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Question
Read the lines given below and answer the question that follow.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan.
- What does ‘heaven’ refer to?
- Why does the poet call it ‘holy’?
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Solution
- Heaven refers to the natural source, the heaven, (i.e) God that created life on the earth.
- The poet believes that the harmonious, peaceful, and happy co-existence of birds, plants, trees, and brooks soothes the troubled mind of man. So, the poet feels as if he were inside a sacred place when he is in the woods. So, he calls the plan ‘holy’.
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And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there…
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The historical background:
The poem is an extract from William Shakespeare’s play King Richard the Second. The play is based on true events that occurred towards the end of the 14th century.
Richard II was crowned the King of England in the year 1367. He continued to be the British Monarch until 1399, when he was deposed by his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, who crowned himself King Henry the Fourth in the same year. Shakespeare’s play is a dramatic rendition of the last two years of King Richard II’s life. In this brief span of time, he was ousted from his royal position and sent to prison, where he died in captivity.
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How are eternal truths and wisdom brought to the reader here?
