मराठी
तामिळनाडू बोर्ड ऑफ सेकेंडरी एज्युकेशनएचएससी विज्ञान इयत्ता १२

Our only enemy was gold

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प्रश्न

Our only enemy was gold

टीपा लिहा
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उत्तर

  • Reference:
    This line is taken from the Poem – “The Castle”, Poet – “Edwin Muir”.
  • Context:
    Here the poet talks about the ‘success of the enemy’.
  • Explanation:
    The narrator wondered about the tricks played by enemies. At last, the enemy won them by giving them gold as a bribe. So the narrator called the enemy gold.
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Poem (Class 12th)
  या प्रश्नात किंवा उत्तरात काही त्रुटी आहे का?
पाठ 1.2: The Castle - Exercise [पृष्ठ २२]

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सामाचीर कलवी English Class 12 TN Board
पाठ 1.2 The Castle
Exercise | Q 5 f) | पृष्ठ २२

संबंधित प्रश्‍न

Did the soldiers fight with the enemies face to face?


Who had let the enemies in?


Why did the narrator feel helpless?


Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.

All through the summer at ease we lay,

And daily from the turret wall

We watched the mowers in the hay

  1. Who does ‘we’ refer to?
  2. How did the soldiers spend the summer days?
  3. What could they watch from the turret wall?

Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.

A foothold there, no clever trick

Could take us dead or quick,

Only a bird could have got in.

  1. What was challenging?
  2. Which aspect of the castle’s strength is conveyed by the above line?

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
   
   
   

The casuarina tree will be remembered forever. Why?


Describe the reminiscences of the poet, when she sees the casuarina tree.


What is the world compared to?


When does a man become a judge? How?


Why is the last stage called second childhood?


Complete the summary of the poem, choosing words from the list given below. Lines 1 to 32

Ulysses is (1) ______to discharge his duties as a (2) ______, as he longs for (3) ______. He is filled with an (4) ______thirst for (5) ______and wishes to live life to the (6) ______. He has travelled far and wide gaining (7) _______ of various places, cultures, men and (8) ______. He recalls with delight his experience at the battle of Troy. Enriched by his (9) ______he longs for more and his quest seems endless. Like metal which would (10) ______if unused, life without adventure is meaningless. According to him living is not merely (11) ______to stay alive. Though old but zestful, Ulysses looks at every hour as a bringer of new things and yearns to follow knowledge even if it is (12)______.

fullest, unquenchable, unattainable, experience, knowledge, king, matters, rust, adventure, unwilling, travel, breathing

What has Ulysses gained from his travel experiences?


How would Telemachus transform the subjects?


Identify the figure of speech employed in the following line.

Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea...


Read the set of line from the poem and answer the question that follow.

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough

Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades

For ever and for ever when I move

  1. What is experience compared to?
  2. How do the lines convey that the experience is endless?

Read the set of line from the poem and answer the question that follow.

Death closes all: but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

  1. The above lines convey the undying spirit of Ulysses. Explain.
  2. Pick out the words in alliteration in the above lines.

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 happened to the people who wanted too much money?


Why does the poet advise his son to have lazy days?


Here are a few poetic device used in the poem.

Antithesis- It is a literary device that emphasises the idea of contrast.


Here are a few poetic device used in the poem.

Transferred Epithet- It is a figure of speech in which an epithet grammatically qualifies a noun other than the person or a thing, it is actually meant to describe.


Explain the following line with reference to the context.

He will be lonely enough

to have time for the work


Have you played chess or watched the game carefully?

Now identify the chess pieces and complete the table below. Discuss the role of each piece in the game.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Why was the rider in a hurry?


What did the rider do when he reached Napoleon?


Explain the following line with reference to the context.

To see your flag-bird flap his vans Where I, to heart’s desire, Perched him!’


The young soldier matched his emperor in courage and patriotism. Elucidate your answer.


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