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Question
You can find more information about Robert Frost at the following websites.
http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=1961.
Hear the poet (who died almost forty years ago!) reading the poem at
http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm ?prmID= 1645
To view a beautiful New England scene with each poem on this web site: "Illustrated
Poetry of Robert Frost":
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/1487/index.html
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Solution
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Answer these question in 30–40 words.
Why did Aurangzeb ban the playing of the pungi?
Thinking about the Text
Answer these question.
Why does the intruder choose Gerrard as the man whose identity he wants to take on?
Thinking about the Poem
Where was the snake before anyone saw it and chased it away? Where does the snake
disappear?
Find the sentences in the text where these words occur:
|
erupt |
surge | trace | undistinguished | casualty |
Look these words up in a dictionary which gives examples of how they are used.
Now answer the following questions.
1. What are the things that can erupt? Use examples to explain the various meanings of erupt. Now do the same for the word surge. What things can surge?
2. What are the meanings of the word trace and which of the meanings is closest to the word in the text?
3. Can you find undistinguished in your dictionary? (If not, look for the word distinguished and say what undistinguished mean.)
Imagine that you are the poet, William Wordsworth. You continue on your walk,
and when you reach home you tell a friend what you saw and felt. Which of the
following best describes your experience? (Work in pairs, then have a class
discussion.
a) "I was walking past some fields when I saw a young girl, a farm worker, harvesting
grain by hand, with a sickle. She was so beautiful that I stood out of sight and
watched her for a long time. I have never seen anyone more gorgeous! In fact,
she reminded me of other beautiful experiences I've had - the song of the
nightingale or the cuckoo, for instance. I'd certainly like to see her again!"
b) "As I was standing on the hill top just now, I heard a very sad and plaintive song. I
looked down, and saw a young woman reaping grain, singing as she did so. She
seemed quite melancholy as she sang. But somehow her song brought great
comfort and joy to me. In fact, I found it a very emotional experience. As I
continued my walk along the hill top, I also heard a nightingale and a cuckoo. But
the young farm worker's song affected me most deeply, even though I couldn't
understand the words."
c) "Just now, as I was walking in the valley, I saw a young farm worker in the field.
She was singing to herself as she worked. I was so affected by her singing, that I
stopped and listened. She had a beautiful voice, which seemed to fill the whole
valley. The song was a sad one, and I couldn't understand the words. But its
plaintive tone and melancholy sound touched me greatly, and its beauty
reminded me of the song of a nightingale and a cuckoo. After some time, I walked
up the hill, carrying the memory of the young woman's hauntingly beautiful song
with me."
The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight.
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without
They died from the cold within.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
What message does the poet want to convey ?
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink....
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK - HE ONLY SEES!
Read the lines given above and answer the question given below.
Explain with reference to context.
The angel wrote and vanished.
The next night, It came again with a great wakening light,
And show's the names whom love of God had blest,
And Lo! Bin Adhem's name led all the rest.
Read the lines given above and answer the following question.
Where was Abou’s name written amongst those who loved God?
We will ponder your proposition and when we decide we will let you know. But should we accept it, I here and now make this condition that we will not be denied the privilege without molestation of visiting at any time the tombs of our ancestors, friends, and children. Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. Our departed braves, fond mothers, glad, happy hearted maidens, and even the little children who lived here and rejoiced here for a brief season, will love these somber solitudes and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe^ and when your children’s children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts’that once filled them and still lover this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.
Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change of worlds.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
When will the shores swarm with the invisible dead of the speaker’s tribe? Why?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Portia: ........But this reasoning is not in fashion to choose me a husband. O me, the word “choose”! I may neither choose who I would nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one, nor refuse none?
(i) What test had Portia’s father devised for her suitors? What oath did the suitors have to take before making their choice? [3]
(ii) Who is Nerissa? What does she say to cheer up Portia? [3]
(iii) Why does Portia disapprove of the County Palatine? Who would she rather marry? [3]
(iv) How, according to Portia, can the Duke of Saxony’s nephew be made to choose the wrong casket? What do these suitors ultimately decide? Why? [3]
(v) Whom does Portia ultimately marry? Who were the two other suitors who took the test? Why, in your opinion, is the person whom she marries worthy of her? [4]
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
One Sunday morning Squealer announced that the hens, who just come in to lay again, must surrender their eggs.
(i) Why were the hens required to surrender their eggs?
(ii) How did the hens react to receiving this information?
(iii) The three young black Minorca pullets led the other hens in 'something resembling a rebellion'. How exactly did they do this?
(iv) What steps did Napoleon take to put down this 'rebellion'?
(v) How long did the rebellion last? Describe the consequences of the rebellion. What do you learn of Napoleon's character from the way in which he dealt with the rebellion?
Notice how in a comic book, there are no speech marks when characters talk. Instead what they say is put in a speech ‘bubble’. However, if we wish to repeat or ‘report’ what they say, we must put it into reported speech.
Change the following sentences in the story to reported speech. The first one has been done for you.
Bring the man to me at once. The king ordered the guard________________________
Compare how the music teacher played the violin with that of Lalli’s.
Give one stance from the lesson that proves that Mr Gessler was getting older.
What do you know about the queen ant?
What did the two friends generally talk about?
What did the monkey do as he reached the tree?
What is amazing about he mounds of the ants?
Read the following passage and do the exercises that follow. Then complete the family tree of dogs given on the facing page.
The Dog Family
The dog family is one of the 11 families that make up the Carnivores, a large group of intelligent, flesh-eating, backboned animals. In this group are such varied animals as bears, pandas, raccoons, cats, hyenas, and even seal. The dog or canine family has many wild species like wolves, foxes, coyotes, jackals, and wild dogs. The dog is the only domesticated member of the canine family though now and then someone tames a wolf, fox or coyote as a pet. All members of the dog family are descendants of a wolf-like animal which lived about 15 million years ago. From this distant ancestor, the true dogs gradually developed. But nobody knows the exact ancestor of the modern domestic dog.
Several wild dogs look and behave like domestic dogs. The dingo or wild dog of Australia is one of these. It is possible that the dingo was a tamed dog brought to Australia long ago which then ran wild. Dogs were the first animals tamed by humans — perhaps 20,000 years ago. Tamed dogs were brought from Asia to the New World 5,000 or more years ago. Dogs were first used for hunting.
Find the opposites of these words in the text above.
(i) ancestor _________
(ii) wild t _ m _
(iii) ancient _________
(iv) near d _______ t
(v) suddenly gr ___________
Complete the following sentences.
(i) The dingo is __________________________________________________.
(ii) Dogs were the ____________________________________________animals tamed by humans. The other animals tamed by humans are __________________________
_________________ (Think and name some other such animals.)
(iii) The New World refers to ___________________________.
Dogs were brought there from ________________________.
Family Tree of Dogs
Multiple Choice Question:
What does the expression “They pinched the chocolate-flakes’ mean?
