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प्रश्न
Discuss the following topics in groups of five and choose a representative to sum up the views and share them with the class.
To succeed in life, one must have a single-minded devotion to duty.
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उत्तर
Singleminded determination is necessary to achieve success in life. Legend says Dronacharya was training Pandavas to shoot arrows in the jungle. Once guru saw a bird at the top branch of a tall tree. He assigned the task of shooting the bird in its right eye.
Bhim, Nakula, Sakadevan, and Dharman were denied the chance to aim at it because they all told Dronacharya that they saw the whole jungle, tree, sky, and bird respectively. But it was Arjun who said that he saw only the right eye of the bird and nothing else. Indo-Pak war was in progress. Four bombers were prowling into Indian airspace.
Indian fighter bomber pilot realized all the bombs were exhausted. He had a single-minded determination to prevent the four bombers from bombing India harm and force them to surrender. He tried a trick. He called them and spoke to them. He informed them that he was a thousand feet above them with his finger on a missile. If they just surrender, their lives would be spared. He radioed to his chief that they should welcome four prisoners of war along with their fighter bombers.
Napoleon Boneparte was once watching a battle from a hillock. One of his soldiers came with an urgent message. Napoleon looking at the badly wounded soldier thought that the war was lost. He called one of his aides and gave instructions for a pullout. But the soldier said, “Sire, we‘ve won”. Then he gave a slip from another pocket. Being a practical leader, he had alternate plans always at hand. Such leaders never accept failure as permanent. People who pursue their goals in life with single-minded determination always win.
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संबंधित प्रश्न
How does the poet compare his face with dresses?
What does the poet mean when he says ‘good bye’?
How is the poet’s laugh reflected in the mirror?
Mention the qualities the child in the poem symbolises.
Interpret each of the following expression used in the poem, in one or two line.
shake hands without hearts
Explain the following lines with reference to the context.
I want to be what I used to be.
Not everybody loves to play and participate in games, sports and other extra-curricular activities. Some of us wish to be mere spectators. List out the activities in which you like to be either a performer or a spectator. Share your views with the class.
| Activities | ||
| performer/player | spectator/audience | |
| e.g. | cricket | magician |
| a. | ||
| b. | ||
| c. | ||
| d. | ||
| e. | ||
Read the poem again and complete the summary using the words given in the box.
In the poem ‘Confessions of a Born Spectator,’ Ogden Nash talks about how people choose different sports in their lives or decide to become athletes. While admiring the talents of athletes and sportsmen, the poet (i)______he is glad that he is neither a sportsman nor an athlete. Children have different (ii)______and wish to play various games. Each child has in mind something in particular, but the narrator is (iii)______he is not one of the players. Though the narrator (iv) ______the talents of all athletes, he derives satisfaction from watching them, but does not wish to (v) ______places with them. He also sometimes regrets that (vi)______athletes play rough games without caring for the feelings of their sporting rivals. He feels that good sense and caution win over ego. The narrator wholeheartedly offers (vii) ______the modest (viii) ______of athletes. Ultimately the narrator is (ix)______that he himself is not an athlete.
|
thanksgiving exchange glad confesses physiques zealous satisfied aims admires |
Read the poem and answer the following in a short paragraph of 8–10 sentences each.
When officialdom demands Is there a doctor in the stands?
- Why are doctors called from stands by the sponsors?
- Why does the poet make such an observation?
Read the lines given below and answer the question that follow.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan.
- What does ‘heaven’ refer to?
- Why does the poet call it ‘holy’?
Explain the following line with reference to the context in about four to five sentence each.
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
Listening Activity
Some phrases have been left out in the poem below. First, read the poem. Then, fill in the missing words on listening to the reading or the recording of it in full. You may listen again, if required
To Autumn
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my ______, there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my ______;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the ______of fruits and flowers.
“The ______opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her ______;
Blossoms hang round the brows of morning and
Flourish down the ______of modest eve,
Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And ______strew flowers round her head.
The spirits of the air live on the smells
Of fruit; and joy, with ______, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”
Thus sang the ______as he sat,
Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his ______.
William Blake
Write a letter to the Councillor of your Ward, explaining why a park is necessary in your locality.
Why is the Flying Squad frustrated?
Describe Macavity’s appearance.
Which two characters does the poet refer to as examples of wicked cats?
Why is Macavity called the ‘Napoleon of Crime’?
Read the given lines and answer the question that follow.
He’s the bafflement of Scotland
Yard, the Flying Squad’s despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime
— Macavity’s not there!..
- What is ‘Scotland Yard’?
- Why does the flying squad feel disappointed?
Identify the literary devices used in the following lines:
- He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake.
- They say he cheats at cards.
Who are the ‘deserving ones’?
Read the given line and answer the question that follow.
He, who does not stoop, is a king we adore. We bow before competence and merit;
- Who is adored as a king?
- What is the figure of speech used in the first line?
Discuss the following topic in groups of five and choose a representative to sum up the view and share them with the class.
‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal.’ It is the courage and perseverance that counts.
The historical background:
The poem is an extract from William Shakespeare’s play King Richard the Second. The play is based on true events that occurred towards the end of the 14th century.
Richard II was crowned the King of England in the year 1367. He continued to be the British Monarch until 1399, when he was deposed by his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, who crowned himself King Henry the Fourth in the same year. Shakespeare’s play is a dramatic rendition of the last two years of King Richard II’s life. In this brief span of time, he was ousted from his royal position and sent to prison, where he died in captivity.
The following extract is set in the Coast of Wales. King Richard and some of his followers awaited the arrival of the Welsh army [after facing defeat at the hands of his cousin, Bolingbroke], of about 10000 warriors. But to their shock and surprise, they received the message that the army was not coming to their rescue. His followers tried to boost their King’s courage against the news, only in vain. When Richard came face to face with the reality of his terrible fate, he spoke the following verse, famously known as the “Hollow Crown” speech in theatrical circles. In it, King Richard is reminded of the power of Death that overshadows everything else, including the power of rulers, and renders them as powerless as any commoner at a moment’s notice.
Fill in the blanks using the words given in the box to complete the summary of the poem:
King Richard the Second, had surrendered to his (a)______cousin, Bollingbroke. He experienced deep distress at the horror of his circumstances. In that desperate situation, he speaks of (b)______, (c)______, (d)______and other things connected with death. He spoke of how people leave nothing behind and can call nothing their own, except for the small patch of (e)______, where they will be buried. King Richard yielded to dejection and talked of all the different ways in which defeated kings suffer how some had been deposed, (f)______in war, (g)______by their wives and so forth. He attributed this loss of lives to (h)______, who he personified as the jester who watches over the shoulder of every ruler, who mocks kings by allowing them to think their human flesh, was like (i)______brass. However, Death penetrates through the castle walls, silently and unnoticed like a sharp (j)______, thus bidding (k)______to him and all his pride forever. Finally, Richard appealed to his soldiers not to mock his mere flesh and blood by showing (l) ______and respect to him. He added that he too needed bread to live, felt want, tasted (m)______and needed (n)______. He concluded thus, urging his men not to call him a (o)______as he was only human, just like the rest of them.
| barren-earth | friends | graves | slain |
| rebellious | poisoned | worms | grief |
| impregnable | epitaphs | death | farewell |
| reverence | king | pin |
Fill in the blank with appropriate word from the box and complete the statement suitably:
The business woman wished to ______all her riches to an orphanage, after her death.
What do the three words, ‘graves, worms and epitaphs’, refer to?
Explain the following line with reference to the context in about 5 to 8 line:
All murdered – for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king Keeps Death his court, …”
Explain the following line with reference to the context in about 5 to 8 line:
“Comes at the last, and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!”
Read the poem once again carefully and identify the figure of speech that has been used in each of the following line from the poem:
“And yet not so – for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?”
Pick out the alliteration from the following lines:
“Our lands, our lives, and all, are Bolingbroke’s,…”
