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Question
Explain how the poet guides his son who is at the threshold of manhood, to face the challenges of life.
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Solution
The poet shares his wisdom with his son who is at the threshold of manhood. He persuades his son to be hard as steel or rock to withstand challenges and unforeseen betrayals in life. A person with a soft heart will crumble before a breach of trust. Similarly, he wants his son to be discerning enough to be soft when needed to grow like a frail flower plant splitting a rock. Occasionally one has to go with the current because life is at times fertile with a lot of opportunities to grow even among the harshest circumstances. ‘Rich soft wanting’ can help a person to win against all odds. He reiterates this idea by explaining how gentleness can reform a hardened criminal when lashes would, in contrast, harden them further.
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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,
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A foothold there, no clever trick
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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.
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Our only enemy was gold,
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| lay | hay |
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Oh then our maze of tunneled stone
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Bring out the features of the fourth stage of a man as described by the poet.
When does a man become a judge? How?
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“Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
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Introduction
The poem ‘Ulysses’ is a dramatic monologue that contains 70 lines of blank verse. Ulysses, the King of Ithaca, gathers his men together to prepare for the journey and exhorts them not to waste their time left on earth. Ulysses has grown old, having experienced many adventures at the battle of Troy and in the seas. After returning to Ithaca, he desires to embark upon his next voyage. His inquisitive spirit is always looking forward to more and more of such adventures.
Explain with reference to the context the following line.
He works his work, I mine.
Where are the final decisions taken?
What are the poet’s thoughts on ‘being different’?
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.
Read the line given below and answer the question that follow.
“Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.” And this too might serve him.
- Why does the poet suggest to take life easy?
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..........Free imaginations
Bringing changes into a world resenting change.
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Yet learning something out of every folly
hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies
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Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.
Describe the posture of Napoleon.
Why did the rider keep his lips compressed?
What was Napoleon’s reaction on hearing the news of victory?
