English Medium इयत्ता १० - CBSE Question Bank Solutions for English Communicative

Answer the following question briefly:

What is the narrator trying to convey through the description of the situation in the tenth and eleventh stanza ?

Answer the following question briefly:

What or who did the mariners feel was responsible for their suffering?

Answer the following question briefly:

Describe the condition of the mariners as expressed in the thirteenth stanza.

Answer the following question briefly:

Why did the mariners hang the albatross around the neck of the Ancient Mariner?

The poem is full of strange, uncanny or supernatural elements. Discuss how these elements appear in the poem. You should consider:

- the strange weather;
- the albatross as a bird of "good omen"
- the spirit from "the land of mist and snow''
- the strange slimy creatures seen in the sea
- the ocean appearing to rot
- the death fires and sea water being referred to as witch's oil
Now write a paragraph about the supernatural elements in the poem and how they add
to the events that take place in the poem.

This is a very dramatic poem, excellent for reading aloud or even dramatising. The class should be divided into groups and given the different dramatic moments from the poem to be performed as follows. Some of them are given below:
- the first storm that they encounter
- the time spent in the land of mist and snow
- the coming of the albatross and the subsequent events till they move out
- the killing of the albatross till they reach the silent seas
- the suffering of the sailors in the hot region till they hang the albatross around the Ancient Mariner's neck.

After you have read the poem, discuss the following questions in your groups:
i. Why did the Ancient Mariner stop the particular wedding guest to listen to his tale?
ii. Why did he have to tell his tale to someone?
iii. What is the poet trying to convey through this poem?

Snakes generate both horror and fascination. Do you agree? Why/Why not?

Read what W.W.E. Ross feels when he sees a snake and fill in the table given
below:

The snake trying to escape the
pursuing stick, with sudden curvings
of thin long body. How beautiful and
graceful are his shapes !
He glides through the water away
from the stroke. O let him go over the
water into the reeds to hide without
hurt. Small and green he is harmless
even to children Along the sand
he lay until observed
and chased away, and now
he vanishes in the ripples
among the green slim reeds.

Given below is the summary of the poem Snake in short paragraphs. However
they are jumbled. Work in pairs and put the summary into a logical sequence.

(a) After drinking water to satisfaction, the snake raised his head dreamily and flickered his forked tongue and licked his lips. The snake looked around like a God and then slowly proceeded to curve round and move away from the water trough.

(b) The poet felt much like the ancient mariner who had killed the albatross for no reason. He wishes that the snake would come back. He thinks of the snake as a king in exile who has to be crowned again. He also regrets having missed his opportunity of knowing and understanding one of the lords of life.

(c) As the snake put his head into the hole to retreat into the earth, the poet was filled with a protest against the idea of the snake withdrawing into his hole. The poet put down his pitcher, picked up a log and hurled it at the snake. The snake twisted violently and with great alacrity vanished into the hole in the wall.

(d) A snake visited the poet’s water trough on a hot afternoon to quench his thirst. The poet who had also gone to the trough to fill water in a pitcher waited for the snake since he had come at the trough prior to the poet.

(e) The voices of education inside the poet tell him that it was the fear for the snake that made him refrain from killing him. However, the poet feels that though he was quite afraid of the snake, he did actually feel honoured that a snake had come to seek his hospitality from the deep recesses of the earth.

(f) He is guilt-ridden. He feels that he has to atone for the meanness of his action of throwing a log at the snake.

(g) The snake rested his throat upon the stone bottom and sipped the water into his slack long body. After drinking water, he raised his head just like cattle do and flashed his forked tongue, thought for a moment and then bent down to drink some more water.
(h) Education and social conventions make the poet think that the golden brown poisonous snake must be killed and that as a brave man he must undertake the task of killing the snake.

(i) The poet instantly felt sorry for his unrefined and contemptible act and cursed the voices of education and civilization that had shaped his thought processes and urged him to kill the snake.

(j) However, the poet instinctively likes the snake, treats him like a guest and feels honoured that it had come to drink at his water trough. The poet questions himself and wonders whether his not daring to kill the snake proved that he was a coward and whether his desire to talk to the snake reflected his perversity.

Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:

• 'he lifted his head from his drinking as cattle do' - The poet wants to convey that the snake

Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:

• 'Sicilian July', 'Etna smoking' and 'burning bowels of the earth' are images that convey
  that

Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:

• 'Asort of horror , a sort of protest overcame me' - The poet is filled with protest because

Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:

• In the line 'And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders, and entered farther'
  the phrase snake easing' his shoulders means

Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:

• He seemed to me like a king in exile…' The poet refers to the snake as such to emphasize that the snake

Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:

• 'I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act' -The poet is referring to

Answer the following question briefly:

Why does the poet decide to stand and wait till the snake has finished drinking? What
does this tell you about the poet? (Notice that he uses 'someone' instead of 'something'
for the snake.)

Answer the following question briefly:

In stanza 2 and 3, the poet gives a vivid description of the snake by using suggestive expressions. What picture of the snake do you form on the basis of this description?

Answer the following question briefly:

How does the poet describe the day and the atmosphere when he had seen the snake?

Answer the following question briefly:

What does the poet want to convey by saying that the snake emerges from the 'burning
bowels of the earth'?