Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Comment on the physical features of the hawk highlighted in the poem and their significance.
Advertisements
Solution
Hawk Roosting signifies self-esteem or self-assertion of a Hawk that is so alienated from the human world. The poem is a dramatic monologue in a non-human voice; i.e., of the Hawk, who carries the false belief of himself being the most superior living being. The Hawk brandishes its supreme ego by boasting of its physical features. The outrageous fashion in which he brands his physiology insinuates his arrogance. The much-vaunted self-praise has criticised as an instance of fascism. The poet has brought out savagery by describing the unsophisticated physiology of the Hawk. In the first stanza of the poem, the Hawk claims to limit the whole of the world between his “hooked head” and “hooked feet”. The Hawk insinuates himself to embody the whole of creation and even while he is asleep he “rehearses perfect kills and eats” in his dream. In the third stanza, we see the Hawk challenging God. He flatters himself that “it took the whole of Creation” to design him, his foot, his each and every feather. Now the roles are reversed and he possesses and exercises his power over the whole world.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
B1. Select
Fill in the blanks choosing the correct alternatives from those given in the bracket:
(i) The author was inspired and motivated to read ............................................ by the time she was eleven.
[Shakespeare, Chaucer, G.B. Shaw]
(ii) Every lesson .......................... ......... took was spiced with half a dozen or more anecdotes.
[Mrs. Rowlands, Sister Monica, Mr. A.N. Patil]
(iii) The teachers helped the narrator to become ..................................... . .
[confident, happy, independent]
(iv) Mrs. Cynthia Nesamani and Sister Monica gave .......................................... to the narrator.
[freedom to do what he wanted, advice to do something, instructions to produce better results]
In a way, one of the greatest gifts any teacher can give a student, I think, is to inculcate a curiosity to learn.
I've been incredibly lucky to have at least one such teacher at every stage in my life. The first was Mrs. Rowlands who taught me in primary school. She taught me to read without ever pushing me. She made me want to read more by giving 'me some of the most interesting children's books available. And although I still love to go back to those books from time to time, it was only because of her that I was able to read Shakespeare by the time I was ten, and Chaucer a year later.
In later years, it was Mr. A.N. Patil, my Marathi and Hindi Teacher who made a huge impression on me. Every lesson he took, was spiced with half a dozen or more anecdotes from a wide variety of subjects: among them history, politics, religion and sociology. I was, and still am in awe of his knowledge, which despite rather desperate attempts, I doubt I'll ever be able to match.
There have also been other teachers who helped me to try to become independent: to think and act for myself using my own judgement, which to my mind has been just as, if not more important, than actually learning anything.
After all, it's much too easy to become a completely useless repository of facts and little else.
Two teachers whom I remember in particular are Mrs. Cynthia Nesamani and Sister Monica, both taught me in school. The former, by and large, gave me a free rein to do what I wanted to do. I, being one of those people who dislike instructions, she helped me to produce much better results than I'd have otherwise done.
B2.Complete
Read the extract and complete the following:
The teacher can
(i) .............
(ii) ..............
(iii )..............
(iv).................
B3. Similar word
Look at the following sentences arid pick the word having similar meaning to the given word and rewrite:
(i) Spiced His conversation is always with a lot of humour. (made interesting, garnished, flavoured)
(ii) Repository
The library should not merely be a ................ of books. (store-house, reservoir, tank)
(iii) Inculcate
It is the responsibility of the parents and teachers to .......values in the child's formative years. (imbibe, give, show)
(iv) Incredibly
I have been .. lucky to have at least one such teacher at every stage in my life. (importantly, unbelievably, beautifully)
B4. Language study
(i) There have also been other teachers. They have helped me to try to become
independent. (Combine using 'who')
(ii) It was only because of her that I was able-to read Shakespeare.
(Rewrite beginning with: If it was not for her, ).
B.5 Out motivators
Look at the following table and complete it by presenting your own views
| Personalities | Influence on your life |
| (i) Teachers | |
| (ii) Parents | |
| (iii) Relatives | |
| (iv) Friends |
With reference to ‘The Story of My Life’, describe how a teacher can positively impact a child’s life ?
Attempt a character sketch of Squire Cass.
Mention the odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.
What does “this circumstance” refer to?
Discuss in groups of four.
The sensitive behaviour of hill-folk.
Read the text below and summarise it.
The Great Desert Where Hippos Once Wallowed
The Sahara sets a standard for dry land. It’s the world’s largest desert. Relative humidity can drop into the low single digits. There are places where it rains only about once a century. There are people who reach the end of their lives without ever seeing water come from the sky.
Yet beneath the Sahara are vast aquifers of fresh water, enough liquid to fill a small sea. It is fossil water, a treasure laid down in prehistoric times, some of it possibly a million years old. Just 6,000 years ago, the Sahara was a much different place.
It was green. Prehistoric rock art in the Sahara shows something surprising: hippopotamuses, which need year-round water.
“We don’t have much evidence of a tropical paradise out there, but we had something perfectly liveable,” says Jennifer Smith, a geologist at Washington University in St Louis.
The green Sahara was the product of the migration of the paleo-monsoon. In the same way that ice ages come and go, so too do monsoons migrate north and south. The dynamics of earth’s motion are responsible. The tilt of the earth’s axis varies in a regular cycle — sometimes the planet is more tilted towards the sun, sometimes less so. The axis also wobbles like a spinning top. The date of the earth’s perihelion — its closest approach to the sun — varies in cycle as well.
At times when the Northern Hemisphere tilts sharply towards the sun and the planet makes its closest approach, the increased blast of sunlight during the north’s summer months can cause the African monsoon (which currently occurs between the Equator and roughly 17°N latitude) to shift to the north as it did 10,000 years ago, inundating North Africa.
Around 5,000 years ago the monsoon shifted dramatically southward again. The prehistoric inhabitants of the Sahara discovered that their relatively green surroundings were undergoing something worse than a drought (and perhaps they migrated towards the Nile Valley, where Egyptian culture began to flourish at around the same time).
“We’re learning, and only in recent years, that some climate changes in the past have been as rapid as anything underway today,” says Robert Giegengack, a University of Pennsylvania geologist.
As the land dried out and vegetation decreased, the soil lost its ability to hold water when it did rain. Fewer clouds formed from evaporation. When it rained, the water washed away and evaporated quickly. There was a kind of runaway drying effect. By 4,000 years ago the Sahara had become what it is today.
No one knows how human-driven climate change may alter the Sahara in the future. It’s something scientists can ponder while sipping bottled fossil water pumped from underground.
“It’s the best water in Egypt,” Giegengack said — clean, refreshing mineral water. If you want to drink something good, try the ancient buried treasure of the Sahara.
Staff Writer, Washington Post
The story begins and ends with Iona and his horse. Comment on the significance of this to the plot of the story.
Discuss the following in pairs or in small groups.
“Before you begin experimenting you need to perfect the technique with which you experiment.”
Read the following statement and mark those that apply to you.
I wish to be friends with someone but my friendship is rejected.
Read the story and complete the following.
Revathi’s grief knew no bounds because, ____________.
Answer in your own words.
What helped Revathi to claim her plants - her belief in magic or the belief in her convictions? Explain your choice.
State whether the following statement is True or False. Correct the false statement by finding evidence from the poem to support your remark.
The poet was exalted at the sight of the cherry tree.
State the facts about the story.
- Main characters:
- Problem:
- Attempts made to solve it:
- Climax/Turning point:
- Problem solved:
- End:
Correct the following statement.
The last leaf was a real leaf that survived.
Read the poem and complete the web about the activities the planners do.
Fill in the gap, choosing a word from the bracket to make an appropriate comparison.
(tall / quiet / humble / merry / busy / slippery / fast / sly / slow / big)
as ______ as a deer
What is described in the poem?
Wash your handkerchief clean. Hang it with a peg to dry in the wind. Watch how it flutters.
Describe the following with the help of the story.
The rich young man
List the four elements of drama.
Discuss and write 1-2 lines about the following,
Yonamine’s ideas about marriage.
Read aloud/Enact the play.
Visit a library: Find poems about animals. Copy them and recite them to your friends.
Write five words each -
with the suffix
- -less
- -ly
- -ness
Write one line about the following with the help of the poem.
wind in the autumn evening
Present these points in the form of a review, and give it a suitable title.
Make a list of your favourite fruits and vegetables and note down the time of the year when they are available in plenty.
Present any one of these announcements yourself, orally.
Describe Gulliver’s home in Lilliput.
Read the following and say whether the statement tells you about a fact or whether it is imaginary.
There is a man in the Moon.
Find out what 'Braille' is.
The author was going to New York.
What commotion did the boomerang cause in the neighborhood?
Read the data below and answer the following question.
Choose the correct answer.
Identify the three jobs where the same percentage of women work.
Hamid’s friends are ______
‘They’ descended on the sweet and toy-vendors’ stores like an army moving to attack.
Who does they refer to? Did they move one by one in a line or in a big group?
‘My tongs are like a tiger among toys.’ It means ______
What did Usha buy in the market? List them.
Identify the character/speaker.
You may stay if you answer my riddle.
What does ‘charges along like troops in a battle’ mean?
Imagine you are the girl and give a different ending to the story.
What did the first daughter do?
Try your own.
Why did Yazhini want to join the military?
Jaswant was captured alive.
How does it welcome all?
______is a Do It Yourself kid.
Connect and write the homophones in the box.
|
Sea |
 |
|
One |
 |
|
Flower |
 |
They would rest on the tree.
Why did the bird catcher need fire?
What did the oil seller perform?
Meena’s father was a fisher man.
Did Nandhini have fever?
If we didn’t have boundaries, we don’t need _______.
Do you tell the truth always? Why?
______ is a great risk to the environment.
Where did the rabbit go?
What does the earth do when the day is over?
What did he make out of it?
