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प्रश्न
What does he desire to unlearn and relearn?
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उत्तर
The poet desires to unlearn the hypocrisies or unreal things he has learned to keep up appearances. He wants to relearn how to laugh and smile as he had done early during his own childhood days.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Mention the qualities the child in the poem symbolises.
Explain the following line with reference to the context.
I have learned to wear my faces Like dresses …
This poem is nothing but a criticism of modern life. Justify this statement.
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.
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thanksgiving exchange glad confesses physiques zealous satisfied aims admires |
How does the poet establish the victory of common sense over ego?
According to the poet, what contributes most to the injuries sustained by the athletes?
Read the given lines and answer the questions that follow in a sentence or two.
With all my heart I do admire
Athletes who sweat for fun or hire
- Whom does the poet admire?
- For what reasons do the athletes sweat?
Read the given lines and answer the questions that follow in a sentence or two.
Well, ego it might be pleased enough But zealous athletes play so rough…
- What pleases the ego?
- Why are athletes often rough during play?
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.
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there…
- What did the poet notice about the twigs?
- What was the poet’s thought about then?
Explain the following line with reference to the context in about four to five sentence each.
Have I not reason to lament
What Man has made of Man?
The poem speaks of ______.
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
What is Macavity’s nickname?
What makes the fakir stare in wonder?
Why is Macavity called the ‘Napoleon of Crime’?
What are the mysterious ways in which Macavity acts?
Read the given lines and answer the question that follow.
‘It must have been Macavity!’ but he’s a mile away.
- What is Macavity blamed for?
- Where is he?
Pick out all the pairs of rhyming words used in the poem.
What does the ladder symbolize?
In what way is every hillock similar to Everest?
The poem does not focus on the destination but the journey towards it. Discuss
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 |
What hides within the crown and laughs at the king’s grandeur?
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:
“Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth’’.
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?”
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:
“Keeps Death his court, and there the antic sits,…”
Based on your reading of King Richard’s speech, answer the following questions in about 100 - 150 words each. You may add your own ideas if required to present and justify your point of view.
What are the causes for King Richard’s grief?
