HSC Arts Class 11 - Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education Question Bank Solutions

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.

1. What does ‘heaven’ refer to?
2. Why does the poet call it ‘holy’?

Explain the following line with reference to the context in about four to five sentence each.

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

Explain the following line with reference to the context in about four to five sentence each.

The birds around me hopp’d and play’d,

Their thoughts I cannot measure.

Explain the following line with reference to the context in about four to five sentence each.

Have I not reason to lament

What Man has made of Man?

Read the following line and identify the figure of speech used in each extract.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran.

Read the following line and identify the figure of speech used in each extract.

And ‘tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

Read the following line and identify the figure of speech used in each extract.

What Man has made of Man?

Read the poem once again. Identify the rhyme scheme and pick out the rhyming pairs of words.

How does the poet feel while enjoying the beauty of Nature?

Does Nature affect a person’s thoughts and feelings? Explain.

How do people bring grief and sorrow to one another?

Why does the poet think that the birds were happy?

The poet finds joy in various objects of Nature. Explain.

The poet experiences sadness because ______.

The poem is set in a ______.

The poem speaks of ______.

Answer in a paragraph of about 100−150 words.

Do you think the poet wants to say that man is unhappy because he has lost his link with nature and forgotten how to enjoy nature, or because man is cruel to other men?

Listening Activity

Some phrases have been left out in the poem below. First, read the poem. Then, fill in the missing words on listening to the reading or the recording of it in full. You may listen again, if required

To Autumn

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained

With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit

Beneath my ______, there thou may’st rest,

And tune thy jolly voice to my ______;

And all the daughters of the year shall dance!

Sing now the ______of fruits and flowers.

“The ______opens her beauties to

The sun, and love runs in her ______;

Blossoms hang round the brows of morning and

Flourish down the ______of modest eve,

Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,

And ______strew flowers round her head.

The spirits of the air live on the smells

Of fruit; and joy, with ______, roves round

The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”

Thus sang the ______as he sat,

Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak

Hills fled from our sight; but left his ______.

William Blake

What scene in nature gives you pleasure? Talk for a minute describing a natural scene that gave you a lot of joy. What did you see, hear, smell or feel, that gave you joy?

Work in groups of 4−6. Discuss how you would preserve the environment and protect Nature. One or two representatives may share their ideas with the class.