Advertisements
Advertisements
प्रश्न
Working with your partner, discuss the following adages and share your views with the class. You may need to give your ideas and justify your point of view. Remember to take turns while making your presentation/short speech.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
Advertisements
उत्तर
Whoever is heading an organization, a team, of players, a country does have a heavy responsibility. Leadership may give the person social recognition but in day-to-day life, the responsibilities of a leader are really heavy. A captain of the army during the Kargil war, found one of his soldiers wounded. The Kargil war was heading to a victory for India. The captain did not allow his junior officers to go and bring the wounded soldier. He went and received the bullets. Yet he pulled the wounded soldier to safety. He brought the wounded soldier to the bunk. While returning also he was shot many times. He dropped down dead. He had saved the wounded soldier and the subordinate officer at the cost of his life. Sometimes, there is a cold war, people try to usurp power by secret dealings.
Aurangzeb killed many of his brothers to ascend to the throne. While in power, kings are really worried about the conspiracy being cooked by relatives to overthrow them. King’s wife poisons king to death. Kings heading battles get killed too. So, we should never be jealous of people in power. Each post or power carries its own stress and unresolved conflicts, occasionally resulting in depression too. Being the head of an army, or that of a country is not always a matter of pride or glory. The grandeur conceals pain, anxiety and even fear of impending death.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
What do you associate with the title of the poem?
What does the poet long for?
Mention the qualities the child in the poem symbolises.
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. | ||
The poet does not wish to exchange places with the athletes. How does he justify his view?
According to the poet, what contributes most to the injuries sustained by the athletes?
Explain the following with reference to the context in about 50–60 word each.
They do not ever in their dealings Consider one another’s feelings…
Explain the following with reference to the context in about 50–60 word each.
Athletes, I’ll drink to you, Or eat with you, Or anything except compete with you…
Explain the following line with reference to the context in about four to five sentence each.
The birds around me hopp’d and play’d,
Their thoughts I cannot measure.
How does the poet feel while enjoying the beauty of Nature?
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
Describe Macavity’s appearance.
Describe the appearance and qualities of Macavity.
Read the given lines and answer the question that follow.
For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity
- How is the cat described in this line?
- Explain the phrase ‘monster of depravity’.
Read the given lines and answer the question that follow.
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.
- What seems to be a challenge for the Scotland Yard?
- Why do they need his footprints?
Explain the following line with reference to the context.
And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake
Explain the following line with reference to the context.
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s
Explain the following line with reference to the context.
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair
But it’s useless to investigate…
What is the rhyme scheme used in the poem?
Which line is repeated in the poem? What is the effect created by this repetition?
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.
Discuss the following topic in groups of five and choose a representative to sum up the view and share them with the class.
Successful people neither brood over the past nor worry about the future.
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 blank with appropriate word from the box and complete the statement suitably:
The spectators died laughing at the ______of the clown.
What does ‘flesh’ mean here?
How does the king establish that he and his subjects are equal in the end?
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:
“Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!”
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?
