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Question
Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal...
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night?
(i) Who are 'them' referred to in the first line?
(ii) What tempts them?
(iii) What does the poet say about 'their' lives?
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Solution
(a) The word 'them' refers to the children studying in a slum school.
(b) Shakespeare and the world map present a ‘bad example’ to these children. The beauty, vastness and radiance of such things tempt them.
(c) According to the poet, these children spend their whole lives confined in ‘their cramped holes’, like rodents. The undernourished bodies of these children look like skeletons, comprising only bones. Their steel-framed spectacles with repaired glasses make them appear like the broken pieces of a bottle scattered on stones. Since their entire lives revolve around slums, their future also seems blotted.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
'Never shall a young man,
Thrown into despair
By those great honey-coloured
Ramparts at your ear."
(a) Who is the speaker of these lines? Who is he speaking to ?
(b) What does the young man mean by 'honey-coloured ramparts' ?
(c) What does the word 'despair' mean ?
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below
What makes a nation's pillars high
And its foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?
It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.
(1) Why are the wealthy kingdoms unstable'? (1)
(2) Do you feel wars are the only solution to the problems between nations'? Explain. (1)
(3) Give the rhyming scheme used in the extract. (1)
(4) Pick out the words/expressions related to the mighty kingdom. (1)
Read the following extract and answer the questionsgiven below:
By this time, I felt very small
And now my tears began to fall.
I quietly went and knelt by her bed;
"Wake up, little girl, wake up," I said.
"Are these the flowers you picked I'm me?"
She smiled, "I found' em, out by the tree.
I picked'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you would Iike'em, especially the blue."
I said, Daughter, I'm sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way"
(1) Why did the mother go to her daughter "s room? (1)
(2) How can the mother be a friend to her daughter' (1)
(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following line
" ..... they're pretty like you". (1)
(4) What is the effect of dialogues in the poem? (1)
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
And then they came to its massive trunk
Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped
The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years
We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter
As a raw mythology revealed to us its age
Soon afterwards we left Baroda for Bombay
Where there are no trees except the one
Which grows and seethes in one's dreams, its aerial roots Looking for ground to strike.
(1) What did the rings of the trunk of the tree reveal about its age? (1)
(2) According to you, how do trees help the mankind? (1)
(3) Give an example of 'Repetition' from the extract. (1)
(4) The poem has picturesque expressions. They make the poem lively. Pick out such expressions from, the extract. (1)
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below
All the rest of her children, she said, are on the nuclear
blacklist of the dead,
all the rest, unless
the whole world understands - that peace is a woman:
A thousand candles then lit
in her starry eyes, and I saw angels bearing a moonlit message :
Peace is indeed a pregnant woman Peace is a mother.
(1) What is the situation of the children in absence of peace? (1)
(2) Why should we avoid wars? (1)
(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following line:
that peace is a woman. (1)
(4) What message does the poet give through this poem? (1)
Read the following extract a.nd answer the questions given below:
And we with our small vanities,
our controlled hunger for climbing
and getting as far as everybody else has gotten
because it seems that is the way of the world:
an endless track of champions
and in a corner we, forgotten
maybe because of everybody else,
since they seemed too much like us
until they were robbed of their laurels,
their medals, their titles, their names.
(1) What is the way of the world?
(2) Do you think the middle-class people are satisfied with
their lives? Explain.
(3) Name and explain the figure· of speech in the following lines: ''Since they seemed so much like us.''
(4) Pick out the expressions from the extract showing the failure of man.
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
How do you know
Peace is a woman?
I know, for
I met her yesterday
on my winding way
to the world's fare.
She had such a wonderful face.
just like a golden flower faded
before her prime.
(1) How does the poet describe the face of peace?
(2) Do you feel mother can be a symbol of peace? Explain it in your own words.
(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following
line: 'Peace is a woman.'
(4) How does the Poet come to know that peace is a woman?
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
I ran into a stranger as he passed by
"Oh, excuse me please'' was my reply.
He said, ''Please excuse me too; wasn't even watching ·for you.''
We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said good-bye.
But at home, a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My daughter stood beside me very still.
When I turned, I nearly knocked her down.
''Move out of the way," I said with a frown.
She walked away, her little heartbroken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.
(1) How does the poetess greet the stranger?
(2) Describe an incident when your mother was harsh at you.
(3) Write down the rhyme scheme of the first stanza.
(4) Pick out the line from the extract which shows the mother's anger.
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
If we continue to live in impracticality
No more vast, endless oceans-
Only littered swamps, the colour of a witch's potions.
No more soaring birds overhead-
Only planes, so loud they rock your bed.
No more woods
No more natural goods
We have little time
To change our self-centered, one-track minds.
Before we are stuck with a great heap of a jumble.
Left only with an artificial concrete jungle.
(1) According to the poet, what would replace the oceans and birds?
(2) Do you feel we are really impractical towards nature? How?
(3) Which words are frequently used in the extract and what
figure of speech does it indicate?
(4) Which lines fro1n the extract suggests the overexploitation of natural resources?
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
Read the following extract and then do all the activities that follow :
How do you know
Peace is a woman?
I know for
I met her yesterday
on my winding way
to the world’s fare,
She has such a wonderful face
just like a golden flower faded
before the prime.
I asked her why
She was so sad?
She told me her baby
was killed in Auschwitz,
her daughter in Hiroshima
and her sone in Vietnam,
Ireland, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon,
Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Chechnya ......
A1. Web -
Completely the following web by listing character mentioned in the extract :
A2. Poetic device -
Figure of speech :
‘Peace is a woman ?’
Name and explain the figure of speed in the above line.
A3. Personal response :
Suggest two solutions to avoid wars.
A4. Creativity :
Compose two poetic lines titled “Say ‘no’ to wars”.
Read the following extract and then do all the activities that follow:
We used to watch the valley play hide and seek.
Shadowed by the mountain's immeasurable peak.
Considered the largest thing known to man.
Now skyscrappers are the most extravagant and titanic part of the plan.
We used to sit next to the stream. The wind caressing our crown Watching the magnificent untamed beasts
roam far, far from town. Now they are just characters of folktales, memories we pass down.
An adjective to describe someone, no more a noun
This could be our reality
If we continue to live in impracticality
No more vast, endless oceans _______
Only littered swamps, the colour of a witch's potions.
No more soaring birds overhrad _______
Only planes, so loud they rock your bed.
No more woods
No more natural goods.
We have little time
To change our self centered, one track minds
Before we are stuck with a great heap of jumble
Left only with an artifical concrete jungle.
A1. Complete ______
Complete the following sentences choosing correct alternatives:
(1) The poet used to watch the valley play hide and seek, because _______
(i) he had integration with the nature and landscape
(ii) he had no park to enjoy playthings
(iii) he had no friends
(2) According to the poet, only littered swamps could be reality, because _______
(i) vast, endless oceans are getting polluted due to our neglect of flora and fauna.
(ii) water from oceans will become magical potions.
(iii) Oceans are changing into swamps for fishing purposes.
A2. Poetic device
Figure of speech
Name and explain the figure of speech used in the following line: ‘We used to watch the valley play hide and seek’.
A3. Personal response:
Suggest some remedies on how we can enrich our nature.
A4. Poetic creativity
Compose the following four lines as a free verse using the words life, oxygen, trees, nature with the help of
clue given in each line so it would covey message :
No _________
No __________
No __________
No __________
Read the extract and do the activities that follow: (4)
| Tom | : | (down L.). I believe the place is haunted |
| George | : | Nonsense. No one believes in haunted houses nowadays. There's someting gueer about the place, I'II admit, but can't be haunted. (Scream off R.) |
| Ginger | : | Listen! What was that ? (Scream repeated. This time much louder.) |
| Alfie | : | I want to go home ! |
| Tom | : | It sounds as though someone's being murdered. (Grappling with the door). I'm going to force this door. |
| Ginger | : | (Crossing L.) It's going to be a tough job, Tom |
| Alfie | : | (more lustily). I want to go home |
| George | : | (up C.) Shut up Alfie, you'II rose the house. Listen! There's someone coming _____ and it's someone in white |
| Ginger | : | It's a ghost |
| Alfie | : | (rushing to the door L.) I'm going home! |
| George | : | (coming down L.) Let me give you a hand with this door. |
| Tom | : | Buck up! |
| Ginger | : | Put your shoulder against it. (Enter the Ghost R. In the dim light his figure has a distinctly uncanny appearance). |
| Ghost | : | What on earth's the meaning of this commotion? (IIe switches on the light and is seen to be a dentist, wearing a white surgical coat. The “grinning mouths'' are seen to be models made of plaster of Paris. The boys stare about them in amazement) |
| Dentist | : | (sternly). Who are you, and what are you doing in my house? |
| Tom | : | I say – I'm awfully sorry – but we thought you were a ghost. |
| Dentist | : | (bewildered). A ghost! Why on earth should you think I was a ghost? |
| George | : | (crossing C.) I'm awfully sorry, sir. You see, we were out carol-singing, and____ |
| Dentist | : | Oh, so it was you who who were making that horrible din outside? |
| George | : | Yes – that was Ginger's idea ____ |
B1. Complete _____
Complete the following sentences:
(i) The boys considered the dentist as a ghost , because ________
(ii) Listening to the repeated scream, Tom thought that ________
(iii) The grinning mouths were models made of ________
(iv) The idea of carol-singing was given by _______
B2. Convert dialogue into a story:
Convert the above dialoguc into a story in about 50 words.
Read the following poem and write an appreciation of it with the help of the given points in a paragraph format:
|
The Pulley When God at first made Man, So strength first made a way; For if I should (said He) Yet let him keep the rest, |
- The title of the poem (1)
- The poet (1)
- Central idea/theme (2)
- Rhyme scheme (1)
- Figure of speech (1)
- Special features (2)
- Favourite line/lines (1)
- Why I like/don’t like the poem (1)
Read the extract and do the activities that follow: (4)
| Tom | : | (nervously). But, I say, we can’t go prowling about someone else’s house. |
| George | : | We can if we hear any suspicious noises. You never know ? this place might belong to a gang of criminals. |
| Tom | : | (sarcastically). You certainly are trying to cheer us up, George. We don’t want to meet a gang of criminals. |
| George | : | Why not? We’re all strong, healthy chaps, aren’t we? Are you in a funk already? |
| Tom | : | No, of course not; but ? well ? Alfie’s got his best suit on, and |
| Ginger | : | Never mind about Alfie's suit. (With a great show of courage). I’m not afraid of any criminals. Here, George, lend me that torch. (Taking the torch and going up R.C.). I’ll show you if I’m afraid. (Suddenly seeing the White models and letting out a yell of terror.) Ow! W - what's that? |
| Tom | : | (down C., not daring to look round). What’s what? |
| Ginger | : | C- come here. I thought I saw something grinning at me. |
| Tom | : | (crossing hastily to door L.). I’m going to get out of here. |
| Ginger | : | (Coming down C.) So am I. I’m not afraid of criminals, but I believe this place is haunted. |
| George | : | Talk sense, Ginger. Here, give me that torch. (Takes torch and goes up R. C.) |
| Alfie | : | (down L.C.) I want to go home. |
| Ginger | : | Can you see anything, George? |
| George | : | (cautiously approaching white models). I can’t make out what it is, but I believe it's an animal. I say ? there’s something alive in here ? I can see its teeth. (Under the light of George’s torch a row of teeth can be dimly seen). |
| Alfie | : | (rushing to the door) Let me out! Let me out! I want to go home! |
B1. Pick up the false sentences from those given below and write down the correct ones for them :(2)
(i) Alfie wanted to stay at the place to fight with the animal.
(ii) Ginger yelled of terror when he noticed white models grinning at him.
(iii) According to George's opinion, the boys could not go prowling about someone else’s house.
(iv) Tom had no desire to meet a gang of criminals.
B2. Convert dialogue into a story : (2)
Convert the above dialogue into a story form in about 50 words.
But must I confess how I liked him,
How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough
And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,
Into the burning bowels of this earth ?
(a) Who does ‘him’ refer to ?
(b) What dilemma did the poet face ?
(c) Pick out and explain the figure of speech used in line 2.
(d) Explain : ‘burning bowels of this earth’.
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
I celebrate the virtues and vices
of suburban middle-class people
who overwhelm the refrigerator
and position colourful umbrellas
near the garden that longs for a pool:
for my middle-class brother
this principle of supreme luxury:
what are you and what am I, and we go on deciding
the real truth in this world.
(1) Give a list of the objects of luxury as given in the extract.
(2) What is your idea about a Luxurious life?
(3) Give an example of a 'paradox' from the extract.
(4) This poem does not follow any fix-verse pattern (rhyme scheme). What type of poem is it?
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
Now there is only one type of bobcat we see
The one that is for free, clearing the pavements of all debris
We used to walk through a footpath in a forest of pine
The smell intoxicating our lungs and mind
Now the only smell to be found comes from plastic trees
Swaying on my rear-view mirror, labelled pine breeze
We used to watch the valley play hide and seek
Questions:
(1) What signs of urbanisation are mentioned in the first six lines of the extract?
(2) Do you think skyscrapers are necessary? Why do you think so?
(3) Pick out the example of personification from the extract.
(4) Pick out the lines from the extract expressing the fond memory of the poet about the pines.
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :
All the rest of her children, she said,
are on the nuclear
blacklist of the dead,
all the rest, unless
the whole world understands -
that peace is a woman.
A thousand candles then lit
in her starry eyes, and I saw angels bearing a moonlit message.
(1) What appeal does the mother make to the world?
(2) What according to you, are the evils of war?
(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following line:
'A thousand candles then lit.'
(4) Pick out the lines that suggest the hope for world peace.
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
The banyan tree was three times as tall as our house
Its trunk had a circumference of fifty feet
Its scraggly aerial roots fell to the ground
From thirty feet or more so first they cut the branches
Sawing them off for seven days and the heap was huge
Insects and birds began to leave the tree
And then they came to its massive trunk
Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped
The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years
We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter
As a raw mythology revealed to us its age
(1) What were the feelings of the family members at the felling of the banyan tree?
(2) Why, according to you, did insects and birds begin to leave the banyan tree?
(3) Find out an example of 'Repetition' from the extract.
(4) Pick out the line from the extract expressing the feelings of the people who watched the merciless cutting of the banyan
tree.
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
Old women once
were continents.
They had deep woods in them,
lakes, mountains, volcanoes even,
even raging gulfs.
When the earth was in heat
they melted, shrank,
leaving only their maps.
You can fold them
and keep them handy:
who knows, they might help you find
your way home.
Question
(1) For what purpose did the old women leave their 'maps' behind them?
(2) How can old people be helpful to us?
(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the following lines:
Old women once
were continents.
(4) Make a list of geographical expressions from the extract.
Read the following extract and answer the questions given below:
Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor's sake
Stand fast and suffer long.
Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly ...
They build a nation's pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.
(1) What qualities of people according to poet, are essential to build a nation?
(2) “Not gold but only men make A people great and strong” Do you agree? Explain.
(3) Name and explain the figure of speech in the line “ Stand fast and suffer long”.
(4) What is the underlying message of the extract
Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:
(There is a languid, emerald sea,
where the sole inhabitant is me-
a mermaid drifting blissfully.)
Questions :
(a) Who does 'me' stand for?
(b) How does 'me' feel?
(c) Who is 'me' compared to?
(d) Which word in the extract means the opposite of 'sorrowfully'?
Based on the careful reading of the passage given below, answer any four out of five questions that follow:
|
1. When you see me sitting quietly, 2. When my bones are stiff and aching, 3. I’m the same person I was back then, - Maya Angelou |
- What does the poet think she looks like, when sitting quietly?
- Does the poet invite pity? Quote a line to support your argument.
- What has changed in the poet over the course of years?
- Pick out a word from the second stanza which means ‘faltering’.
- Why does the poet consider herself lucky?
Read the poem ‘Digging’ by Seamus Heaney, given below.
|
Between my finger and my thumb The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft Digging by Seamus Heaney |
Based on your understanding of the poem, answer the given questions.
- What is the significance of the comparison of the pen to a gun in the second line of the poem? 1
- It highlights the violence and aggression associated with writing.
- It emphasizes the power of the written word to bring about change.
- It suggests that the act of writing can be just as dangerous as using a weapon.
- It demonstrates the speaker's admiration for their father's skill with both a pen and a spade.
- Which of the following statements best describes the speaker's attitude towards his father's work in the poem? 1
- The speaker admires his father's hard work and dedication to his task.
- The speaker is critical of his father's choice of profession and feels it is beneath him.
- The speaker is indifferent to his father's work and does not place much value on it.
- The speaker is resentful of his father for making them participate in the work.
- Complete the sentence appropriately. 1
The poet’s use of a metaphor in the line "The coarse boot nestled on the lug, ...” compares ______. - What can be inferred about the setting of the poem based on the description of the sound of the spade sinking into the ground? 1
- The setting is rural and quiet.
- The setting is urban and noisy.
- The setting is industrial, yet serene.
- The setting is suburban and bustling.
- What is the effect of the repetition of the word "digging" throughout the poem? 1
