मराठी

In the poem “Birches,” the poet observes that the birches are bent because ______. - English Literature

Advertisements
Advertisements

प्रश्न

In the poem “Birches,” the poet observes that the birches are bent because ______.

रिकाम्या जागा भरा
Advertisements

उत्तर

In the poem “Birches,” the poet observes that the birches are bent because they've been weighted down by ice storms or even by lads swinging on them, causing them to bend gracefully back to their original posture.

shaalaa.com
Reading
  या प्रश्नात किंवा उत्तरात काही त्रुटी आहे का?
2023-2024 (March) Official

संबंधित प्रश्‍न

Thinking about Language
 Here are some sentences from the text. Say which of them tell you, that the author:
(a) was afraid of the snake, (b) was proud of his appearance, (c) had a sense of humour,
(d) was no longer afraid of the snake.
1. I was turned to stone.
2. I was no mere image cut in granite.
3. The arm was beginning to be drained of strength.
4. I tried in my imagination to write in bright letters outside my little heart the words, ‘O
God’.
5. I didn’t tremble. I didn’t cry out.
6. I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile.
7. I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood.
8. I was after all a bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it!
9. The fellow had such a sense of cleanliness…! The rascal could have taken it and used it
after washing it with soap and water.
10. Was it trying to make an important decision about growing a moustache or using eye
shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead?


Thinking about the Poem

What do the following phrases mean to you? Discuss in class.

(i) humid shadows
(ii) starry spheres
(iii) what a bliss
(iv) a thousand dreamy fancies into busy being start
(v) a thousand recollections weave their air-threads into woof


Read a short story about an exemplary boss. 

Working 12 to 18 hours a day was not uncommon for scientists at the rocket launching station, Thumba. A group of such scientists was frustrated due to the work pressure and meeting their boss's demands; however, they were loyal to him. 
One day, a scientist gathered enough courage to go up to his boss and say, "Sir, I have promised my children that I will take them to the exhibition this evening. Therefore, I have to leave the office by 5.30 pm. Can I leave early today, Sir?" 
His boss replied, "Alright. You may leave early today." 
The scientist was happy for having received the permission and continued with his work. He stayed on to work after lunch, and, as always, got so engrossed in his work, that he peered at his watch only when he thought he was done. Unfortunately, it was past 08: 15 pm. 

With a jolt he remembered his promise to his children. He looked for his boss who was not in his omee. Having told him just that morning. he wrapped up his work and hurried home. 
A.P.J. he drove home, he felt very guilty for having let hla children down. When he reached, the children were not at home. His wife was busy reading. He felt that initiating any conversation with her would only add fuel to fire, so he stayed quiet. 
Looking up at him, bis wife asked, "Do you want something hot to drink or would you like to have dinner right away?"
The man could only ask, "Where are the children?"
His wife said, "Don't you know? Your boss came here around quarter past five and took the children to the exhibition you had promised to take them to." 
He was surprised, but, it did not take him very long to guess what had happened. 
The boss who had granted him permission had observed him working very seriously well past 5.00 pm. He realized that the scientist would not leave the work half' done, but if he had promised his children visit to the exhibition, then they deserved it. So, he took the lead in taking them to the exhibition himself. 
The boss did not have to do it every time. But once it was done, loyalty was established. 
No wonder, all scientists at Thumba continued to work under this boss in spite of the great pressure. 
This boss was none other than Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.


What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see___
These things he plants who plants a tree.

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:

Explain with reference to context.


Six humans trapped by happenstance
In black and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs;
The first man held his back.
For on the faces around the fire,
He noticed one was black.

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:

Why does the poet use this diction?


The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight.
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.

The last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.

Their logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without
They died from the cold within.

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.

What does this say about what prejudice can do to people and the importance of working together?


"Now tell us what 'twas all about,"
Young Peterkin, he cries;
And little wilhelmine looks up
with wonder-waiting eyes;
"Now tell us all about the war,
And what they fought each other for."
"It was the English," Kaspar cried,
"Who put the French to rout;
But what they fought each other for,
I could not well make out;
But everybody said,"quoth he,
"That 'twas a famous victory.

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.

Name the two opposing sides. Who won?


We will ponder your proposition and when we decide we will let you know. But should we accept it, I here and now make this condition that we will not be denied the privilege without molestation of visiting at any time the tombs of our ancestors, friends, and children. Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. Our departed braves, fond mothers, glad, happy hearted maidens, and even the little children who lived here and rejoiced here for a brief season, will love these somber solitudes and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe^ and when your children’s children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts’that once filled them and still lover this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.
Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change of worlds.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

What is the condition laid by the speaker before he accepts the white man’s proposition?


Mrs. Thompson did not reply, but presently turned towards the little chamber where her husband had deposited Maggie; and, pushing open the door, went quietly in. Joe did not follow; he saw that, her state had changed, and felt that it would be best to leave her alone with the child. So he went to his shop, which stood near the house, and worked until dusky evening released him from labor. A light shining through the little chamber windows was the first object that attracted Joe’s attention on turning towards the house: it was a good omen. The path led him by this windows and, when opposite, he could not help pausing to look in. It was now dark enough outside to screen him from observation. Maggie lay, a little raised on the pillow with the lamp shining full upon her face. Mrs. Thompson was sitting by the bed, talking to the child; but her back was towards the window, so that her countenance was not seen. From Maggie’s face, therefore, Joe must read the character of their intercourse. He saw that her eyes were intently fixed upon his wife; that now and then a few words came, as if in answers from her lips; that her expression was sad and tender; but he saw nothing of bitterness or pain. A deep-drawn breath was followed by one of relief, as a weight lifted itself from his heart.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

What did Joe see from the window?


Then there it lay in her wet palm, perfect, even pierced ready for use, with the sunset shuffled about inside it like gold—?dust. All her heart went up in flames of joy. After a bit she twisted it into the top of her skirt against her tummy so she would know if it burst through the poor cloth and fell. Then she picked up her fork and sickle and the heavy grass and set off home. Ai! Ai! What a day! Her barefeet smudged out the wriggle— ?mark of snakes in the dust; there was the thin singing of malaria mosquitoes among the trees now; and this track was much used at night by a morose old makna elephant—the Tuskless One; but Sibia was not thinking of any of them. The stars came out: she did not notice. On the way back she met her mother, out of breath, come to look for her, and scolding. “I did not see till I was home, that you were not there. I thought something must have happened to you.” And Sibia, bursting with her story, cried “Something did). I found a blue bead for my necklace, look!”

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

What all did Sibia not notice as she went home?


Answer the following question

The enclosure in which Kari lived had a thatched roof that lay on thick tree stumps. Examine the illustration of Kari’s pavilion on page 8 and say why it was built that way.


Complete the following sentences.

i. An ant is the smallest, ——————————————

ii. We know a number of facts about an ant’s life because ————————————————————


How old were Kari (the elephant) and the narrator?


Why did the lady chain the bear on Sundays?


How did the monkey and the crocodile become good friends?


Define a dream in your own words.


Why do you think Prem wants to tell the story of the reptiles to the people of his village?


This pahalwan had but one shortcoming. What was that?


“Trees are for apples to grow on, or pears.” Do you agree that one purpose of a tree is to have fruit on it? Or do you think this line is humorous?


What does the poet refer to as ‘they’ in the following stanza?

"I saw a snake and ran away Some snakes are
dangerous, they say"


Answer the following question. (Refer to that part of the text whose number is given against the question. This applies to the comprehension questions throughout the book.)

Why did the little man grant Patrick a wish? (2)


Answer the following question:

How did she become an astronaut? What gave her the idea that she could be an astronaut?


Answer the following question.

“Each term every child has one blind day, one lame day…” Complete the line. Which day was the hardest? Why was it the hardest?


What did Miss Beam teach the children at her school?


Answer the question.
What are the things normal people do that the poet talks about?


What are some of the notable features told about snakes in the lesson?


Answer the following question.

Peter’s favourite day of the week is Sunday because ___________________________.


Answer the following question.
When Jumman’s aunt realised that she was not welcome in his house, what arrangement did she suggest?


Complete the following sentence by providing a reason:

In the poem, Dover Beach, the poet wants his beloved to be "true" to him because ______.


Referring closely to the poem, The Darkling Thrush, examine the poet's encounter with the aged thrush as a passage from amazement to introspection.


Share
Notifications

Englishहिंदीमराठी


      Forgot password?
Use app×