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Question
Is it possible to make accurate guesses about the people you have never met? Read the poem, to see how conclusions can be drawn about people.
Abandoned Farmhouse
He was a big man, says the size of his shoes On a pile of broken dishes by the house; A tall man too, says the length of the bed In an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man, Says the Bible with a broken back On the floor below a window, bright with sun; But not a man for farming, say the fields Cluttered with boulders and a leaky barn.
A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall Papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves Covered with oilcloth, and they had a child Says the sandbox made from a tractor tyre. Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves And canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar-hole, And the winters cold, say the rags in the window frames. It was lonely here, says the narrow country road.
Something went wrong, says the empty house In the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields Say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars In the cellar say she left in a nervous haste. And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard Like branches after a storm - a rubber cow, a rusty tractor and a broken plow, a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say. Ted Kooser
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Solution
Summary of the Poem :
This is a poem about an abandoned farmhouse. Taking clues from things in the house and overall condition of the house the poet has tried to guess about its occupants. The big size of shoes and bed makes the poet to think that the house belonged to a big man. The presence of the Bible indicates that the person used to believe in God.
The presence of floral design on the wall paper and that of oil-cloth in the kitchen indicates towards the presence of a woman as well. There are different kinds of toys which indicate that the couple had a child as well. Certain food items indicate towards penury of the family. The overall condition of the farmhouse tells that the man was not a farmer and it was a lonely house. The way things are scattered all around, indicates towards a possibility of some untoward incidents. They might have led to the exodus of the family.
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Thinking about the Poem
“…whenever we are told to hate our brothers…” When do you think this happens?
Why? Who ‘tells’ us? Should we do as we are told at such times? What does the poet say?
Read the comic strip based on. H.G. Wells' novells.
Answer the questions by ticking the correct option.
(a) The strange-looking man wanted ....
(i) the best room at the inn.
(ii} a room with a fire and a good lock.
(iii} a room with a good view.
(iv) a room where he could work quietly.
(b) Jimson was suspicious of the stranger because ...
(i} he did not answer Jimson's questions.
(ii} he did not want to talk about the weather.
(iii} he kept his back turned towards Jimson at all times.
(iv) he shouted atJimson when he entered his room.
(c) The people of the town gossiped about the stranger as ...
(i} he did not go out or talk to anyone in the town.
(ii} he had met with an accident and his face was bandaged.
(iii} he was new to the town and behaved rudely.
(iv) he stayed in his room and did not show his face to anyone.
(d) 'There was a rush of burglaries in the town. This means that ________
(i} there were many robberies in the town.
(ii) a few people in the town had seen a rob her.
(iii} the burglaries in the town were done in a rush.
(iv) the burglar was a rash and careless man.
(e) Although Jimson and Dr Cuss are suspicious of the strange guest, Mrs Hall tolerates him because ....
(i} she is not superstitious or ignorant.
(ii) she is sorry for the stranger who is bandaged.
(iii} the stranger is paying her a good amount of money for the room.
(iv} the stranger is polite and kind to Mrs Hall at all times.
(f) The stranger who was staying at the inn can be described as being ....
(I} violent
(ii} upright
(iii} dishonest
(iv) sensible
The horse was nearly life-size, moulded out of clay, baked, burnt, and brightly coloured, and reared its head proudly, prancing its forelegs in the air and flourishing its tail in a loop; beside the horse stood a warrior with scythelike mustachios, bulging eyes, and aquiline nose. The old image-makers believed in indicating a man of strength by bulging out his eyes and sharpening his moustache tips, and also decorated the man’s chest with beads which looked today like blobs of mud through the ravages of sun and wind and rain (when it came), but Muni would insist that he had known the beads to sparkle like the nine gems at one time in his life.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What destruction did the village boys do to the things near the statue?
“I love the West,” said the girl irrelevantly. Her eyes were shining softly. She looked away out the car window. She began to speak truly and simply without the gloss of style and manner: “Mamma and I spent the summer in Deliver. She went home a week ago
because father was slightly ill. I could live and be happy in the West. I think the air here agrees with me. Money isn’t everything. But people always misunderstand things and remain stupid—” “Say, Mr. Marshal,” growled the glum-faced man. “This isn’t quite fair. I’m needing a drink, and haven’t had a smoke all day. Haven’t you talked long enough? Take me in the smoker now, won’t you? I’m half dead for a pipe.”
The bound travellers rose to their feet, Easton with the Same slow smile on his face. “I can’t deny a petition for tobacco,” he said, lightly. “It’s the one friend of the unfortunate. Good-bye, Miss Fairchild. Duty calls, you know.” He held out his hand for a farewell. “It’s too bad you are not going East,” she said, reclothing herself with manner and style. “But you must go on to Leavenworth, I suppose?” “Yes,” said Easton, “I must go on to Leavenworth.”
The two men sidled down the aisle into the smoker. The two passengers in a seat near by had heard most of the conversation. Said one of them: “That marshal’s a good sort of chap. Some of these Western fellows are all right.” “Pretty young to hold an office like that, isn’t he?” asked the other. “Young!” exclaimed the first speaker, “why—Oh! didn’t you catch on? Say—did you ever know an officer to handcuff a prisoner to his right hand?”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why is it ironic when Fairchild says, “people always misunderstand things and remain stupid —”?
From the day, perhaps a hundred years ago when he sun had hatched him in a sandbank, and he had broken his shell, and got his head out and looked around, ready to snap at anything, before he was even fully hatched-from that day, when he had at once made for the water, ready to fend for himself immediately, he had lived by his brainless craft and ferocity. Escaping the birds of prey and the great carnivorous fishes that eat baby crocodiles, he has prospered, catching all the food he needed, and storing it till putrid in holes in the bank. Tepid water to live in and plenty of rotted food grew him to his great length. Now nothing could pierce the inch-?thick armoured hide. Not even rifle bullets,
which would bounce off. Only the eyes and the soft underarms offered a place. He lived well in the river, sunning himself sometimes with other crocodiles-muggers, as well as the long-? snouted fish-?eating gharials-on warm rocks and sandbanks where the sun dried the clay on them quite white, and where they could plop off into the water in a moment if alarmed. The big crocodile fed mostly on fish, but also on deer and monkeys come to drink, perhaps a duck or two.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What protected him now? How?
I was in for a surprise. When the time came for the broad-jump trials, I was startled to see a tall boy hitting the pit at almost 26 feet on his practice leaps! He turned out to be a German named Luz Long. 1 was told that Hitler hoped to win the jump with him. I guessed that if Long won, it would add some new support to the Nazis’ “master race” (Aryan superiority) theory. After all, I am a Negro. Angr about Hitler’s ways, 1 determined to go out there and really show Der Fuhrer and his master race who was superior and who wasn’t. An angry athlete is an athlete who will make mistakes, as any coach will tell you. I was no exception. On the first of my three qualifying jumps, I leaped from several inches beyond the takeoff board for a foul. On the second jump, I fouled even worse. “Did I come 3,000 miles for this?” I thought bitterly. “To foul out of the trials and make a fool of myself ?” Walking a few yards from the pit, 1 kicked disgustedly at the dirt.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
“Did I come all the way from America for this?” I thought bitterly. “To foul out of the trials and make a fool of myself?” What does this show?
Then, trying to hide my nervousness, I added, “How are you?”
“I’m fine. The question is: How are you?“
“What do you mean?” 1 asked “Something must be eating you,” he said—proud the way foreigners are when they’ve mastered a bit of American slang. “You should be able to qualify with your eyes closed.”
“Believe me, I know it,” I told him—and it felt good to say that to someone.
For the next few minutes we talked together. I didn’t tell Long what was “eating” me, but he seemed to understand my anger, and he took pains to reassure me. Although he’d been schooled in the Nazi youth movement, he didn’t believe in the Aryan-supremacy business any more than I did. We laughed over the fact that he really looked the part, though. An inch taller than I, he had a lean, muscular frame, clear blue eyes, blond hair and a strikingly handsome, chiseled face. Finally, seeing that I had calmed down somewhat, he pointed to the take-off board.
“Look,” he said. “Why don’t you draw a line a few inches in back of the board and aim at making your take-off from there? You’ll be sure not to foul, and you certainly ought to jump far enough to qualify. What does it matter if you’re not first in the trials? Tomorrow is what counts.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
How did Owens manage to qualify for the finals with a foot to spare?
They stood in the doorway of the underground for a moment until it was raining hard. Then they closed the door and heard the gigantic sound of the rain falling in tons and avalanches, everywhere and forever.
“Will it be seven more years?” “Yes. Seven.” Then one of them gave a little cry. “Margot!” “What?” “She’s still in the closet where we locked her.” “Margot.”
They stood as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into the floor. They looked at each other and then looked away. They glanced out at the world that was raining now and raining and raining steadily. They could not meet each other’s glances. Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down. “Margot.” One of the girls said, “Well.. .?” No one moved. “Go on,” whispered the girl. They walked slowly down the hall in the sound of the cold rain. They turned through the doorway to the room in the sound of the storm and thunder, lightning on their faces, blue and terrible. They walked over to the closet door slowly and stood by it. Behind the closed door was only silence. They unlocked the door, even more slowly, and let Margot out.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
When would the Sun shine again? Why had the children locked Margot in the closet?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Portia: .......But this reasoning is not in fashion to choose me a husband. O me, the word “choose”! I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one, nor refuse none?
(i) What test had Portia’s father devised for her suitors? What oath did the suitors have to take before making their choice?
(ii) Who is Nerissa? What does she say to cheer up Portia?
(iii) Why does Portia disapprove of the County Palatine? Who would she rather marry?
(iv) How, according to Portia, can the Duke of Saxony’s nephew be made to choose the wrong casket? What do these suitors ultimately decide? Why?
(v) Whom does Portia ultimately marry? Who were the two other suitors who took the test? Why, in your opinion, is the person whom she marries worthy of her?
Describe Nishad as a child.
We should not mess up with things that belong to others. Elaborate.
How did the mongoose oblige its master? What was the reward of his service?
Read the lines in which the following phrases occur. Then discuss with your partner the meaning of each phrase in its context.
fuzzy head
Why do you think the child ran away on seeing the snake?
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.)
What did Patrick think his cat was playing with?
What was it really? (2)
Fill in the blank in the sentence below with the words or phrases from the box. (You may not know the meaning of all the words. Look such words up in a dictionary, or ask your teacher.)
Who stole the diamond is still a ____________.
Find out the meaning of the following words by looking them up in the dictionary. Then use them in sentences of your own.
courtier
In the poem, We are the Music Makers, what are the 'sea-breakers'?
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Antonio: |
(Aside to Sebastian) Let it be tonight; |
What does Antonio refer to when he says “Let it be tonight...” in Act III, Scene iii of the play, The Tempest?
