Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
It was a summer evening,
Old Kaspar's work was done,
And he before his cottage door
Was sitting in the sun,
And by him sported on the green
His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
She saw her brother Peterkin
Roll something large and round,
Which he beside the rivulet
In playing there had found;
He came to ask what he had found,
That was so large, and smooth, and round.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Explain with reference to context.
Advertisements
Solution
These lines have been taken from the poem ‘After Blenheim’ which is an antiwar poem in the form of a ballad. Robert Southey wrote and published it in 1798. It centers on the most famous battle in the War of the Spanish Succession. An elderly farmer named Kaspar sits in front of his cottage watching his grandchildren, Wilhelmine and Peterkin, at play. Peterkin is rolling an object he found near a stream. He takes it to Kaspar and asks what it is.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Thinking about the Text
Discuss in pairs and answer question below in a short paragraph (30 − 40 words).
How many characters are there in the narrative? Name them. (Don’t forget the dog!).
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see___
These things he plants who plants a tree.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
What is meant by the ‘forest’s heritage’?
Some are like fields of sunlit corn,
Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart's desire,
Tinkling,luminous,tender, and clear,
Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Explain:
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart’s desire,
"They say it was a shocking sight
After the field was won;
For many thousand bodies here
Lay rotting in the sun;
But things like that, you know, must be
After a famous victory.
"Great praise the Duke of Marlbro'won,
And our good Prince Eugene."
"Why,'twas a very wicked thing!"
Said little Wilhelmine.
"Nay...nay...my little girl,"quoth he,
"It was a famous victory.
"And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win."
"But what good came of it at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin.
"Why that I cannot tell,"said he,
"But 'twas a famous victory."
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
How does kasper justify the thousands of death in the war?
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:-
Read the lines given above and answer the following question.
What did Ben Adhem see one night in his room, when he was awakened?
“Do the scientists really know? Will it happen today, will it ?”
“Look, look; see for yourself !”The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun. It rained. It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands. A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again. And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus, and this was the schoolroom of the children of the rocket men and women who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their lives.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why had the rocket men and women come to Venus?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Mabel: Oh! Why didn’t I face it? But I couldn’t—I had to believe.
Dancy: And now you can’t. It’s the end, Mabel.
Mabel: [Looking up at him] No.
[Dancy goes suddenly on his knees and seizes her hand.]
Dancy: Forgive me!
Mabel: [Putting her hand on his head] Yes; oh, yes! I think I’ve known for a long time, really. Only — why? What made you?
(i) How does Dancy respond to Mabel’s question?
(ii) What makes Dancy say ‘that’s not in human nature’ a little later?
(iii) Why does Inspector Dede arrive at Dancy’s house? How does Mabel try to stall him?
(iv) To whom was Dancy’s suicide note addressed? What had he written in it?
(v) What does Margaret mean when she says that keeping faith is ‘not enough’ and ‘we’ve all done that’?
What, in your opinion, should his friends have done?
What went wrong when the tortoises, snakes and lizards left the forest?
Replace the italicised portion of the sentence below with a suitable phrase from the box. Make necessary changes, wherever required.
It will free me from worry to know that I had done nothing wrong.
Complete the following sentence by providing a reason:
Towards the end of the poem Birches, the poet expresses a wish to return to Earth because ______.
