CBSE solutions for इंग्लिश लिटरेचर रीडर कक्षा १२ chapter 1 a) - The Darkling Thrush [Latest edition]

Natural and manmade catastrophes trigger chaos and destruction. Share your thoughts about each of the scenes given here.

Hardy’s best known bird poem was written on December 31, 1900, but its acknowledgment of defiant hope, or even optimism, still holds good.

What is the setting of the poem?

How is the third stanza a contrast to the previous stanza?

Why doesn’t the speaker feel joyous while the bird could see the good things ahead?

Identify the following:

• time of the day
• time of the year
• place where the poet finds himself

Pick out the images in Stanza 1 that convey the following moods

• thoughtfulness
• despondency

Why is the thrush referred to as an ‘aged bird’?

Why does the poet disbelieve the bird’s “carolings”?

Explain the images of contrast presented in stanza 4.

How does the poet establish a sense of the following (throughout the poem)?

• time
• space
• mood

What is suggested by the following words/phrases in the poem?

• spectre-grey
• haunted
• joy illimited
• blast - beruffled

What do the thrush and the poet have in common?

Bring out the significance of the title, “The Darkling Thrush”.

Fill in the table with suitable examples from the poem.

Hardy has used a specific style in bringing out the theme of the poem. Complete the table by identifying the images/words/phrases used in the poem.

Identify the rhyme scheme in the given stanza.

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

Identify the simile in the poem and explain.

Identify and explain an alliteration.

What is a metaphor? The poem has several metaphors. One has been done as an example. Find the others and explain them.

e.g.: ‘Had chosen thus to fling his soul’ refers to a bird song as the soul.

Identify words that signify positivity and negativity in the poem.

Compose a 10 line poem bringing out your own optimism while facing the new year/century.

As Thomas Hardy, write a diary entry about how the song of the thrush changed your thoughts, in about 80-100 words.

The “The Darkling Thrush” is both a lament for the death of music and a celebration of its rebirth. Substantiate this observation in about 80-100 words.

Speak briefly on the topic: Lessons of life can be learnt from nature.

Suppose that you are seated in a time machine. You travel from the 21st century era to go back to the 19th century. Share your thoughts about the changes you would notice. Use the following clues to write an article in about 200-250 words. You may express your feelings about what you see during the journey.

1. Politics, Administration
2. Monuments
3. Literary personalities
4. Great scientists/leaders 

You may need to refer to the encyclopedia, history books in your library or surf the internet to help you develop your article. Give an interesting title.