Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Explain the following line with reference to the context.
Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.
Advertisements
Solution
- Reference: These lines are from the poem “A Father to his Son” written by Carl August Sandburg.
- Context and Explanation: The poet highlights the importance of a soft but firm will to melt even hardened criminals. Love can transform even criminals. Harsh punishment may harden them but gentleness and love may bring about a change of heart.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Did the soldiers fight with the enemies face to face?
Why didn’t the narrator want to tell the tale to anybody?
Who was the real enemy?
Read the poem again and complete the summary using the words given in box.
Stanzas 1–3
‘The Castle’ by Edwin Muir is a moving poem on the (1)______ of a well guarded (2)______ The soldiers of the castle were totally stress-free and relaxed. They were (3)______ of their castle’s physical strength. Through the turrets they were able to watch the mowers and no enemy was found up to the distance of (4)______ and so they seemed no threat to the castle. They had (5)______ of weapons to protect them and a large quantity of (6)______ in stock to take care of the well-being of the soldiers inside the castle. The soldiers stood one above the other on the towering battlements (7)______ to shoot the enemy at sight. They believed that the castle was absolutely safe because their captain was (8)______ and the soldiers were loyal.
| half-a-mile | watching |
| castle | brave |
| ration | capture |
| plenty | confident |
Stanzas 4–6
Even by a trick no one but the birds could enter. The enemy could not use a (9)______ for their entry inside the castle. But there was a wicket gate guarded by a (10) ______ He (11)______ in the enemies inside the famous citadel that had been known for its secret gallery and intricate path. The strong castle became(12)______ and thin because of the greedy disloyal warder. The (13)______ was captured by the enemies for (14)______ The narrator (15)______ over the (16)______ of the useless warder and also decided not to disclose this (17)______ story to anyone. He was (18)______ and wondered how he would keep this truth to himself. He regretted not finding any (19)______ to fight with the (20)______ called ‘gold’.
| lamented | shameful |
| wicked guard | bait |
| let | gold |
| weapon | citadel |
| weak | disloyalty |
| helpless | enemy |
Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.
| Oh then our maze of tunneled stone Grew thin and treacherous as air. The castle was lost without a groan, The famous citadel overthrown, |
- Bring out the contrast in the first two lines.
- What is the rhyme scheme of the given stanza?
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 |
Identify the figure of speech used in the following line.
Our only enemy was gold,
Can you call ‘The Castle’ an allegorical poem? Discuss.
Fill in the blanks choosing the words from the box given and complete the summary of the poem.
The casuarina tree is tall and strong, with a creeper winding around it like a (1) ______. The tree stands like a (2) ______with a colourful scarf of flowers. Birds surround the garden and the sweet song of the birds is heard. The poet is delighted to see the casuarina tree through her (3) ______. She sees a grey monkey sitting like a (4) ______on top of the tree, the cows grazing, and the water lilies (5) ______in the pond. The poet feels that the tree is dear to her not for its (6) ______appearance but for the (7) ______memories of her happy childhood that it brings to her. She strongly believes that (8) ______communicates with human beings. The poet could communicate with the tree even when she was in a far-off land as she could hear the tree (9) ______her absence. The poet (10) ______the tree’s memory to her loved ones, who are not alive. She immortalizes the tree through her poem like the poet Wordsworth who (11) ______the yew tree of Borrowdale in verse. She expresses her wish that the tree should be remembered out of love and not just because it cannot be (12) ______.
| python | statue | nature | casement |
| nostalgic | lamenting | impressive | forgotten |
| giant | consecrates | springing | sanctified |
How does the creeper appear on the tree?
Describe the garden during the night.
What has Wordsworth sanctified in his poem?
Read the line given below and answer the question that follow.
The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung
In crimson clusters all the bough among!
- Who is the giant here?
- Why is the scarf colourful?
Identify the figure of speech used in each of the extract given below and write down the answer in the space given below.
“The water-lilies spring, like snow enmassed.”
Discuss with your partner the different stages in the growth of man from a new born to an adult
Complete the summary of the poem, choosing words from the list given below. Lines 33 to 42
Ulysses desires to hand over his (1) ______to his son Telemachus, who would fulfil his duties towards his subjects with care and (2) ______. Telemachus possesses patience and has the will to civilise the citizens of Ithaca in a (3) ______way. Ulysses is happy that his son would do his work blamelessly and he would pursue his (4) ______for travel and knowledge.
| prudence, kingdom, quest, tender |
How would Telemachus transform the subjects?
Identify the figure of speech employed in the following line.
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Identify the figure of speech employed in the following line.
To follow knowledge like a sinking star.
Read the set of line from the poem and answer the question that follow.
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
- Though made weak by time and fate, the hearts are heroic. Explain.
- Pick out the words in alliteration in the above lines.
Explain with reference to the context the following line.
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs:
the deep Moans round with many voices.
How would the poet’s advice help his son who is at the threshold of the manhood?
What happened to the people who wanted too much money?
The poet says
‘Without rich wanting nothing arrives’ but he condemns ‘the quest of lucre beyond a few easy needs.’ Analyse the difference and write.
Read the line given below and answer the question that follow.
Tell him solitude is creative if he is strong and the final decisions are made in silent rooms.
- Can being in solitude help a strong human being? How?
- Identify the figure of speech in the above line.
Read the line given below and answer the question that follow.
Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted.
Tell him to be a fool every so often
- Why does the poet suggest that time can be wasted?
- Identify the figure of speech in the above line.
Read the line given below and answer the question that follow.
Tell him to be a fool ever so often
and to have no shame over having been a fool
yet learning something out of every folly
hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies
- Is it a shame to be a fool at times?
- What does one learn from every folly?
How according to the poet is it possible for his son to bring changes into a world that resents change?
What was Napoleon’s reaction on hearing the news of victory?
