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प्रश्न
What makes Ulysses seek newer adventures?
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उत्तर
In the context of the poem, Ulysses has grown old. He has experienced all daring adventures. He has won the hearts of people during the battle at Troy. Back home, as per the prophecy of Tiresias, he rules Ithaca for a brief time. But he is fed up with the conventional duties of a king. He laments his own uselessness as a ruler of idle people who lead a life like savages, just eating and sleeping. They don’t understand the over vaulting ambition of their adventurous king Ulysses who had moved earth and heavens in the past. He wishes to embark on his next voyage. It might be his last. He is quite sensitive to the moans of the seas tantalizing him and his compatriots to set sail quickly. He wants “to drink life to the lees”. Ulysses doesn’t want to bask in the glory he has earned in the past.
His inquisitive spirit is restless. He has seen much’ and acquired knowledge of various cultures of the world. But he considers all such experiences like an “arch” leading him to the unexplored or “untravelled world”. He wants to sail towards the area ‘beyond sunset’. He must shine in use as a sword but not “rust unburnished”. Yet at home, in the kingdom of Ithaca, he feels bored and yearns to truly engage with what is left of life. He is impatient for “new” experiences lamenting every day and every hour to seek “something more”. His quest for adventure and fulfillment, like the goal of Goethe’s Faust, is defined by the pursuit of new knowledge “beyond the utmost bound of human thought”.
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संबंधित प्रश्न
What thoughts come to your mind when you think about a castle? Add your ideas to the list
moat, huge buildings, soldiers, weapons ______,______.
Where were the enemies?
Did the soldiers fight with the enemies face to face?
Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.
| Oh then our maze of tunneled stone Grew thin and treacherous as air. The castle was lost without a groan, The famous citadel overthrown, |
- Bring out the contrast in the first two lines.
- What is the rhyme scheme of the given stanza?
I will maintain until my death
Read the poem and complete the table with suitable rhyming words.
All through that summer at ease we lay,
And daily from the turret wall
We watched the mowers in the hay
And the enemy half a mile away
They seemed no threat to us at all.
For what, we thought, had we to fear
With our arms and provender, load on load,
Our towering battlements, tier on tier,
And friendly allies drawing near
On every leafy summer road.
Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,
So smooth and high, no man could win
A foothold there, no clever trick
Could take us dead or quick,
Only a bird could have got in.
What could they offer us for bait?
Our captain was brave and we were true…
There was a little private gate,
A little wicked wicket gate.
The wizened warder let them through.
Oh then our maze of tunneled stone
Grew thin and treacherous as air.
The cause was lost without a groan,
The famous citadel overthrown,
And all its secret galleries bare.
How can this shameful tale be told?
I will maintain until my death
We could do nothing, being sold:
Our only enemy was gold,
And we had no arms to fight it with.
| lay | hay |
Identify the figure of speech used in the following line.
How can this shameful tale be told?
Fill in the blanks choosing the words from the box given and complete the summary of the poem.
The casuarina tree is tall and strong, with a creeper winding around it like a (1) ______. The tree stands like a (2) ______with a colourful scarf of flowers. Birds surround the garden and the sweet song of the birds is heard. The poet is delighted to see the casuarina tree through her (3) ______. She sees a grey monkey sitting like a (4) ______on top of the tree, the cows grazing, and the water lilies (5) ______in the pond. The poet feels that the tree is dear to her not for its (6) ______appearance but for the (7) ______memories of her happy childhood that it brings to her. She strongly believes that (8) ______communicates with human beings. The poet could communicate with the tree even when she was in a far-off land as she could hear the tree (9) ______her absence. The poet (10) ______the tree’s memory to her loved ones, who are not alive. She immortalizes the tree through her poem like the poet Wordsworth who (11) ______the yew tree of Borrowdale in verse. She expresses her wish that the tree should be remembered out of love and not just because it cannot be (12) ______.
| python | statue | nature | casement |
| nostalgic | lamenting | impressive | forgotten |
| giant | consecrates | springing | sanctified |
Describe the reminiscences of the poet, when she sees the casuarina tree.
“And they have their exits and their entrances” - What do the words ‘exits’ and ‘entrances’ mean?
Bring out the features of the fourth stage of a man as described by the poet.
Why is the last stage called second childhood?
Explain the following line briefly with reference to the context.
“Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
Complete the summary of the poem, choosing words from the list given below. Lines 44 to 70
Ulysses beckons his sailors to (1) ______at the port where the ship is ready to sail. His companions who have faced both (2) ______and sunshine with a smile, are united by their undying spirit of adventure. Though death would end everything, Ulysses urges his companions to join him and sail beyond the sunset and seek a newer (3) ______, regardless of consequences. These brave hearts who had once moved (4) ______ and earth, may have grown old and weak physically but their spirit is young and (5) ______. His call is an inspiration for all those who seek true knowledge and strive to lead (6) ______ lives.
| world, thunder, meaningful, gather, undaunted, heaven |
What does Ulysses yearn for?
Who does the speaker address in the second part?
Why did Ulysses want to hand over the kingdom to his son?
In what ways were Ulysses and his mariners alike?
Identify the figure of speech employed in the following line.
.....the deep Moans round with many voices.
Read the set of line from the poem and answer the question that follow.
… I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and
know not me.
- What does Ulysses do?
- Did he enjoy what he was doing? Give reasons.
Explain with reference to the context the following line.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees:
Explain with reference to the context the following line.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
Every parent is anxious about the welfare of his/her children. Parents express their anxiety by advising them almost all the time. What kind of advice do you frequently receive from your parents? Fill in the bubbles. Tick the ones you like to follow implicitly and give reasons for the ones you don’t like to follow.

What are the poet’s thoughts on ‘being different’?
Who came galloping on a horse to Napoleon?
What did the rider do when he reached Napoleon?
Explain the following line with reference to the context.
‘I’m killed, Sire!’ And, his Chief beside, Smiling, the boy fell dead.
