Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.
Read the above lines and answer the question that follow.
Explain with reference to the context.
Advertisements
Solution
These lines are taken from the poem, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ written by Mary Angelou. The theme of the poem is the suffering of African- Americans and the contrast of slavery versus freedom. Maya Angelou’s 1983 poem “Caged Bird” compares the plight of a caged bird to the flight of a free bird. Many readers have interpreted Angelou’s poem as an extended metaphor with the caged bird representing the historical struggles of African Americans.
In these lines the poet refers to nature. She describes the way “a free bird leaps on the back of the wind”. She describes the bird’s flight against the orange sky. The free bird has the right “to claim the sky”. The way she describes the “orange sun rays” gives the reader an appreciation for the natural beauty of the sky, and her description of the way the bird “dips his wing” helps the reader to appreciate the bird in his natural habitat, enjoying his freedom.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Answer these question in 30–40 words.
Why did Aurangzeb ban the playing of the pungi?
How did Einstein react to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
The poem is about a brook. A dictionary would define a brook, as a stream or a
small river. Read the poem silently first. After the first reading, the teacher will
make you listen to a recording of the poem. What do you think the poem is all
about?
I come from haunts of coot and hern;
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorpes, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.
Till last by Philip's farm I flow
10 To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
15 I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.
With many a curve my banks I fret
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
20 With willow-weed and mallow.
I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
25 I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling,
And here and there a foamy flake
30 Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery waterbreak
Above the golden gravel,
And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river
35 For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
40 That grow for happy lovers.
I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.
45 I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;
And out again I curve and flow
50 To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
About the Poet
Lord Tennyson (1809-92) was born in Lincolnshire. Poet Laureate for over 40 years, Tennyson is representative of the Victorian age. His skilled craftsmanship and noble ideals retained a large audience for poetry in an age when the novel was engrossing more and more readers. Tennyson's real contribution lies in his shorter poems like The Lady of Shallot, The Princess, Ulysses, The Palace of Art etc. His fame rests on his perfect control of sound, the synthesis of sound and meaning, and the union of visual and musical.
How does Tilloo manage to find his way to the ‘forbidden passage’?
Complete the following sentence by adding the appropriate part of the sentence given below.
Many wise men answered the king’s questions, _______________.
Name five ancient things collected by Mr Wonka.
What do you know about worker ants?
Discuss the question in pairs before you write the answer.
Who did he finally choose as his master and why?
What feeling of the poet is exhibited in his peeping through the window?
Add im- or in- to each of the following words and use them in place of the italicised words in the sentences given below.
| patient, proper, possible, sensitive, competent |
The project appears very difficult at first sight but it can be completed if we work very hard.
