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Question
What are the mysterious ways in which Macavity acts?
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Solution
Macavity is an elusive master criminal who leaves no evidence after he commits a crime. He baffles Scotland Yard police and the flying squad as he disappears before their arrival at the scene of the crime. He defies the law of gravity and his powers of levitation make me fakir stare with wonder. Macavity loots the larder. He ransacks the jewel case. He is an elusive criminal who escapes from the spot of crime before the flying squad or Scotland Yard reaches there. He breaks every human law and law of gravity. He breaks greenhouse glasses. He steals stealthily into. the kitchen and empties milk. When an important treaty in the embassy is missing or. when the admiralty loses some plans or drawings, the investigation terms conclude that it is the work of Macavity. But Macavity, as a wonder of wonders, would be miles away relaxing somewhere.
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In the poem ‘Confessions of a Born Spectator,’ Ogden Nash talks about how people choose different sports in their lives or decide to become athletes. While admiring the talents of athletes and sportsmen, the poet (i)______he is glad that he is neither a sportsman nor an athlete. Children have different (ii)______and wish to play various games. Each child has in mind something in particular, but the narrator is (iii)______he is not one of the players. Though the narrator (iv) ______the talents of all athletes, he derives satisfaction from watching them, but does not wish to (v) ______places with them. He also sometimes regrets that (vi)______athletes play rough games without caring for the feelings of their sporting rivals. He feels that good sense and caution win over ego. The narrator wholeheartedly offers (vii) ______the modest (viii) ______of athletes. Ultimately the narrator is (ix)______that he himself is not an athlete.
|
thanksgiving exchange glad confesses physiques zealous satisfied aims admires |
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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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| barren-earth | friends | graves | slain |
| rebellious | poisoned | worms | grief |
| impregnable | epitaphs | death | farewell |
| reverence | king | pin |
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| farewell | ceremonious | deposed |
| reverence | vain | pomp |
| conceited | sorrow | scoffing |
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Read the poem once again carefully and identify the figure of speech that has been used in each of the following line from the poem:
“Keeps Death his court, and there the antic sits,…”
Read the poem once again carefully and identify the figure of speech that has been used in each of the following line from the poem:
“Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!”
Pick out the alliteration from the following lines:
“Comes at the last, and with a little pin…”
