collide with one another and are even stomped under their feet. As they feel miserable, they plead with Bhisma Lochan to stop singing. The bullock-carts are overturned and the horses stand in a row, renouncing their work. They all protest and with confused eyes they continue staring at Bhisma Lochan with their feet in the air.

Lines 21 to 32:

Bhisma Lochan’s song even affects the aquatic world. Fishes dive deep into the lake in search of safer zone. Trees continue collapsing on the ground and the birds start losing control over their wings. They turn upside down, while Bhisma Lochan carries on with his rewaz. Scared of such disaster, people beg him to stop singing fearing that the furious noise might kill them. But Bhisma Lochan song does not cease. Instead, goads the sky to cry and houses to fall down.

Lines 33 to 40:

A ram on its way hears Bhisma Lochan’s song. Annoyed of the scream, he lowers his horns and hits the singer. The powerful nudge lifts up Bhisma Lochan and throws him on the ground. The wounded singer finally stops singing and silence pervades all around

The Power of Music Poem Introduction

A significant poem in The Weird and the Absurd (Abol Tabol), The Power of Music by Sukumar Ray is a typical “nonsense”, a genre which developed in the hands of Lewis Carol and Edward Lear. Bengali readers were exposed to this genre by the poems in Abol Tabol which deliberately attempt to ridicule the ‘state of society and administration of early 20th-century colonial India’.

The Power of Music (“Gaaner Guto”) explores the pretention of the modern man for his attempt to be the part of the enlightened world without testifying his ability. Bhishmalochan Sharma is a representative of such “weird” class whose awful rewaj terrorizes people all around.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 9 A Considerable Speck

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 9 A Considerable Speck

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 9 A Considerable Speck

A Considerable Speck Poem Comprehension Questions Answers

Question 1.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
A speck that would have been beneath my sight
On any but a paper sheet so white
Set off across what I had written there.
And I had idly poised my pen in air
To stop it with a period of ink
When something strange about it made me think,
This was no dust speck by my breathing blown,
But unmistakably a living mite
With inclinations, it could call its own.

i. What is the poet doing at present? Where did he find the speck?
ii. What does the poet do immediately after finding the speck?
iii. What does the poet ultimately discover? What is meant by the word “period” in the fifth line of the given excerpt?
iv. What does the poet mean by “with inclinations it could call its own”?
Answer:
i. The poet was deeply engrossed in writing while he suddenly noticed a speck on the sheet of white paper where he was writing. The speck simply awes him with it sudden movement across the white sheet of paper.

ii. Immediate after discovering that it was not a mere speck of dust but a living mite trying to move across the white sheet of paper, the poem lifts up his pen and starts observing the mite closely.

iii. Ultimately the poet discovers that it was not a mere speck of dust but a living mite trying to move across the white sheet of paper where the poet was writing. In the fifth line of the given excerpt, the word “period” means full stop.

iv. The poet means to say that it was not a mere speck of dust which he saw on the white sheet of paper while he was writing. Instead, he saw a living mite with its own sense and feelings. In other words, the poet discovers that the mite had a mind of its own which is praiseworthy indeed.

Question 2.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
It paused as with suspicion of my pen,
And then came racing wildly on again
To where my manuscript was pot yet dry;
Then paused again and either drank or smelt—
With loathing, for again it turned to fly.

i. What did the mite do seeing the pen? Why?
ii. What did it do next?
iii. How far did the mite fly onto the page?
iv. Why did the mite pause again?
v. What did the poet discover about the mite?
Answer:
i. Seeing the pen, the mite was a bit terrified. It paused, for a while perhaps wondering whether to move ahead or retreat.

ii. The mite finally decides to move ahead. Overcoming its initial fear, it Resumes running across the paper until reaching the area where the ink has not dried up.

iii. The mite however came running across the paper until reaching the area where the ink has not dried up.

iv. Reaching to where the ink on the paper has not yet dried up, the mite stops once more. It pauses for a while, perhaps either to smell or drink the ink.

v. Observing how the mite avoids being trapped to death, the poet comes to the conclusion that the mite is quite intelligent and has a mind of its own. This is really appreciable and stands in sharp contrast to the brainless humans who run around their lives helplessly, achieving nothing.

Question 3.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Plainly with an intelligence I dealt.
It seemed too tiny to have room for feet,
Yet must have had a set of them complete
To express how much it didn’t want to die.
It ran with terror and with cunning crept.
It faltered: I could see it hesitate;
Then in the middle of the open sheet
Cower down in desperation to accept
Whatever I accorded it of fate.

i. Why does the poet feel that the mite is devoid of feet? What proves that the mite has feet?
ii. What did the mite do to escape death?
iii. What did the mite do ultimately?
iv. Who will decide the mite’s fate? How?
v. Why was the mite allowed to survive?
Answer:
i. Due to being small in size the feet of the mite remains unnoticeable to human eyes. The poet thus, wonders whether the microscopic creature is devoid of feet. But, once the mite continues running across the page one is confirmed that the mite has feet to crawl easily.

ii. The mite, like humans, actually doesn’t want to die. The speaker observes how the terrified mite runs away from the area where the ink has not dried up. While on its way in search of a safe zone, it hesitates for a while, and then in the middle of the paper, it bends down as if to accept its fate.

iii. Ultimately the mite gives up its struggle to escape death. The poet observes how the poor creature finally bends down on the middle of the paper to accept its fate.

iv. It is the poet who will ultimately determine the fate of the mite. He might kill the mite under the nib of his pen. But, he allows the mite to live despite trespassing on his page. This is all because of the intelligence of the mite which fascinates the poet in a major way.

v. The poet is fascinated by the mite’s presence of mind. The way it tries to avoid death, is highly commendable. Such an insignificant creature, which the poet calls “microscopic,” with a rational mind should be allowed to live instead of being killed. Hence, the poet spares the life of the mite despite its being a trespasser on his page.

Question 4.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
I have none of the tenderer-than-thou
Collectivistic regimenting love
With which the modern world is being swept.
But this poor microscopic item now!
Since it was nothing I knew evil of
I let it lie there till I hope it slept.

i. What is meant by a Collectivistic regiment? What is practiced in collectivistic culture?
ii. What contradictory idea does the poet nurture against collectivistic culture?
iii. What idealism governs the world?
iv. Why does the poet allow the mite to live?
v. What does the poet appreciate in others?
vi. What does he try to find on any sheet?
vii. What is the significance of the word “sheet” in the last line of the given excerpt?
viii. Comment on the significance of the title A considerable Speck.
Answer:
i.Collectivism is the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it. In other words, the interest of society at large is valued over individual importance and thus, promotes equal distribution of everything among the society without evaluating whether an individual deserve more or less.

ii. The poet seems to be up against the ideals of collectivism which stresses upon the importance of community over individual. In such practice, the merit of an individual is often overlooked. Frost however has high regard over the calibre of an individual which he openly admits when he says that it is not any doctrinaire principle of love which goads him to choose not to kill the mite with the nib of his pen.

Rather the sharp intelligence of the mite overwhelms him and he thus, allows the poor creature to continue living more. This amply suggests Frost’s strong dislike of collectivistic culture and his support for individualism.

iii. The world under Marxist influence is governed by the ideals of collectivism. This is a practice where the interest of society at large is valued over individual importance and thus, promotes equal distribution of everything among the society without evaluating whether an individual deserve more or less.

iv. Frost openly announces that it is not any doctrinaire principle of love which goads him to choose not to kill the mite with the nib of his pen. Rather the sharp intelligence of the mite overwhelms him and he thus, allows the poor creature to continue living more.

v. Since Frost has his own rational mind he thus, values “mind” wherever he finds it. In other words, Frost loves people who are enlightened, creative and have an independent mindset.

vi. Frost being a creative person welcomes those who are creative indeed. He says that he feels “glad” to “find / On any sheet the least display of mind”. This however suggests that Frost always looks forward to meaningful stuffs from those who are intelligent and are independent thinkers.

vii. The word sheet actually means page. It however symbolises self-empowerment. Frost being a poet with an independent mindset, welcomes self-empowered people instead of those who mindlessly follow the crowd. Such people with their own originality will definitely create meaningful work of art which Frost desperately seeks for in any sheet of paper.

viii. It is surprising enough that Frost regards a speck considerable when it is usually insignificant. The word “considerable” means substantial or significant. The oxymoronic title leaves us to wonder that how an insignificant speck on paper can be of any importance.

But, ultimately we get to know that Frost explores the intelligence of a mite which struggles a lot to stay away from death. The mite’s intelligence however transcends the insignificant creature to a “considerable” being which the title alludes to.

A Considerable Speck Poem Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
The poet finds a speck on …………..
a. table
b. book
c. paper
d. plate
Answer:
c. paper

Question 2.
The speck found by the poet is actually a …………..
a. dirt
b. mite
c. food particle
d. none of the above
Answer:
b. mite

Question 3.
What did the mite do seeing the poet’s pen?
a. it moved on
b. it slowed down moving ahead
c. it retreated back
d. it paused
Answer:
d. it paused

Question 4.
When did the mite pause again?
a. when it was tired
b. when it comes to the dead end of the paper
c. when it comes near the area of the paper where the ink has not dried up.
d. when the poet poke on it
Answer:
c. when it comes near the area of the paper where the ink has not dried up.

Question 5.
What did the mite do upon reaching the area where the ink has not dried up.
a. it smelt the ink
b. it drank the ink
c. it smelt or drank the ink
d. it slept there feeling exhausted
Answer:
c. it smelt or drank the ink

Question 6.
What does the poet discover in the mite?
a. cowardice
b. boldness
c. timid nature
d. intelligence
Answer:
d. intelligence

Question 7.
Why was the mite allowed to live?
a. because the poet felt pity for the poor creature
b. because its intelligence overwhelms the poet
c. because the poet feels that it should live
d. none of the above
Answer:
b. because its intelligence overwhelms the poet

Question 8.
What is prioritised in Collectivistic society?
a. Individual
b. group
c. proletariat
d. capitalist
Answer:
b. group

Question 9.
Why is the poet up against Collectivistic society?
a. because it values community over individual
b. because it values individual over community
c. because it supports the proletariats
d. because it supports the capitalists
Answer:
a. because it values community over individual

Question 10.
What does the poet try to find on sheet of paper?
a. Whiteness
b. speck of dust
c. mite
d. intelligence displayed in the work of art
Answer:
d. intelligence displayed in the work of art

Question 11.
The title Considerable Speck is an example of …………
a. simile
b. metaphor
c. antithesis
d. oxymoron
Answer:
d. oxymoron

A Considerable Speck Poem Annotations with Comments

Lines 1 to 5:

Speck: a small piece of dirt
Beneath: under
Sheet so white: refers to the white paper
Set off: move rapidly
Idly: lazily
Poised: (here) held back
Period: full stop in American English

Lines 6 to 9:

something strange: refers to the mite
made me think: the activity of the mite made the speaker think whether the spot on the paper is a living mite
This was… blown: The speaker finally realizes that it is not a mere dust but a living mite that races across his white sheet of paper.
Unmistakably: undoubtedly
Inclinations: feelings

Lines 10 to 14:

Paused: stopped
Suspicion..pen: the mite suddenly stopped moving seeing the pen on the paper.
Racing: running
Manuscript..dry: The mite resumed running across the paper. It came to inspect the wet ink on the paper.
Loathing: hating

Lines 15 to 23:

Plainly: clearly
Intelligence: refers to the intelligence of the mite which fascinated the speaker
Set of them: set of feet
Crept: crawl
faltered: hesitated
Cower down: retreat back in fear
Desperation: nervousness
Accorded: grant someone
Whatever….. of fate: The mite now helplessly waits for his fate to be granted by the speaker

Lines 24 to 29:

Tenderer: kind, merciful, or sympathetic
Collectivistic: where individual is a just a part of strong unified groups
Regimenting: strong imposition
Swept: flowed
poor microscopic item: refers to the mite
Since.., evil of: since the mite is not a potential threat to the speaker the speaker allows it to live

Comment:

I have none of the tenderer…. being swept: The world may be governed by the ideals of collectivism which stresses upon the importance of community over individual. But, Frost however gives importance to the merit of an individual which is often overlooked in the collectivistic culture.

This is evident when he proclaims that it is not any doctrinaire principle of love which goads him to choose not to kill the mite with the nib of his pen. Rather the sharp intelligence of the mite fascinates the speaker and he allows the poor creature to continue living more.

Lines 30 to 33:

mind myself: ability to think rationally
guise: semblance
display of mind: show of intelligence and presence of mind

A Considerable Speck Poem Paraphrase

Lines 1 to 9:

A speck which initially seemed to be a small dot of dirt awes the speaker with its sudden movement across the white sheet of paper. The speaker was engrossed in writing. He lifts up his pen, while he notices the speck’s sudden movement. He realizes that it was not a mere speck of dirt but a living mite with its own sense and feelings.

Lines 10 to 14:

The mite stops for a while seeing the pen on the paper. Overcoming its initial fear, it resumes running across the paper until reaching the area where the ink has not dried up. Again it pauses for a while, perhaps either to smell or drink the ink. Feeling nauseating, it flies away.

Lines 15 to 23:

The speaker feels confident enough with his own intelligence which aids him to deal with the mite. In fact, the poor creature is so small indeed that its feet are unnoticeable. But once the mite continues running, we are confirmed of its feet which aid the creature to escape the soggy ink. The mite like humans actually doesn’t want to die. The speaker observes how the terrified mite runs away with wobbling steps and finally waits helplessly for his fate to be granted by the speaker. In other words, the mite finally gives up its struggle, creeps down and waits for its face.

Lines 24 to 29:

It is not any doctrinaire principle of love which goads the speaker to choose not to kill the mite with the nib of his pen. The world may be influenced by such principle which preaches the gospel of indiscriminate love for all. But the speaker however is up against such mindless ideals. He allows the mite to live only because the microscopic creature is intelligent like humans but harmless unlike humans.

Lines 30 to 33:

The speaker has his own rational mind. He thus values “mind” wherever he finds it. The mite, however, is valued entirely for its intelligence, displayed on the sheet of paper. Similarly, intelligence displayed in writing on any sheet of paper is always welcomed. After all, an independent thinker with his own imagination deserves to be praised like the mite.

A Considerable Speck Poem Summary by Robert Frost

A speck which initially seemed to be a small dot of dirt surprises the speaker once it moves across the white sheet of paper. The speaker was engrossed in writing. He lifts up his pen, as he notices the speck’s sudden movement.

He realizes that it was not a mere speck of dirt but a living mite with its own sense and feelings. The mite stops for a while seeing the pen on the paper. Overcoming its initial fear, it resumes running across the paper until reaching the area where the ink has not dried up. Again it pauses for a while, perhaps either to smell or drink the ink. Feeling nauseating, it flies away.

The speaker feels confident enough with his own intelligence which aids him to deal with the mite. In fact, the poor creature is so small indeed that its feet are unnoticeable. But once the mite continues running, we are confirmed of its feet which aid the creature to escape the soggy ink.

The mite like humans actually doesn’t want to die. The speaker observes how the terrified mite runs away with wobbling steps and finally waits helplessly for his fate to be granted by the speaker. In other words, the mite finally gives up its struggle, creeps down and waits for its fate.

However, it is not any doctrinaire principle of love which goads the speaker to choose not to kill the mite with the nib of his pen. The world may be influenced by such principle which preaches the gospel of indiscriminate love for all.

But the speaker however is up against such ideals which prioritises society over individual. Frost however values more of an individual calibre which goads him to spare the mite’s life. For he has his own rational mind and he values “mind” wherever he finds it. The mite however is valued only for its intelligence which transcends the insignificant, “microscopic” creature to a “considerable” being.

A Considerable Speck Poem Introduction

From Frost’s A Witness Tree, A Considerable Speck is about an insignificant mite that becomes “considerable” only after the poet discovers its intelligence. The oxymoronic title leaves us to wonder: how can a speck be of any importance? But, ultimately, we get to know that it’s an intelligent mite, which looks like a speck of dust on the white paper.

The intelligence of the mite is a sharp contrast to the brainless humans who run around their lives helplessly, achieving nothing. In this sense, the poem “ends in wisdom,” which is a typical characteristic of Frost’s poetry.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 8 When Great Trees Fall

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 8 When Great Trees Fall

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 8 When Great Trees Fall

When Great Trees Fall Poem Comprehension Questions Answers

Question 1.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down in tall grasses,
and even elephants lumber after safety.

i. What does the poet mean by the word “great”?
ii. How do the rocks behave when great tree fall? Where does the great tree fall?
iii. How do the lions and elephant behave when great tree fall?
iv. How do the small things react when great tree fall?
v. Explain the metaphor of the falling tree. Why does the poet use natural setting like forest in this poem?
Answer:
i. The word great literally means enormous. The poet here refers to the enormous height of the trees in the forest which are like “great souls”, having deep impact in our lives. Like the great trees which collapse to the forest ground with menacing effect, the death of our beloved ones too has shattering effect in our lives.

ii. When “great trees” fall to the forest ground, rocks on far away hills tremble and are sometimes dislocated due to the violent tremor caused on the ground. The enormous trees that the poet refers to in the poem fall on the forest ground with shuddering effect.

iii. Gigantic trees in the forest often collapse to the ground with thunderous sound. This however terrorizes even the big animals like lions and elephants. While lions crouch low in the field, elephants on the other hand, plod along in search of shelter.

iv. Even the small things are deeply affected by the loud noise on the forest bed, caused when big trees fall on the ground. Small things actually refer to the children who feel so terrified that it seems as if their senses are entirely shattered. In a way, they too are shocked like adults when “great souls” die.

v. The tree is an extended metaphor that runs throughout the poem. The speaker intends to suggest that the loss of great people in our lives is similar to the loss of great tree in the forest. The fall of enormous trees in the forest has catastrophic effect within its orbit. Similarly we too are deeply affected by the sudden loss of great people in our lives. Hence, the poet uses the natural setting just to express the idea that death natural no matter how painful it is.

Question 2.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.

i. Who are the great souls referred to in the given excerpt? With whom are they compared to? Explain the point of comparison.
ii. How does the death of great souls affect the air around us?
iii. How do we breathe and see when great souls depart?
iv. What actually gnaws us when great souls die?
v. When our memory is suddenly sharpened? What memory does the poet speak about?
vi. What happens when our memory is suddenly sharpened?
Answer:
i. Great souls refer to our beloved ones who leave us in a state of shock because of their sudden death. These great souls are compared to the big trees that grow in the forest. When big trees suddenly fall on the forest bed, the impact is felt far and wide. Similarly, the death of great souls affects our lives since we are used to being “bound to them”.

ii. Death of our loved ones deeply affects us. We feel so depressed that it seems as if the air around us is scanty and lifeless. We feel chocked up, failing to breathe smoothly in such lifeless air around.

iii. When great souls die we are chocked with grief. In such a state the air around us seems scanty and lifeless. We thus, find difficult to breathe smoothly in such lifeless air around. Moreover, with grieving heart we look around with mournful eyes, barely able to see things clearly.

iv. Death of our beloved ones torturously reminds us about the unfulfilled desire we once thought of fulfilling with our dearest ones. When we recall such unfulfilled plans like a simple walk or some kind words we thought of saying, we deeply regret failing to do so. We are continuously gnawed up from within.

v. Our memory is suddenly sharpened soon after the death of our beloved ones. Such memories are some comforting words which remained unsaid to our dearest ones. Moreover, it may also be a promised walk with our dearest ones, no more alive.

vi. When our memory is suddenly sharpened soon after the death of our beloved ones, we are simply gnawed from within remembering the words which remained forever unsaid to our beloved ones. Perhaps those kind words could have comforted our precious souls, no more alive. Moreover, we also regret remembering things like “promised walks”, never carried out due to sudden death of our beloved ones. The sudden sharpening of our memory thus, fills us with regret and remorse.

Question 3.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Great souls die and 
our reality, bound to them,
takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds formed
and informed by their
radiance, fall away.

i. Why does the poet use “our” instead of me while referring to the loss of our beloved ones?
ii. Who are the great souls referred to in the given excerpt? In what way are we indebted to them?
iii. How does the death of our beloved ones affect our soul?
iv. How does the death of our beloved ones affect our mind?
v. How does the world around feel like after the death of our beloved ones?
Answer:
i. The poet intends to identify her loss with others who have faced the similar crisis after losing their loved ones. Death of mortals is quite natural. Hence, the poet speaks in the voice of “we”, giving voice to the shattering experience faced by those who survive the loss of someone “great.”

ii. The “great souls” referred to in the given excerpt are those dearest to our heart. Their greatness lies in their invaluable guidance which makes our life meaningful. In fact, we remain indebted to them all because of their constant support and guidance which has helped us to grow and move ahead in life. In a way, we move on, following their footsteps after they die.

iii. Death of someone great to us deeply affects our souls. Because of being attached to them, our souls fail to accept the death of our loved ones. In such an awful state of shock, our own souls shrivel up and make us feel small.

iv. Death of someone great to us deeply affects our mind. In a state of shock, we often lose control of our mind. In other words, our minds start losing their sanity due to being overwhelmed with grief.

v. Overwhelmed with grief due to sudden death of someone great to us, the world around appears hostile. We lose the control of our minds and become directionless immediately after the death of our loved ones. In such a miserable state, the entire the world around us appears hostile and crude like that of stone ages.

Question 4.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.

i. What transformation do we see in us after a period of time?
ii. What is meant by “Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration”?
iii. With what assurance do we recover from the shock of losing our beloved ones?
iv. How do we motivate ourselves to move ahead in life?
v. Why does the poet make a striking comparison between death of humans and nature?
Answer:
i. Overcoming the grief of losing someone great in our lives, we finally start recovering. Our senses are finally restored to normality and we are constantly assured that once our beloved folks existed. Their guidance remains with us and we continue moving ahead in life I following their footsteps.

ii. The grief of losing someone great in our lives continues ‘ to heal up slowly. During such process when our mind, starts recovering from the shock we are filled up with a relaxing tremor like electric vibration which assures us ‘ that once our beloved folks existed. With such assurance, we continue moving ahead in life.

iii. It takes time to recover from the irreparable loss of; losing someone great in our lives. When our senses are I finally restored to normality, we are constantly assured that once our beloved folks existed. But now when they are no more alive, their guidance remains with us. With, such assurance, we finally recover from the shock of losing our beloved ones and continue moving ahead in life following their footsteps.

iv. The guidance of our loved ones is of great motivations for us to keep on going. Remembering their contributions in making our lives meaningful, we constantly feel that the deceased beloved of ours once existed. Such assurance, motivate us to move ahead in life following their footsteps.

v. Since it is natural for us to die, the poet brings in reference to the natural world to establish the fact that death is natural for all living being. Just as a tree collapse in the forest bed, humans too die because of nature’s ordain. The fall of trees are thus, compared to the death of humans whose death affects us in a major way.

When Great Trees Fall Poem Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
The fall of great trees leave a great impact upon
a. humans
b. water
c. air
d. forest
Answer:
d. forest

Question 2.
Name two animals mentioned in the poem
a. lion and tiger
b. tiger and elephant
c. elephant and lion
d. lion and deer
Answer:
c. elephant and lion

Question 3.
What does elephant do when great trees collapse to the ground
a. they leave the forest at once
b. they eat the trees instantly
c. they scare away other animals
d. they search for shelters
Answer:
d. they search for shelters

Question 4.
Great souls referred to in the poem are
a. renowned figures of the world
b. religious men
c. those dear to our heart
d. men of great deeds
Answer:
c. those dear to our heart

Question 5.
With the death of great souls the air around us becomes
a. lifeless
b. poisoned
c. fresh
d. violent
Answer:
a. lifeless

Question 6.
Which among these do we remember immediately after the death of our loved ones
a. our last dinner with them
b. the promised walk never undertaken
c. the last song sang together
d. the last opera seen together
Answer:
b. the promised walk never undertaken

Question 7.
How does the death of our beloved ones affect our mind?
a. our mind is at once refreshed
b. our mind is not affected
c. We lose the control of our minds and become directionless
d. our mind is temporarily affected
Answer:
c. We lose the control of our minds and become directionless

Question 8.
What helps us to heal up the loss of our loved ones?
a. consolation
b. involvement
c. time
d. None of the above
Answer:
c. time

Question 9.
What motivate us to move ahead in life?
a. good music
b. the assurance that our loved ones once existed
c. self motivation
d. meditation
Answer:
b. the assurance that our loved ones once existed

Question 10.
The poem When Great Tree Fall is on the whole
a. depressing
b. amusing
c. sarcastic
d. realistic
Answer:
d. realistic

When Great Trees Fall Poem Annotations with Comments

Stanza I:

Great trees: refers to the gigantic height of trees.
Shudder: shake, tremble
Hunker down: to lower the body to the ground by bending the legs
Lumber: move in a slow, heavy, awkward way

Comment:

Great tree: The adjective “great” lends a different meaning when the speaker speaks about the fall of great trees. The word “great” is deliberately used to mean “great souls”. In fact, the poet uses metaphor to compare the death of loved ones with large and powerful trees that fall in the forest. Like enormous trees which deeply affect the forest as they collapse, the death of great souls too have similar effect on us.

Stanza II:

small things: tiny objects which includes both living and non living objects in the forest
recoil: suddenly spring or flinch back in fear or horror
eroded: collapsed
sense eroded…. fear: the loud rumbling sound of the fall of gigantic trees in the forest deeply scares every living objects. It seems as if their senses collapse out of terrible fear.

Comment:

small things: Symbolically small things refer to the children who feel equally sad like adults, losing their loved ones. In fact, they feel so miserable that it seems as if their senses are entirely shattered.

Stanza III:

great souls: refer to great men
rare: unusual
sterile: barren
light, rare, sterile: the death of our loved ones affects the air around us. We feel so depressed that it seems as if the air around us is scanty and lifeless
breathe, briefly: find difficult to breathe smoothly
eyes, …… see: the death of our loved ones is so upsetting that we look around with mournful eyes, barely able to see things clearly.
Memory…. sharpened: our memory associated with those we love is sharpened soon after their death.
Gnaw: torment
Kind ….. unsaid: we repent failing to express things we thought of expressing those we love because of their sudden death.
Promised walk….taken: We repent for failing to fulfil the commitment of a simple walk with our loved one due to his/her sudden death.

Comment:

Memory sharpened suddenly sharpened……. never taken: When our memory is suddenly sharpened soon after the death of our loved ones, we are simply gnawed from within remembering the words which remained forever unsaid to them. Moreover, we also regret remembering things like a “promised walks”, never carried out due to their sudden death.

Stanza IV:

Great souls: refers to those having great impact on our daily life
Bound to them: we are deeply attached to those having great impact on our daily life. This is because of their care and guidance that we miss after their death

Leave of us: takes leave of us after their
sudden death
Shrink: shrivel
Wizened: wrinkled
Formed and informed: developed and nurtured
fall away: We lose our grip on our minds
maddened: incensed
We are ….maddened: we do not go mad failing to receive guidance and care from those we love. Instead, we become directionless
Unutterable: unspeakable
ignorance….caves: Minds that were developed and nurtured, suddenly collapse to ignorance. The world around us appears hostile after the death of our mentor like figures.

Stanza V:

Period: span
After a period: after some time has passed
Peace blooms: peace comes in
Irregularly: not smoothly
Space fill with a kind of ……vibration: the despair caused by the death of our beloved one slowly fades out as the wound starts healing slowly. During such process when our mind starts recovering from the shock we are filled up with a relaxing tremor like electric vibration which assures us that beloved folks once existed.
senses, restored: senses restored to normality
they existed: the speaker hallucinates of hearing a whisper assuring that though our loved ones are dead now, they once existed.
Be better: because our loved ones existed and inspired us for a better living, we can continue living with anticipation for a meaningful life

Comment:

We can be. Be and be better: The poem ends in a note of optimism. Despite the feeling that the world ends after the death of someone we love, life continues. We ultimately recover with time. Our senses are finally restored to normality.

We feel consoled with the assurance that our beloved folks once existed. And now when they no longer exits, their guidance leads us ahead. We continue moving ahead in life following their footsteps.

When Great Trees Fall Poem Paraphrase

Stanza I:

The entire forest is disturbed when enormous trees collapse to the ground. Rocks on far-away hills tremble and are sometimes dislocated due to the violent tremor on the ground. Big animals like lions crouch low in the field and elephants plod along in search of shelter.

Stanza II:

The entire forest is suddenly trapped in silence when colossal trees collapse to the ground. The loud noise caused and the tremor produced on the ground deeply scares the entire forest. Moreover, the small objects feel so afraid that it seems as if their senses are entirely collapsed.

Stanza III:

Death of our loved ones deeply affects us. We feel so depressed that it seems as if the air around us is scanty and lifeless. We find difficult to breathe smoothly as our heart is heavy with sorrow. Moreover, with grieving heart we look around with mournful eyes, barely able to see things clearly.

The memories associated with our loved ones are suddenly brightened up when they meet with unexpected death. For example, we repent recalling words unsaid or a simple walk never carried out. Such unfulfilled actions fill, us with remorse and we regret failing to fulfil the promises we once made to our beloved ones, no more alive.

Stanza IV:

The sudden death of those who were mentor like figures simply leaves us directionless. Those great souls had great impact on our daily life. We were deeply attached to them all because of their care and guidance. They developed and nurtured our minds which start collapsing soon after their death. In such a state, the world around us appears hostile and crude like that of stone ages even when our sanity is not at stake.

Stanza V:

The death of our beloved ones initially leaves us in the pool of sadness. But we ultimately recover with time no matter how slowly the process begins. Our senses are finally restored to normality and we are consoled with the avowal that our beloved ones once existed. With such consolation, we continue moving ahead in life following their footsteps.

When Great Trees Fall Poem Summary by Maya Angelou

The entire forest is at once disturbed when enormous trees collapse to the ground. Rocks on the far away hills shake violently and are sometimes dislocated due to the fierce tremor on the ground. Big animals like lions crouch low in the field and elephants plod along in search of shelter. Moreover, the small objects feel so afraid that it seems as if their senses are entirely collapsed.

Death of our loved ones too has similar effect on us. We feel so depressed that it seems as if the air around us is scanty and lifeless. We find difficult to breathe smoothly as our heart is heavy with sorrow. Moreover, with grieving heart, we look around with mournful eyes, barely able to see things clearly.

The memories associated with our loved ones are suddenly brightened up when they meet with unexpected death. For example, we repent recalling words unsaid or a simple walk never carried out. Such unfulfilled actions fill us with remorse and we regret failing to fulfill the promises we once made to our beloved ones, no more alive.

However, we often feel directionless when our mentor like figures dies. Those “great souls” leaves a great impact on our daily life. We were deeply attached to them all because of their care and guidance. They developed and nurtured our minds which start collapsing soon after their death.

In such a state, the world around us appears hostile and crude like that of stone ages, even when our sanity is not at stake. But though grief feels all-consuming initially, we ultimately recover with time. The process of healing may take time; but our senses are finally restored to normality. We feel consoled with the avowal that our beloved ones once existed. With such consolation, we continue moving ahead in life following their footsteps.

When Great Trees Fall Poem Introduction

Written in 1987 after the death of her friend and fellow writer/activist, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou’s When Great Trees Fall speaks about the way we behave, immediately after losing our beloved ones. The “great souls” who have influenced our lives are like “great trees” which shudders the entire forest when they collapse to the ground.

Similarly the death of our beloved ones deeply upset our lives. But we are eventually pacified remembering their invaluable support which helps us to continue moving ahead in life, following their footsteps. Angelou’s poem thus, ends in a note of optimism which teaches us to move onward even when grief may feel all-consuming.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 7 The Glove and the Lions

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 7 The Glove and the Lions

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 7 The Glove and the Lions

The Glove and the Lions Poem Comprehension Questions Answers

Question 1.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
King Francis was a hearty king, and loved a royal port,
And one day as his lions fought, sat looking on the court;
The nobles filled the benches, and the ladies in their pride,
And ‘mongst them sat the Count de Lorge, with one for whom he sighed:

i. What royal sport does King Francis like? Where is the at this moment?
ii. What do you know about King Francis?
iii. Describe the ambience of the royal court.
iv. Who was Count de Lorge? Why did the king sigh seeing the Count?
Answer:
i. The royal sport which King Francis enjoys is the fight of lions. Presently the king is seen sitting with his nobles in his royal court. He is eagerly waiting for the fight to begin.

ii. Not much detail is given about King Francis. Only we get to know that the King is a generous man who loves to watch the fight of lions, considered to be a royal sport during his time. Moreover, we also get to know that the king is obsessed with the charming beauty of Count de Lorge’s lady. Hence, he sighs with frustration seeing the couple seated together.

iii. The poem opens with an electrifying ambience inside the royal court of King Francis. Count, nobles and fashionable ladies are all waiting for the royal sport of lion fighting to begin. King Francis too joins them sitting above all. In a way, the entire royal court is charged with emotions with men and women in boisterous mood.

iv. Count de Lorge is a brave man, envied by King Francis. The Count is in love with a beautiful maiden whom the King admires. Hence, the King sighs seeing the couple seated together.

Question 2.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Ramped and roared the lions, with horrid laughing jaws;
They bit, they glared, gave blows like beams, a wind went with their paws;
With wallowing might and stifled roar they rolled on one another;
Till all the pit with sand and mane was in a thunderous smother;
The bloody foam above the bars came whisking through the air;
Said Francis then, “Faith, gentlemen, we’re better here than there.”

i. Describe in brief the fierce fight of the lions.
ii. What came whisking through the air? Why?
iii. Explain the figure of speech employed in the second line of the given excerpt.
iv. What did King Francis say while enjoying the fierce combat of the lions?
v. What effect does it produce on the Count de Lorge’s lady love?
Answer:
i. The furious fight of the lions begins with their dreadful roar. Their jaws are exposed menacingly, while they roar ferociously. This however lends a threatening look with monstrous smile on their faces. The lions however fiercely roll on the ground and violently strike with their paws.

Their blows are as strong as beams of lumber. The wind seems to move alongside their paws while they continue battling until the hairs on their neck blind their vision. Moreover, blood unfurls all around, carried far and wide by the wind. The spectators are simply amazed watching them battling ferociously.

ii. While the lions attack themselves with their paws, blood unfurls all around, carried far and wide by the wind. This is because of the wound in their flesh from which blood stream out like fountains, spilled far and wide by the wind.

iii. The figure of speech employed in the second line of the given excerpt is simile. A simile is a figure of speech in which a comparison is explicitly made between two different or unlike things, using the words as, like, as- so, etc. The comparison made between objects of different kinds must have at least one point in common. In the second line of the given excerpt, the blows of lions are compared to beams of lumber.

iv. While enjoying the dreadful combat of the lions, the king heaves a sigh of relief. Addressing the nobles, he says that they are safe being far away from the dangerous spot where the lions are monstrously fighting.

v. De Lorge’s lady love overhears the king’s avowal and considers it as a right moment to prove her lover’s fearless nature up before the court. She plans to throw her glove into the pit of fighting lions and urge her lover to bring it back to her. This however will ensure the royal court that the beautiful maiden is too precious for the count who can risk his life for the sake of his lady’s honour.

Question 3.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
De Lorge’s love o’erheard the King, a beauteous lively dame
With smiling lips and sharp bright eyes, which always seemed the same;
She thought, the Count my lover is brave as brave can be;
He surely would do wondrous things to show his love of me;
King, ladies, lovers, all look on; the occasion is divine;
I’ll drop my glove, to prove his love; great glory will be mine.

i. What did De Lorge’s love overhear?
ii. Describe the appearance of De Lorge’s love?
iii. What did De Lorge’s love think of doing? Why?
iv. Why does De Lorge’s lady love fancy that the occasion is divine for her plan?
v. What does she intend to prove by her action?
vi. What wondrous thing is expected to do by De Lorge?
Answer:
i. Count De Lorge’s love overhears the king heaving a sigh of relief. De Lorge’s lady love however is amused hearing the king, proclaiming that he and his retinue are safe being far away from the dangerous spot where the lions are fighting furiously.

ii. Count De Lorge’s love is overwhelmingly beautiful. The poet says that she is a cheerful young lady with sparkling eyes and ever smiling lips which remains always the same and adds richness to her beauty.

iii. Overhearing the King’s proclamation that they are safe being away from the fighting lions, Count De Lorge’s lady love plans to show how brave is her lover. She decides to drop her glove into the pit of fighting lions expecting that the Count will retrieve it for her. This however will give her a chance to prove how lover’s fearless nature up before the court. Moreover, she also intends to prove that she is too precious for the count who can risk his life for the sake of his lady’s honour.

iv. Since the king is seated in his royal court along with the nobles and young lovers, the lady love of Count De Lorge finds it a suitable chance to prove how precious she is to her love. Hence, she plans to drop her gloves into the pit of fighting lions, expecting that the Count will retrieve it for her.

v. Through her caprice, the lady of Count De Lorge intends to prove that she is so precious to her lover that he is ready to risk his life for the sake of his lady’s honour. In fact, there is no love associated with such caprice of the lady that is so risky indeed. The lady however is proud of her beauty and is under delusion that her lover can even stake his life to please her. Hence, she devises such a dangerous plan which, according to the king, establishes her “vanity”.

vi. Count De Lorge’s lady love expects that her lover will simply awe the spectators by retrieving her glove from the pit of fighting lions. In fact, with such deep assurance from her heart, the lady drops her glove in the pit of fighting lions.

Question 4.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
She dropped her glove, to prove his love, then looked at him and smiled;
He bowed, and in a moment leaped among the lions wild:
The leap was quick, return was quick, he has regained his place,
Then threw the glove, but not with love, right in the lady’s face.
“By God!” said Francis, “rightly done!” and he rose from where he sat:
“No love,” quoth he, “but vanity, sets love a task like that.”

i. Why did the lady look at the Count with smiling face? What does it indicate of her?
ii. How did the Count react when the lady looked at him?
iii. What did the Count do after retrieving the glove?
iv. Why does King Francis approve of the Count’s action?
vi. Do you think that it is the arrogance of the Count which is established when he throws the glove at his lady’s face?
Answer:
i. After she drops her glove into the pit of the fighting lions, Count De Lorge’s lady love turns towards him with a smile on her face. This however indicates the overconfidence of the lady who thinks that retrieving the glove is just natural for the Count as he loves her.

ii. Like a chivalrous hero, Count de Lorge jumps into the pit of fighting lions soon as the lady turns towards him. The movement was so swift that the lions failed to harm the Count as he returns quickly with the lady’s gloves.

iii. Immediately after retrieving the glove of his lady love, the count takes his seat. He then throws the glove right on his beloved’s face and leaves the court at once.

iv. King Francis could well realise that it is the pride of the Count’s lady love which provoked her into risking the Count’s life. No women would ever allow her lover to jump into the pit of fighting lions and retrieve her gloves. The Count’s lady love simply throws her glove just to prove how valuable she is to her lover that he can stake his life for her. The king thus rightly supports the Count as the lady deserves her glove to be thrown at her face all because of her “vanity”.

v. It is in fact the anger of the Count which is established when he throws the glove right on his lady’s face. The lady however is proud of her beauty and is under delusion that her lover can even stake his life to win her heart. Such notion of the lady is shattered once the Count throws the glove right on his lady’s face instead of giving her gently.

The Glove and the Lions Poem Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
What kind of King is Francis?
a. despotic
b. philanthropic
c. hearty
d. lusty
Answer:
c. hearty

Question 2.
Why the King is envious of Count de Lorge?
a. because he is handsome
b. because the Count is in love with a girl whom the King likes
c. because the Count is more heroic than the king
d. because the Count is liked by the King’s nobles
Answer:
b. because the Count is in love with a girl whom the King likes

Question 3.
Which royal sport does the King enjoy watching?
a. golf
b. chess
c. lion fighting
d. horse racing
Answer:
c. lion fighting

Question 4.
What came whisking through the air when the lions were fighting ferociously?
a. blood
b. sweat
c. spray of water
d. the enthusiastic cheer of the nobles watching the game
Answer:
a. blood

Question 5.
How did the king react while watching the game?
a. he cried with joy
b. he heaved a sigh of relief being far away from the pit of lions
c. he encouraged the lions to continue fighting
d. he felt scared and left the court
Answer:
b. he heaved a sigh of relief being far away from the pit of lions

Question 5.
What did Count de Lorge’s beloved overhear?
a. She overheard the king heaving a sigh of relief for being far away from the pit of lions
b. She overheard the King cheering up the lions
c. she overheard the King asking the nobles to stop the royal game
d. she overheard the king sighing for her
Answer:
a. She overheard the king heaving a sigh of relief for being far away from the pit of lions

Question 6.
What did the Count’s beloved throw into the pit of fighting lions?
a. hat
b. glove
c. handkerchief
d. stick
Answer:
b. glove

Question 7.
What is the reason behind her dangerous caprice?
a. to establish the valour of the Count
b. to establish the fact that the king is coward
c. to prove how desperately the Count loves her
d. No specific reason
Answer:
a. to establish the valour of the Count

Question 8.
What did the Count do after retrieving the glove?
a. He gently hands it over to his beloved
b. he gave it to the King
c. he threw it right on the face of his beloved
d. he kept it with himself
Answer:
c. he threw it right on the face of his beloved

Question 9.
Why did the Count react unexpectedly after retrieving the glove?
a. to surprise his lady love
b. to surprise the royal court
c. because he was angry
d. because the king sighed for his lady love
Answer:
c. because he was angry

Question 10.
Why did the king support the count?
a. because he wanted to take revenge against the lady
b. because the lady paid no attention to the king
c. because the king realised that the lady has no love for the Count
d. because the vanity of the lady is well answered by the Count
Answer:
c. because the king realised that the lady has no love for the Count

The Glove and the Lions Poem Annotations with Comments

Stanza I:

Hearty: cheerful
Royal: imperial
Royal sport: refers to the lion flighting that the king enjoys watching
Nobles: aristocrats
Ladies…pride: proud women. These women are proud because of their beauty and noble birth
‘mongst: among/amidst
Sighed: deep audible breath expressing sadness
He sighed: the king is obsessed with Count de Lorge’s beloved. Hence he sighs seeing the couple seated together
Gallant: chivalrous
Crowning: majestic
Valour: courage
royal beasts: refers to ferocious lions

Stanza II:

Ramped: rush about uncontrollably
Roared: refers to the roaring of the lions
Horrid: dreadful
Glared: look fiercely
gave blows like beams: the blows of lions are compared to beams of lumber.
wind went with their paws: wind seems to move alongside their paws.
wallowing: rolling from side to side
stifled: suppressed
mane: a growth of long hair on the neck of a lion
smother: cover
foam: bubbles
whisking: flying
here: on the benches where the king and his retinue are watching the fierce fight of lions.
there: the place where the lions are fighting

Stanza III:

Love: lady love
Beauteous: beautiful
Lively: energetic
Dame: lady
Wondrous: miraculous
occasion is divine: the occasion was right to show everyone how valorous is her lover De Lorge
drop my glove: drop her glove into the pit of fighting lions
glory: fame
glory will be mine: risking the life of her lover, she intends to earn fame.

Comment:

glory will be mine: This shows that the lady has no love for the Count. Instead, she is prone to establish that she is invaluable to her lover who can even risk his life to win her heart. That’s the reason she decides to throw her glove into the pit of fighting lions so that the count retrieves it. This will gives her a chance to prove how precious she is to her lover.

Stanza IV:

dropped her glove: she dropped her gloves into the pit of fighting lions
prove his love: to prove how valiant is De Lorge
bowed: a typical chivalric gesture
leaped: jumped
regained: get back to
not with love: his love for his beloved doesn’t provoke him to retrieves her gloves. He was annoyed instead for taking such risk
threw the gloves….lady’s face: This shows his anger because his lady love staked his life to show the royal court how precious she is to DeLorge
rightly done: the king approves of De Lorge’s action.
Vanity: pride
No Iove….Iike that: the king realises that it is the lady’s pride which provoked her to stake De Lorge’s life.

The Glove and the Lions Poem Paraphrase

Stanza I:

A noble king named Francis and his retinue are ready to enjoy the imperial sport of lions fighting. Before the fight begins, the king eyes on Count de Lorge, a noble in his royal court. The king however is obsessed with de Lorge’s beautiful lady love. Hence, he sighs seeing them together. The electrifying ambiance all around is felt when valiant men, charged with emotions are seated together and the king above them, looks down to watch the beasts begin their fight.

Stanza II:

the lions pounce on each other with dreadful roar. Their jaws are exposed menacingly, which lends a threatening look with monstrous smile on their faces. They fiercely roll on the ground and violently strike with their paws. The blows however are as strong as beams of lumber. The wind seems to move alongside their paws and they continue battling until the hairs on their neck blind their vision.

Moreover, blood unfurls all around, carried far and wide by the wind. The king watching the fierce combat, heaves a sigh of relief. Addressing the nobles, he says that they are safe being far away from the dangerous spot where the lions are monstrously fighting.

Stanza III:

De Lorge’s lady love overhears the king’s avowal. Proud of her scintillating beauty, she intends to prove her lover’s fearless nature up before the court. She is in fact well assured that De Lorge can risk his life to prove his love. After all lady is phenomenally beautiful with bright sparkling eyes and ever smiling lips. The milieu gives her a chance to prove how precious she is to her love. Hence, she drops her glove into the pit of fighting lions.

Stanza IV:

With a smile on her face, de Lorge’s beloved turns towards him. Like a chivalrous hero, de Lorge jumps into the pit of fighting lions and quickly retrieves the glove. Regaining his seat, he throws the glove right on his beloved’s face and leaves the court at once. The king watching them says that it is the lady’s pride which provoked her to stake De Lorge’s life. Obsessed with her beauty, the lady intends to prove how precious she is to her love.

The Glove and the Lions Poem Summary by Leigh Haunt

King Francis and his retinue are all ready to enjoy the imperial sport of lions fighting. Before the fight begins, the king eyes on Count de Lorge, a noble in his royal court. The king however is obsessed with de Lorge’s beautiful lady love. Hence, he sighs seeing them together. The electrifying ambience all around is felt when valiant men, charged with emotions are seated together with beautiful ladies and the king above them, looks down to watch the beasts begin their fight.

The fight begins. The lions pounce on each other with dreadful roar. Their jaws are exposed menacingly, which lends a threatening look with monstrous smile on their faces. They fiercely roll on the ground and violently strike with their paws. Stream of blood gushes out from their wounds, unfurls all around and are carried far and wide by the wind.

The lions however continue battling until the hairs on their neck blind their vision. In fact the battle seems so dreadful that the watching the fierce combat heaves a sigh of relief. Addressing the nobles, he says that they are safe being far away from the dangerous spot where the lions are monstrously fighting.

De Lorge’s lady love overhears the king’s avowal. Proud of her scintillating beauty, she intends to prove her lover’s fearless nature up before the court. She is in fact well assured from her heart that De Lorge will risk his life to prove his love. After all lady is phenomenally beautiful with bright sparkling eyes and ever smiling lips. The milieu gives her a chance to prove how precious she is to her love. Hence, she drops her glove into the pit of fighting lions and turns towards the Count.

Like a chivalrous hero, Count de Lorge jumps into the pit of fighting lions. His swift movement gives no chance to the lions to harm him. Hence, the Count safely gets back. But, instead of returning the glove as a gesture of love, he throws it on his beloved’s face and leaves the court at once. The king watching them says that it is the lady’s pride which provoked her to stake De Lorge’s life. Obsessed with her beauty, the lady intends to prove how precious she is to her love. Her caprice indeed is unpardonable.

The Glove and the Lions Poem Introduction

First published in The New Monthly Magazine (1836), Leigh Hunt’s “The Glove and the Lions” shows how often pride eats away one’s rationality. Count de Lorge’s beautiful lady love stakes her lover’s life to prove how precious she is to the Count. But, ultimately her plan backfires.

Count de Lorge demeans his lady love up before the royal court. The glove which the lady throws into the pit of fighting lions is retrieved by the Count but; thrown at her face. This reveals his anger all because of his lady’s caprice.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 6 Haunted Houses

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 6 Haunted Houses

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 6 Haunted Houses

Haunted Houses Poem Comprehension Questions Answers

Question 1.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
All houses wherein men have lived and died Are haunted houses.
Through the open doors The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
We meet them at the door-way, on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
A sense of something moving to and fro.

i. How every house is a haunted house?
ii. What do the phantoms do inside every house?
iii. Where do we meet the phantoms inside the house? What is the significance of the word “meet” in the fifth line of the given excerpt?
iv. How does a living being feel when the phantoms move inside the house?
v. How do the phantoms walk inside the house?
Answer:
i. Every house is a haunted house in the sense that the ghosts return to the houses they once lived. The conventional belief of uninhabited houses being only haunted by ghosts is overruled by the poem. Instead ghosts are presented as a part of the normal world who behaves like living humans and stays with us silently.

ii. After death, the phantoms return to their houses and silently wander everywhere. For example, they can be found at the door-way, on the staircase and along the passages where they roam about silently. The harmless ghosts however continue with their daily work without disturbing the living ones.

iii. The phantoms are found at the door-way, on the staircase and along the passages where they freely roam about without being noticed by those living inside the house. It is rather unusual to meet the ghost physically since they are unsubstantial being. The poet might have used the word meet to suggest that the speaker in his poem is a ghost himself who can see the phantoms and hear their voice too.

iv. Though people living inside their houses cannot see the ghosts around, but they feel unease whenever the ghosts are on move.

v. The phantoms walk noiselessly inside the houses. Their feet however make no sound on the floor and thus, their movement remains inaudible to the living world.

Question 2.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.
The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.

i. How there are more guests at table than the hosts?
ii. How does the speaker describe the ghosts?
iii. Explain the figure of speech in the fourth verse-line of the given excerpt.
iv. How is it possible that the stranger cannot see the ghosts while the speaker can see and hear them?
v. What does the stranger see?
Answer:
i. Since ghosts silently populates the houses where they once lived, the speaker imagines that there are more guests at the table than invited by the hosts.

ii. The ghosts are well mannered and harmless beings. They silently wander everywhere inside the house and continue with their daily work with put disturbing the living ones. Moreover, the ghosts are unsubstantial beings, invisible to human eyes. They float in the air around and we feel unease whenever they are on move.

iii. The figure of speech employed in the fourth verse line of the given excerpt is simile. A simile is a figure of speech which makes an indirect comparison between two distinctly opposite things. Here wall hanging pictures are compared to the ghosts since both are silent and incommunicable.

iv. Stranger being a living human cannot see the ghosts around him while he sits by the fireside. On the contrary, the speaker can see the impalpable form of ghosts as he himself is a spirit and well used to with the transcendental world. Hence, he can hear the voice of the ghosts which remains inaudible to the ears of his guest.

v. The stranger being a living human can only see the tangible things around. He can neither hear the voice of the ghosts nor can see them floating around in the air.

Question 3.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.
The spirit world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense
A vital breath of more ethereal air.

i. Who are “we” referred to in the given excerpt? What do the “we” don’t have? Why?
ii. Who are the owners and occupants of earlier dates? What does the poet mean by owners and occupants of earlier dates?
iii. On what ground do the ghosts return to their houses?
iv. Describe how the ghosts move around us.
v. What is the identity of the speaker in the poem? Give at least two reasons to support your view.
Answer:
i. “We” in the given excerpt refer to the speaker and the other phantoms, living with him. The speaker however is himself a spirit. Hence he categorises himself as one among the phantoms, living with him- in the same house After death, the phantoms have no legal deed to claim the houses where they once lived. Their houses are now inhabited by others and they live there along with the living humans without any claim.

ii. The phantoms are the owners and occupants of the earlier dates. This means that they once owned their house with proper legal documents. But now since they are dead, their properties are transferred in the name of the living humans who legally occupy their space.

iii. Despite having no legal deed to claim their houses after death, the phantoms still return there. They however leap up from their graves and stretching their grimy hand they claim their rights over the houses they once lived.

iv. The ghosts are insubstantial beings. They surround us the way atmosphere surrounds us. In fact, they are everywhere around us, moving like mists and vapours in the air.

v. The speaker of the poem is a ghost himself evident when he says that he can see the phantoms around him and can hear their voice. Moreover, he identifies himself as one among the host of phantoms when he says “we” for several time in the poem. For example in the second and fourth stanzas he says we instead of they which establishes that he is a spectre himself.

Question 4.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,
And the more noble instinct that aspires.
These perturbations, this perpetual jar
Of earthly wants and aspirations high,
Come from the influence of an unseen star
An undiscovered planet in our sky.

i. How is human life kept in equipoise?
ii. What opposite attractions and desires does the poet mean?
iii. Where from does the “perturbations” in human life come from?
iv. How does unseen star and undiscovered planet influence?
Answer:
i. Human world is balanced by the forces of opposites. For example, the longing for materialism is balanced with the desire for spiritual attainment.

ii. Human world is balanced by the forces of opposites. On one hand there is a tremendous desire for materialistic pleasure while on the other hand we oftentimes long for higher goals like spiritual attainment. The poet however speaks about these two opposite extremes of human desire which establishes a perfectly balanced life.

iii. The poet imagines that human fear and anxieties are actually the influence of some unseen stars in some remote planet. We cannot deny the power of such unseen force which controls us in a major way.

iv. We are deeply influenced by the force of some unseen stars in some remote planet. Our fears and anxieties are generated within us due to the influence of unseen stars in some undiscovered planet. Such influence however is hard to ignore.

Question 5.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud
Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd
Into the realm of mystery and night,
So from the world of spirits there descends
A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.

i. How does the moon create a floating bridge over the sea?
ii. How does the bridge look like?
iii. What impact does the bridge have upon us?
iv. What can the spirits do with bridge that humans are denied of?
v. Why does the bridge sway and bend? What kind of floor does it consist of?
vi. What overall impression of the ghost do you form based on your reading the poem?
Answer:
i. The moon coming out from the dark cloud, showers its rays upon the sea. This is imagined as the floating bridge of moonbeams that descends from the world of spirits to the earth.

ii. The bridge is made of light instead of wooden plank. Hence, the poet fancies the bridge as having unsteady floor. The bridge however sways and bends due to being made of light. In a way, it looks awesome at night all because of its radiance.

iii. The bridge of light looks awesome at night all because of its radiance. Such an ethereal view goads us to imagine a world of transcendental where the phantoms live. In other words, the beautiful view of the bridge of light helps us to rise above the “dark abyss” of the materialistic world in which we live and connects us with the world of spirits.

iv. Spirits can easily travel through the wobbling floors of the bridge of light which humans cannot. In other words, unlike the phantoms, we cannot cross the bridge, though our thoughts travel through its wobbling floors.

v. Since the bridge is made of the beams of moon, it sways and bends easily. The bridge however is flexible since it is devoid of any solid support. Moreover, its floor is unsteady where only spirits can walk.

vi. Longfellow’s ghosts are presented as generous beings who love to be within the circle of living humans. Instead of being hostile, they are well behaved and are completely harmless. Longfellow however fancies ghosts as the shades of departed friends and family members whom we are glad to have still with us in whatever form they appear. Hence, he presents his ghosts as “inoffensive” instead of being malicious.

Haunted Houses Poem Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
Longfellow’s ghosts are
a. ugly
b. evil
c. terrifying
d. inoffensive
Answer:
d. inoffensive

Question 2.
Ghosts move silently because
a. they have no feet
b. they move very slowly
c. their feet make no sound upon the floors.
d. they are insubstantial
Answer:
c. their feet make no sound upon the floors.

Question 3.
While the ghosts move around us we feel
a. delighted
b. angry
c. uneasy
d. sad
Answer:
c. uneasy

Question 4.
Ghosts remain silent like
a. pictures on the wall
b. dead humans
c. non living object
d. stars and moon
Answer:
a. pictures on the wall

Question 5.
The stranger at the fireside cannot see the ghosts because
a. he is blind
b. the ghosts doesn’t want him to see them
c. the ghosts are formless being invisible to human eyes
d. ghosts do not exist
Answer:
c. the ghosts are formless being invisible to human eyes

Question 6.
The speaker can see and hear the voice of the ghosts because
a. he is a spiritual man
b. the ghosts want him to see them
c. he is not blind like the stranger
d. he himself is a ghost
Answer:
d. he himself is a ghost

Question 7.
Why do ghosts have no legal document of their houses and lands?
a. because they have misplaced those documents
b. because they are dead
c. because their properties are transferred to others
d. because they have renounced their property
Answer:
b. because they are dead

Question 8.
Why do ghosts return to their houses?
a. to relax for a while
b. to terrorize those living there
c. because they once lived and died there
d. to see who stay there presently
Answer:
c. because they once lived and died there

Question 9.
The spirits float in the air like
a. falling leaves
b. mists and vapours
c. germs
d. dust
Answer:
b. mists and vapours

Question 10.
What brings in balance in our lives?
a. adjustment
b. good values
c. opposite attractions and desires
d. to accept and reject everything in the same way
Answer:
c. opposite attractions and desires

Question 11.
What descend form the world of spirits
a. blessings
b. curse
c. supernatural power
d. a bridge of light
Answer:
d. a bridge of light

Question 12.
Who can travel through the wobbling floors of the bridge?
a. None
b. humans
c. phantoms
d. animals
Answer:
c. phantoms

Question 13.
Our travel through the bridge of light
a. body
b. soul
c. emotion
d. thoughts
Answer:
d. thoughts

Haunted Houses Poem Annotations with Comments

Stanza I:

Wherein: in which
Haunted: ghostly
Phantoms: ghosts / spirits
Errands: daily task
Glide: move smoothly
With feet … the floors: they walk without making any noise

Comment:

The conventional belief of uninhabited houses being only haunted by ghosts ¡s overruled by the poem. According to him, ghosts stay with humans but are invisible. They are harmless, active and yet noiseless. In fact, they are just the extended part of the normal world which cannot be ignored.

Stanza II:

Along the passages …… go: since the phantoms are active they are always on move
Impalpable: unsubstantial
Impalpable ….. on the air: the phantoms are unsubstantial beings that float in air
to and fro: back and forth
A senses… to and fro: an eeriness is felt within us while the ghosts move back and forth

stanza III:

more guests: refers to the ghosts.
More guests….invited: the poet imagines that even ghosts join us at the dinner table. Hence, there are more guests at the dinner table than invited.
Illuminated: lightened up
Thronged: gathered
Inoffensive: harmless
As silent…wall: This is an example of simile. Since the ghosts are silent, their existence in the hail is like picture on the wall.

Stanza IV:

Cannot see: the guest sitting by the fireside cannot see what the speaker can see
Form: shape
Sound: refers to the sound produced by the movement of the ghosts in the room. It inaudible to human ear
Perceive: come to realize
Unto: archaic term for to.

Comment:
He but perceives…and clear: While the guest cannot see the phantoms around, the speaker can see them clearly. This however suggests that the speaker of the poem is a ghost himself.

Stanza V:

Title-deeds: legal deed of ownership
Mortmain : permanent ownership
Estates: property
And hold …… estate: despite having no legal documents to claim the houses as their own, the ghosts still stay inside the houses because they once lived there and were legal owner of the houses.

Comment:

This stanza vehemently suggests that the speaker of the poem is a ghost himself. This is evident when he says that he resides in a house which
was once his own (“Owners and occupants of earlier dates”). But now when he is dead, he has no legal deed to claim the house.

Stanza VI:

spirit-world: the world of ghosts
world of sense: real world
floats … everywhere: the world of spirit is everywhere under the sun. They surround us the way atmosphere surrounds us
Wafts: pass gently through the air. The spirits keep on moving like mists and vapours
Ethereal: unearthly
A vital ….. ethereal air: the spirits are the vital components of the ethereal air.

Stanza VII:

Equipoise: balance of forces opposite attractions and
desires: It is the law of nature that opposite attracts
instinct: inclination
more noble instinct: pursuit for spiritual desire
aspire: to seek to attain or accomplish a particular goal.

Stanza VIII:

Perturbation: worries; mental uneasiness
perpetual: unending
jar: here it refers to body
earthly wants: materialistic desire

Stanza IX:

Moon from ……. cloud: moon coming out from the dark cloud
Throws: showers light
a floating bridge: the moon rays showering upon the sea is imagined as floating bridge
trembling: refers to the shimmering light of moon
plank: here it refers to the slant of moonlight which looks like a bridge
fancies: Imagination
realm: area
realm of….night: we imagine of a creepy and mysterious world

Stanza X:

Descends: comes down
Unsteady: unsteady because the bridge formed by the spirits is not tightly
fastened. It is just an imaginative bridge and is thus, flexible
sway: swing
abyss: chasm

Haunted Houses Poem Paraphrase

Stanza I:

Every house is a haunted house as people have once lived and died there. The phantoms however wander noiselessly inside as their feet make no sound on the floor. Moreover, they are harmless and continue with their daily work without disturbing the living ones.

Stanza II:

These harmless phantoms are found everywhere in the houses. For example, they can be found at the door-way, on the staircase and along the passages where they roam about silently. They are invisible being and they float in air. An eeriness is felt while they are on move.

Stanza III:

Phantoms are an extended part of the normal world. They enjoy sitting with the guests at the dining tables. The lighted halls are thronged with them. The guests are hardly bothered since the well mannered phantoms remain as silent as the picture hanging on the wall.

Stanza IV:

A guest sitting by the fireside cannot see what the speaker can see. The speaker can see the ghosts, hear their voice while the guests can see only the tangible things around. But then the guest can at least feel the eeriness in the air while the speaker sees the world beyond normal.

Stanza V:

The phantoms have no legal deed to claim these houses as their own. Yet they stay inside these houses since they once lived there and were legal owner of the houses. Now when they are dead and their houses are inhabited by the living mortals, they still leap up from their graves and stretching their grimy hand they claim their rights over the houses they once lived.

Stanza VI:

However, the world of spirits surrounds us the way atmosphere surrounds us. It is like a thin covering over us which can hardly be ignored. The spirits however are everywhere. They keep on moving like mists and vapours in the air. Moreover, they are the are the vital components of the insubstantial world which floats around the world of real.

Stanza VII:

Human world is balanced by the forces of opposites. For example, the longing for materialism is balanced with the desire for spiritual attainment. In other words, it is human instinct to seek for materialistic pleasure but; life also longs for higher goals like spiritual attainment which ensure peace of mind. Such contradictory longings, juxtaposed together establish a perfectly balanced life.

Stanza VIII:

Our life is filled up with worries and anxieties due to our longing for materialistic needs. Such uneasiness which perpetually exists within us is actually the influence of some unseen stars in some remote planet. In other words, the fever and fret of human life are the result of some unseen force controlling us.

Stanza IX:

The moon coming out from the dark cloud, showers its rays upon the sea. This is imagined as the floating bridge of moon beams which shimmer all throughout the night. Such an ethereal view goads us to imagine a world of transcendental where the phantoms live.

Stanza X:

Our thoughts are connected with the transcendental world through this bridge of light which descends down on earth from the world of phantoms. The bridge however is flexible In the sense that it sways and bends due to being made of light. Unlike the phantoms, we cannot cross the bridge, though our thoughts travel through its wobbling floors.

Haunted Houses Poem Summary by H.W. Longfellow

Every house is a haunted house as people have once lived and died there. After death they return to their houses and silently wander everywhere. Their feet however make no sound on the floor. Moreover, they are harmless and continue with their daily work without disturbing the living ones. One can find them at the door-way, on the staircase and along the passages where they roam about silently.

They are invisible being and they float in air. Poeple alive cannot see them; but feel unease whenever the ghosts are on move. When guests visit the hosts the phantoms enjoy sitting with them and remain as silent as the picture hanging on the wall. The speaker says that he can seethe crowd of phantoms everywhere in the house while his guest sees only the tangible things around. This however suggests that the speaker himself is a ghost who can hear the voice of the phantoms ringing all around.

Phantoms however have no legal deed to claim these houses as their own. Yet they stay inside these houses since they once lived there and were once the legal owner of the houses. Now when they are dead and their houses are inhabited by the living mortals, they still leap up from their graves stretching their grimy hand to claim their rights over the houses they once lived. In fact, the spooky world of spirits surrounds us the way atmosphere surrounds us. They are the ever present

reality of life, moving like mists and vapours in the air. Their existence can be felt only when we overcome our yearning for material need and look forward to spiritual attainment. The worries and anxieties due to our longing for materialistic needs is actually the influence of some unseen stars in some remote planet. We cannot deny the power of such unseen force which controls us in a major way.

A troubled mind is often eased with the sight of the moon showering its rays upon the sea. It looks like a floating bridge of moon beams, which brings to our mind the thought of the transcendental world where the phantoms live. Our thoughts are connected with the transcendental world through this bridge of light which descends down on earth from the world of phantoms. But, unlike the phantoms, we cannot cross the bridge, though our thoughts travel through its wobbling floors.

Haunted Houses Poem Introduction

Published in 1858 in the Birds of Passage collection, Longfellow’s Haunted Houses may have been influenced by the loss of his first wife to a miscarriage. The poem though appears spooky with “phantoms” all around, is actually an amiable presentation of the supernatural world with ghosts being just a changed human form, pursuing human activities soundlessly. Longfellow however means to suggest that the phantoms are just an extended part of the normal world, “harmless” and invisible to humans.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 5 A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 5 A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 5 A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945

A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem Comprehension Questions Answers

Question 1.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
The morning stretched calm, beautiful, and warm
Sprawling half-clad, I gazed out at the form
of shimmering leaves and shadows. Suddenly
A strong flash, then another, startled me.

i. What was the morning like? What was the doctor doing?
ii. What startled him?
ii. How the world around him changed within moment?
iv. What happened to the clothes of the doctor?
Answer:
i. The morning was calm, beautiful and warm. Looking out of his window, the doctor sees the shining leaves and shadows. The doctor however was relaxing. He was partly dressed.

ii. The two consecutive flashes simply terrified the doctor. The brightly lit stone lantern reminded him of magnesium flares, generally seen during war.

iii. The two consecutive flashes simply changed the world. While wondering about the flares, the doctor finds the entire world Crashed and crumbled around him. Dust swirls around him as soon as the roofs and walls of his house begin to tumble down. The doctor is even more terrified.

iv. We come to know that the clothes which the doctor was wearing, his drawers and undershirt, disappeared within moment. In other words, the clothes of the doctor were burnt to his utter dismay.

Question 2.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
My right side bled, my cheeks were torn, and
I Dislodged, detachedly, a piece of glass,
All the time wondering what had come to pass.
Where was my wife? Alarmed, I gave a shout.

i. Why did the right side of the doctor bleed?
ii. Why did the doctor give a shout?
iii. What is the name of the doctor’s wife? How did she appear?
iv. How did the doctor console his wife? What did he do then?
v. What did the doctor and his wife find soon as come out in the street? What was their reaction?
vi. What did they see when they stood afraid in street?
Answer:
i. The doctor was badly injured when a splinter pierced his right thigh. It however protruded from his thigh and blood gushed out from there.

ii. The doctor was highly terrified when he was reminded of his wife. He wondered where she was at that time. Hence, he gave a shout to call her at once.

iii. The name of the doctor’s wife is Yecko-san. She appears holding her elbow, terrified like her doctor husband. She looks pale and was bloodstained because of being injured.

iv. The doctor consoles her saying that they will be fine but; they must go out immediately so as to save themselves from being buried under their collapsing house.

v. Soon as they came out in the street, the doctor and his wife stumbled against the head of a man, crushed to death under a gate. They were so shocked that they failed to move.

vi. While they stood shocked in the street, they saw a house before them which tilted at first. It then swayed and finally crushed down on the ground. Fire was seen blazing up all of a sudden in the dust and spreading all around with the help of wind.

Question 3.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
It dawned on us we must
Get to the hospital: we needed aid —
And I should help my staff too. (Though this made
Sense to me then, I wonder how I could.
My legs gave way. I sat down on the ground.

i. What dawned on them?
ii. Give two reasons why they wanted to go to the hospital.
ii. The doctor says, “I wonder how I could”. What did he wonder? ‘
iv. What were the other problems the doctor faced at that moment?
v. How did he recover? Did he able to go to the hospital?
Answer:
i. Because of being injured when their house collapsed as a result of atomic explosion, both the doctor and his wife were perplexed for some time. They failed to decide what to do immediately. But ultimately, the doctor realised that they must rush to the hospital for medical aid.

ii. The doctor and his wife were badly injured when their house collapsed as a result of atomic explosion. Hence, it was necessary for them to rush to the hospital for medical aid. Next, the doctor also thought that he could also help his staff by rendering service to the people injured in the blast.

iii. Despite his urgent need in the hospital, the doctor wondered how to reach there. His legs were already numbed with pain and he was thus, forced to sit down on the ground, failing to move ahead.

iv. Besides his fatal wound in his legs, the doctor also felt thirsty. But there was no water to drink. Moreover, he was badly exhausted due to profuse blood loss. He was feeling breathless as a result of exhaustion.

v. The doctor sat down on the ground being completely exhausted. He took quick short breath and regained his strength after a while.

Question 4.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
A dreadful loneliness
Came over me when she had gone. My mind
Ran at high speed, my body crept behind.
I saw the shadowy forms of people, some
Were ghosts, some scarecrows, all were wordless and
dumb

i. Who is she referred to in the given excerpt? Where had she gone?
ii. What did the doctor see around him while he was sitting alone?
iii. How did the people walk towards the hospital?
iv. Why did they walk with the arms stretched straight out?
v. Did the doctor understand at a first sight that why they were walking so strangely?
Answer:
i. She is Yecko-san, the wife of the doctor. On her husband’s ardent request, Yecko-san went to the hospital, leaving the doctor alone in the street.

ii. The doctor saw some bizarre-looking men, walking down the street. They were so worn out that they looked either like ghosts or scarecrows.

iii. the doctor watched the people walking in a naked pa-rade to the hospital. While they were walking, their arms were either stretched out or their hands dangled loosely from their body.

iv. Since these men were badly burnt in the explosion, their arms were either stretched out or their hands, dangled loosely from their body so as to avoid friction on their wounds.

v. At first the doctor wondered why these men were walking so strangely. But, after a while he realised that they were badly burnt in the explosion. To avoid their flesh being rubbed off against each other, they thus walked with their arms either stretched out or hands, dangling loosely from their body.

Question 5.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
I turned my gaze, but was at a loss
That she should stand thus, till I came across 
A naked man – and now the thought arose
That some strange thing had stripped us of clothes.

i. Why did the doctor turn his gaze?
ii. What did he think initially when he saw a woman with a child standing naked in his path? How did he clear off his misunderstanding?
iii. What did the doctor see after he came across a naked man?
iv. What does the poet intend to show through the series of devastating pictures.
Answer:
i. The doctor saw a woman with a child, standing naked in his path. Hence, he turned his gaze away from them.

ii. Seeing the naked woman and her naked child, the doctor at first presumed that they have come out straight from bath. But noticing a naked man before him, he finally realised that some dreadful thing had happened because of which people’s clothes were burnt.

iii. After he came across a naked man, the doctor saw an old woman, lying on the ground. Her face was disfigured with deep anguish. Yet she remained silent.

iv. With a series of horrifying pictures, Vikram Seth shows how the entire human civilization is at stake during war. The idea is reinforced by a constant emphasis upon nudity in the poem. The Doctor feels unashamed being naked. So too are other people in the city. It seems as if the entire city is marching away from civilization and moving towards an uncertain future which promises nothing but eternal horror and pain.

A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
The poem is about
a. Kargil war
b. Gulf War
c. aftermath of nuclear attack in Hiroshima
d. World War
Answer:
c. aftermath of nuclear attack in Hiroshima

Question 2.
Who is the speaker of the poem?
a. Yecko-san, the wife of the doctor
b. the poet
c. a warrior
d. the doctor
Answer:
d. the doctor

Question 3.
What fascinated the doctor when he looked out of the window?
a. the shining leaves and the shadows
b. the beautiful birds all around
c. the beautiful sunset
d. the glorious rainbow
Answer:
a. the shining leaves and the shadows

Question 4.
What terrified the doctor all of a sudden?
a. the cry of his wife, Yecko-san
b. the two consecutive strong flashes
c. the thunderstorm
d. the accident on the road
Answer:
b. the two consecutive strong flashes

Question 5.
What happened to the roof and walls of the doctor’s house?
a. they became damp
b. they remained unaffected
c. they collapsed
d. the walls only cracked
Answer:
c. they collapsed

Question 6.
What happened to the drawers and undershirt of the doctor?
a. nothing happened
b. they were covered with dust
c. they turned black
d. they disappeared
Answer:
d. they disappeared

Question 7.
What was the condition of the doctor after the sudden blast?
a. he was at home so nothing happened to him
b. he was only shocked
c. he was bleeding and was badly injured
d. only his clothes were dirty
Answer:
c. he was bleeding and was badly injured

Question 8.
How did Yecko-san emerge?
a. she emerged with a towel in her hand
b. she emerged holding her elbow
c. she emerged crying loudly
d. she emerged being unaffected
Answer:
b. she emerged holding her elbow

Question 9.
Why did the doctor fall on the street?
a. because the street was slippery
b. because he bumped over a human head
c. because he was stumbling
d. because the street was dark
Answer:
b. because he bumped over a human head

Question 10.
What happened to the house which stood before the speaker?
a. it remained unaffected
b. it titlted, swayed, toppled and crashed
c. it was burnt to ashes
d. it collapsed
Answer:
b. it titlted, swayed, toppled and crashed

Question 11.
Where did the doctor decide to go?
a. hospital
b. bank
c. open space
d. bunker
Answer:
a. hospital

Question 12.
Why did the doctor sit on the ground?
a. because the road was blocked
b. because his legs gave way
c. because his wife didn’t want him to move ahead
d. because he had no where to go
Answer:
b. because his legs gave way

Question 13.
Why a soldier gave a towel to the doctor?
a. to clean his blood stained face
b. because he was sweating profusely
c. because he was naked
d. because the doctor needed it to dress his wound
Answer:
c. because he was naked

Question 14.
How did the doctor feel when his wife advanced towards hospital leaving him on the street?
a. he felt relaxed
b. a dreadful loneliness came over him
c. he was annoyed
d. he was shocked
Answer:
b. a dreadful loneliness came over him

A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem Annotations with Comments

Lines 1 to 10:

stretched: spread
sprawling: stretching (gleaming) shining with soft light
Shimmering: spread;
startled: shocked
flares: bright flame
timber: wood used in Construction
debris: wreckage, garbage
swirled: whirled (moved in a circular motion)
weird: strange, odd, bizarre
disappeared: burnt (in this context)

Comment:

The poem begins with a picture of a beautiful morning with shimmering leaves”. But the sudden strong flashes disrupts everything. The serene nature is ravished along with the city, where people are seen wounded and running naked in the street. The picture is deeply pathetic and reminds us of the picture of Hiroshima on 6th August, 1945, the blackest day in human history, on which the poem is based on. In other words, the poem describes the aftermath of nuclear attack in Hiroshima, by the United States during the final stages of World War II.

Lines 11 to 18:

splinter: fragment of wood or glass
jutted: protruded
mangled: mutildted
dislodged: removed
detachedly: removed
alarmed: terribly frigttened
gushed out: flowed out
panic stricken: terrified

Lines 19 to 29:

bloodstained: marked with blood
stumbling: staggering
tripped: stumbled
tilted: slanted
toppled: collapsed
dawned on us: suddenly came to our mind
aid: help

Lines 30 to 45:

how I could: since he is badly injured, it is impossible to help his staff
legs gave way: legs could not go ahead
gave way: felt weak and numb
revive: renew
stiff: hard
rebelled: opposed
distress: suffering
dreadful: awful
mind: thoughts
crept behind: left back.

Comment:

I was still naked…no shame: War destroys everything. The entire human civilization is at stake during war. The poet draws such a picture of war by constantly emphasizing upon nudity in the poem. The Doctor feels unashamed being naked. So too are other people in the city. It seems as if the entire city s marching away from civilization and moving towards an uncertain future which promises nothing but eternal horror and pain

Lines 46 to 63:

Scarecrows: actually it means human figures made of sticks and placed in green field to scare away crows. But here the word means messy human figures arms stretched
straight out: their hands were stretched out since their skin was so burnt
dangling: hanging
friction: rubbing
chafe: rub
shuffled: moved
shuffled in blank parade: walked slowly in trance dismayech saddened
marred: ruined.

A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem Paraphrase

Lines 1 to 6:

The beautiful morning wakes up the doctor. Looking out of the window, he sees the shining leaves and shadows. Suddenly, the two consecutive strong flashes terrify him in a major way. The old stone lantern blazes up and the doctor wonders whether the two flashes are magnesium flares, generally seen during war.

Lines 6 to 17:

While wondering about the flares, the doctor is even more shocked seeing the roof and wall of the building collapsed and the debris, scattered all over. Moreover, dust swirls around him and the drawers and under shirt of the doctor is burnt within moment. A splinter protrudes from his thigh and the doctor is severely injured. Blood sprouts out from his right side.

His cheek is torn. He removes a piece of glass struck in his body, wondering what has happened to him. Suddenly he is reminded of his wife. The doctor is at once terrified. He hollers with all his might to call his wife, Yecko-san. Blood continues streaming out from his body and he wonders whether a big artery in his neck is fatally injured.

Lines 17 to 35:

Yecko-san finally shows up, holding her elbow, when the doctor calls her again. Like her husband, Yecko-san is also terrified. The doctor assures her that they will be fine but; they must go out immediately. While they walk on the street, they stumble against the head of a man, crushed to death under a gate. They are so shocked that they fail to move.

A house before them at first tilts, then sways and finally crushes down on the ground. Fire is seen blazing up all of a sudden in the dust and it spreads all around with the help of wind. The doctor, shocked to see the horrible spectacle all around him, finally decides to go to hospital. They badly need medical aid as they are severely injured.

Even he can help his staffs there. But he wonders how to reach the hospital with his legs, already numbed with pain. The doctor sits down on the ground, failing to move ahead. He is thirsty. But there is no water to drink. Sitting on the ground he takes a quick short breath and regains his strength after a while.

Lines 35 to 45:

The doctor rises up, soon as he regains strength. He is still naked. Yet he is not ashamed. This thought disturbs him until he meets a soldier, standing by the side. The soldier offers him a towel, taken out from around his neck. The doctor fails to move ahead. His legs are stiffened with dried blood. He asks his wife to go alone to the hospital. Yecko-san feels reluctant to leave her husband. But ultimately she leaves him behind, finding no better option. After her departure, the doctor feels terribly lonely.

Lines 46 to 51:

Some bizarre looking men are seen walking down the street. They are so worn out that they look either like ghosts or scarecrows. They are all waking silently with their arms, either stretched out or hands dangling loosely from their body. The doctor wonders why they are walking so strangely. The next moment he realises that they are avoiding their flesh to be rubbed off against each other. After all thqy are burnt and the friction on their wounds will definitely plague them a lot.

Lines 47 to 63:

People are also seen walking in a naked parade to the hospital. The doctor discovers a woman with a child, both of whom are naked. The doctor wonders whether they have come out straight after bath. He then sees another naked man.

He realises that some dreadful thing has happened because of which people’s clothes are burnt. An old woman is also seen lying on the ground. Her face is disfigured with deep anguish. Yet she remained silent. In fact silence seems to be the common feature of everyone in the street.

A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem Summary by Vikram Seth

Vikram Seth’s A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 describes the aftermath of nuclear attack in Hiroshima, by the United States during the final stages of World War II. The poem is in the form of an entry made in a journal by a doctor, who is himself badly wounded because of the explosion of atom bomb. What he sees around him is the spectacle of horror which simply terrifies the doctor. The poem is indeed a deeply moving picture of nuclear holocaust.

The poem begins on a calm note. The Doctor wakes up and sees a beautiful morning from outside his window. Suddenly, the two consecutive strong flashes terrify him in a major way. The roof and the wall of the building collapse all of a sudden and dust swirls around him. A splinter protrudes from his thigh and blood sprouts up from his right side.

His cheek is torn: He removes a piece of glass struck in his body, wondering what has happened to him. Suddenly he is reminded of his wife. The doctor is at once terrified. He hollers with all his might to calls his wife, Yecko-san.

Yecko-san finally appears holding her elbow. Like her husband, she is also terrified. The doctor assures her that they will be fine but; they must go out immediately. While they walk on the street, they stumble against the head of a man, crushed to death under a gate. They are so shocked that they fail to move. A house before them at first tilts then sways and finally crushes down on the ground. Fire is seen blazing up all of a sudden in the dust and it spreads all around with the help of wind.

The doctor shocked to see the horrible spectacle all around him, finally decides to go to hospital. But he fails to walk ahead since his legs are numbed with pain. The doctor sits down on the ground, takes quick short, breath and regains his strength after a while. He then endeavours to walk, but fails again since his legs are stiffened with dried blood. He asks his wife to go alone to the hospital. And after she leaves, the doctor feels terribly lonely.

Some bizarre looking men are seen walking down the street. They are so worn out that they look either like ghosts or scarecrows. They are all walking silently with their arms, either stretched out or hands dangling loosely from their body. The doctor wonders why they are walking so strangely. The next moment he realises that they are avoiding their flesh to be rubbed off against each other. After all they are burnt and the friction on their wounds will definitely plague them a lot.

People are also seen walking in a naked parade to the hospital. The doctor spots out a woman with a child, both of whom are naked. The doctor wonders whether they have come out straight after bath. He then sees another naked man. He realises that some dreadful thing has happened because of which people’s clothes are burnt.

With all these pathetic picture, the poet shows how the entire human civilization is at stake during war. The idea is reinforced by a constant emphasis upon nudity in the poem. The Doctor feels unashamed being naked. So too are other people in the city. It seems as if the entire city is marching away from civilization and moving towards an uncertain future which promises nothing but eternal horror and pain.

A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 Poem Introduction

Vikram Seth’s A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945 describes the aftermath of nuclear attack in Hiroshima, by the United States during the final stages of World War II. The poem is in the form of an entry made in a journal by a doctor, who is himself badly wounded because of the explosion of atom bomb. What he sees around him is the spectacle of horror which simply terrifies the doctor. The poem is indeed a deeply moving picture of nuclear holocaust.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 4 The Night Mail

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Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 4 The Night Mail

Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 4 The Night Mail

The Night Mail Poem Comprehension Questions Answers

Question 1.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
This is the night mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor, 
The shop at the corner, the girl next door. 
Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient against her, but she’s on time.
Past cotton grass and moorland boulder
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,
snort noisily as she passes

i. Which border is the night nail crossing? What does it bring to the people?
ii. What does the poet mean when he says that the night mail brings letter to poor and rich?
iii. How is the night mail personified?
iv. What type of landscape does the poet mention in the given excerpt?
v. How does the night mail pass through the landscape mentioned in the given excerpt?
Answer:
i. The “border” mentioned in the given excerpt is the border between England and Scotland. The night mail however brings a variety of letters to a variety of people.

ii. The night mail is represented as a perfect communist who doesn’t discriminate between poor and the riches. This is evident when the poet says that the train brings “Letters for the rich, letters for the poor”, which however indicates that the service rendered by the night mail is not restricted to the privileged class only.

iii. Throughout the poem, Auden personifies the night mail as a woman. The train however shares the elegance of a woman while it passes smoothly without disturbing the world around. This is evident when the poet says that while the train passes, “no one wakes”. The smooth manner which the train maintains ail throughout its journey is certainly a feminine quality for which the train is referred to as she.

iv. In the given excerpt, the train is seen crossing the cotton fields and the rocky land. It covers a long distance unmoved of everything around.

v. Auden lends a conventional picture of the night mail crossing the cotton field and the rocky land with a rumbling noise. Moreover, white steam gushes out from her shoulder while the train moves on.

Question 2.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from bushes at her blank-faced coaches.
Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.
In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in a bedroom gently shakes.

i. Why do birds turn their heads? Wherefrom they turn their heads?
ii. What is meant by blank-faced coaches? Why do birds stare at the blank-faced coaches?
iii. How do sheep dogs react while the night mail passes on?
iv. Why no one wakes when the night mail passes on through the farm?
v. What happens in the bedroom while the night mail passes on?
Answer:
i. Hearing the rumbling sound of the approaching train, birds turn their heads to see the night mail moving on elegantly. They however turn their heads from the bushes around.

ii. Blank faced coaches refers to the black and vacant coaches uninhabited by humans. Birds however continue staring at the blank-faced coaches sine they are surprised finding no human figures inside.

iii. Sheep-dogs, continues sleeping comfortably with crossed-legs while the night mail passes by. Generally sheep-dogs are sensitive animals. They get up even with slightest noise. But, the rumbling sound of the night mail hardly bothers them since they are used to hearing such noise and assured that the train will do no harm to them.

iv. Like the sheep-dogs, human too are used to hearing the snort of the night mail. Hence, they continue enjoying their sleep while the night mail passes by.

v. Though humans and animals continue sleeping, unmoved of the passing of the night mail, the jug in the bed room responds with a mild shake. In other words, the mild tremor caused while the train passes on, shakes the jug inside a bedroom.

Question 3.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Dawn freshens, Her climb is done.
Down towards Glasgow she descend,
Towards the steam tugs yelping down a glade of cranes
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In dark glens, beside pale-green lochs
Men long for news.

i. Whose climb is referred to in the given excerpt? What happens with the leap of dawn?
ii. Describe in brief the landscape of Glasgow as painted by the poet.
iii. What does the poet mean by all Scotland?
iv. Which areas of Glasgow does the train crosses in the given excerpt?
Answer:
i. The night mail’s difficult path of moving along a sharp rise is referred to in the given excerpt. With the leap of dawn, the night mail descends down towards Glasgow and runs through the plain land.

ii. In the given excerpt, the poet explores the industrial landscape of Glasgow through which the night mail passes in the morning. Auden records that the night mail crosses the rows of cranes along the harbour of Glasgow. The next moment, it travels through the vast industrial areas where the furnaces look like gigantic chessmen.

iii. All Scotland in the given excerpt refers to the people of Scotland who are eagerly waiting for the night mail so that their letters be delivered on time.

iv. The night mail passes through the industrial landscape of Glasgow evident from the pictures like “the fields of apparatus, the furnaces / Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.” In other words, the poet refers to the vast industrial areas of Glasgow where there are furnaces that look like gigantic chessmen.

Question 4.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from girl and boy,
Receipted bills and invitations
To inspect new stock or to visit relations,
And applications for situations,
And timid lovers ‘declarations,’
And gossip, gossip from all the nations,

i. What kind of letters does the night mail deliver to the people?
ii. Why are holiday photograph sent to the recipients?
iii. How does the poet describe the tone and style of the letters?
iv. Name the various colours of paper used to write the letters mentioned in the poem?
v. Are there only handwritten letters posted to the recipients? What does the night mail carry other than letters?
Answer:
i. However, the train brings a variety of letters to a variety of people. There are letters expressing thanks or joy, love letters, letters of gossip, letters accompanied with holiday photographs, letter from uncles, cousins, aunts, letter expressing sympathy all stuffed together to be delivered to the people of Scotland.

ii. Holiday photographs are sent to be enlarged and kept as a memoir of beautiful moment of life.

iii. The variety of letters that the night mail carries are written in various tones and styles imaginable. Such tones and styles are mischievous, tedious, emotional, clever and unintelligent to name a few. Moreover, some of the letters are typed while others are printed and even misspelled.

iv. A wide range of letters carried by the night mail are written on papers of various colours. The colours mentioned by the poet are pink, violet, white and blue.

v. Along with the handwritten letters, there are also letters which are typed. Moreover, there are also printed letters among the lot.

Question 5.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
They continue their dreams,
But shall wake soon and hope for letters,
And none will hear the postman’s knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

i. Who are they referred to in the first line of the given excerpt? What are they doing?
ii. What kind of dream they see while in their sleep?
iii. What will they do after they wake up? Why?
iv. How will they react hearing the postman knocking at their door?
Answer:
i. They in the given excerpt refer to the people of Scotland who remain fast asleep even when the train arrives with letters for them in the early morning.

ii. Thousands remain asleep and have terrifying dreams. The poet says that their dreams are as dreaming of monsters. In a way, the dream seems to be something of dreadful nature due to the political unrest in Europe.

iii. After waking up from their sleep the people of Scotland will wait for the letters to be delivered to them in proper time. This is because of the inherent nature of humans to remain connected to the world around. After all none can endure the pain of being forgotten.

iv. After waking up from sleep the people of Scotland will wait for the letters to be delivered to them in proper time. And the moment they will hear the postman knocking at their door, their hearts will pound due to.

The Night Mail Poem Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
The night mail is heading towards?
a. London
b. Glasgow
c. Paris
d. Belgium
Answer:
b. Glasgow

Question 2.
The night mail is personified as a ………….
a. child
b. man
c. woman
d. none of the above
Answer:
c. woman

Question 3.
Who turns towards the night mail when it passes by?
a. humans
b. birds
c. sheep-dogs
d. cows
Answer:
c. sheep-dogs

Question 4.
What do humans do when the night-mail passes by?
a. they enjoy watching the train
b. they sleep
c. they wait anxiously for the train to stop
d. they stop the train in the middle
Answer:
b. they sleep

Question 5.
What shakes in the bedroom while the train passes by?
a. mug
b. water bottle
c. lamp
d. jug
Answer:
d. jug

Question 6.
In the morning the train descend down to
a. London
b. Glasgow
c. Birmingham
d. Inverness
Answer:
b. Glasgow

Question 7.
While in their sleep people dream of
a. fairies
b. letters
c. money
d. monsters
Answer:
d. monsters

Question 8.
When do people experience a pounding heart?
a. when the night mail arrives
b. immediately after they wake up
c. the moment when they get letters
d. the moment when the post man knock at their doors
Answer:
d. the moment when the post man knock at their doors

Question 9.
The furnaces set on dark plain look like
a. monsters
b. citadels
c. gigantic chessmen
d. None of the above
Answer:
c. gigantic chessmen

Question 10.
Which among these is not carried by the night mail?
a. letters
b. cheques
c. postal order
d. telegrams
Answer:
d. telegrams

The Night Mail Poem Annotations with Comments

Stanza I:

border: refers to the border of England and Scotland
cheque: an order to a bank to pay a stated sum from the drawer’s account
rich: rich people
poor: poor people
Pulling up: mounting up
Gradient: slope
Beattock: A village in Dumfries and Galloway council area, Scotland
Moorland: high land with rough grass and bushes.
Boulder: rock
Shovelling: emitting
Snorting: make a sudden explosive sound

Comment:

snort noisily ….of wind-bent grasses: Throughout the poem, the night mail is personified as a woman. Auden often refers the night mail as “she” who “snort noisily” and crosses the “Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.” “All Scotland waits for her”, as she brings news for all. International news was significantly important due to Hitler’s meteoric rise to power.

Stanza II:

turn their heads: birds turn their head when they hear the night mail crossing with rumbling sound
she: refers to the night mail
blank-faced: black and vacant coaches
Sheep-dogs: a dog of a breed suitable for guarding and herding sheep.
Slumber: sleep
Paws across: cross-legged
No one wakes: all are fast asleep when the night mail passes by
Shakes: jug in a bedroom vibrates due to the tremor caused when the night mail passes by.

Comment:

Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course: Sheep-dogs are a part of the sleeping community which remains unmoved while the train passes by. Generally sheep-dogs are sensitive animals. They get up even with slightest noise. But, the rumbling sound of the night mail hardly bothers them like the humans who are used to hearing the noise of the train passing by. Hence, the sheep-dogs continues enjoying their sleep like humans.

Stanza III:

Dawn: early morning
Her climb is done: the train has completed covering the difficult path of climbing up on the mountains.
Descends: come down
Yelping: here it refers to the rumbling sound of the train
Glade: Of space Towards the steam.
of cranes: the rows of cranes along the harbour of Glasgow
the fields of apparatus: fields of industries
chessmen: solid figure used as a chess piece. Set on ….. gigantic
chessmen: heads toward dark furnaces set up like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland: all the people of Scotland
glens: a narrow valley, especially in Scotland
lochs: a lake

Stanza IV:

Receipted: a written a knowledgment of having received
Stock: store
applications for situations: application for vacant post
gossip: rumours
circumstantial: detail
snaps: pictures
condolence: sympathy
hue: colour
catty: mischievous
heart’s outpouring: heart’s outburst

Stanza V:

Dreaming of terrifying monsters: indication of disturbed sleep due to dreaming something dreadful
Cranston: A locality and parish in Midlothian council area,Scotland.
Aberdeen: a city in North East Scotland, on the North Sea
quickening of the heart: pounding of the heart

The Night Mail Poem Paraphrase

Stanza I:

The night mail is crossing the border and heading towards Scotland. Laden with letters, bank cheques and postal orders meant for all classes of people, the train is committed to reach on time. The path however is difficult since it isn’t easy to move along a sharp rise with hurdles and obstacles on its way. While on move, the night mail crosses the cotton fields and the rocky land. It covers a long distance unmoved of everything around. The poet fancies the train as a woman puffing out noisily and releasing steam from her shoulder while passing by the miles of verdant lands.

Stanza II:

Birds from the bushes turn towards the approaching train while they hear the rumbling sound. The dark and vacant coaches surprise them as they see no human figures. Sheep-dogs, continues sleeping comfortably with crossed-legs as they are used to hearing the noise of the train passing by. Humans too are unmoved. Like the sheep-dogs, they too enjoy their sleep while the train passes on with mild tremor that shakes a jug inside a bedroom.

Stanza III:

With the show of dawn, the train descends down towards Glasgow. The difficult path of moving along a sharp rise is over. The train now runs through the plain land with rows of cranes along the harbour of Glasgow. The next moment, it travels through the vast industrial areas where the furnaces look like gigantic chessmen. People of Scotland eagerly wait for the train as they long for news.

Stanza IV:

Various kinds of letters are received by the people of Scotland. It may be letters expressing thanks or joy or may be official letters from banks. There are applications for vacant post, love letters, letters of gossip, letters accompanied with holiday photographs, meant to be enlarged, letter from uncles, cousins, aunts, letter expressing sympathy written on papers of various colours like pink, violet, white and blue. The letters however have all tones and styles imaginable mischievous, tedious, emotional, clever and unintelligent. Some of them are typed while others are printed and even misspelled.

Stanza V:

Thousands remain asleep and have terrifying dreams. They are from Glasgow and Edinburgh. They continue with their dreams but expect that they will, ceive letters soon as they are awake. Their hearts will pound, hearing the postman knocking at their door. After all who can endure the pain of being forgotten?

The Night Mail Poem Summary by W.H. Auden

The night mail is crossing the border and heading towards Scotland. Laden with letters, bank cheques and postal orders meant for all classes of people, the train is committed to reach on time. The path however is difficult since it isn’t easy to move along a sharp rise with hurdles and obstacles on its way. While on move, the night mail crosses the cotton fields and the rocky land.

The poet fancies as if the night mail is a woman, puffing out noisily and releasing steam from her shoulder while passing by the miles of verdant lands. Birds from the bushes turn towards her while they hear the rumbling sound. The dark and vacant coaches surprise them as they see no human figures there. Sheep-dogs, continues sleeping comfortably with crossed-legs as they are used to hearing her noisy “snort”. Moreover, humans too remain unmoved. While they enjoy their sleep, the train passes on with mild tremor that shakes a jug inside a bedroom.

With the show of dawn, the train descends down towards Glasgow. The difficult path of moving along a sharp rise is over. The train now runs through the plain land with rows of cranes along the harbour of Glasgow. The next moment, it travels through the vast industrial areas where the furnaces look like gigantic chessmen. People of Scotland eagerly wait for the train as they crave for news.

However, the train brings a, variety of letters to a variety of people. There are “letters of thanks”, “letters from banks”; Letters of joy”; financial,” letters of gossip, love letters, letters from uncles, cousins, aunts and letters of condolence to name a few. These letters are written on papers of various colours like pink, violet, white and blue.

The letters however have all tones and styles imaginable mischievous, tedious, emotional, clever and unintelligent. Some of them are typed while others are printed and even misspelled. People who aren’t awake will receive letters soon as they are awake. Their hearts will pound, hearing the postman knocking at their door. After all who can endure the pain of being forgotten?

The Night Mail Poem Introduction

Auden’s Night Mail was written in 1936 to accompany the documentary film of the same title. The film was about a mail train flying from London to Scotland. Auden’s poem was read towards the end of the film, set to music by Benjamin Britten. The poem explores the commitment of a mail train to deliver an unimaginable variety of letters to the people of Scotland. Night Mail however remains one of Auden’s most popular poems all for its simple style and theme.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers