HSC Commerce Class 12 - Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education Question Bank Solutions

Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.

All through the summer at ease we lay,

And daily from the turret wall

We watched the mowers in the hay

1. Who does ‘we’ refer to?
2. How did the soldiers spend the summer days?
3. What could they watch from the turret wall?

Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.

Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,

So smooth and high, no man could win.

1. How safe was the castle?
2. What was the firm belief of the soldiers?

Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.

A foothold there, no clever trick

Could take us dead or quick,

Only a bird could have got in.

1. What was challenging?
2. Which aspect of the castle’s strength is conveyed by the above line?

Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.

1. Bring out the contrast in the first two lines.
2. What is the rhyme scheme of the given stanza?

Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.

We could do nothing, being sold.

1. Why couldn’t they do anything?
2. Why did they feel helpless?

Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,

Our captain was brave and we were true

They seemed no threat to us at all.

How can this shameful tale be told?

I will maintain until my death

Our only enemy was gold

Read the poem and complete the table with suitable rhyming words.

All through that summer at ease we lay,
And daily from the turret wall
We watched the mowers in the hay
And the enemy half a mile away
They seemed no threat to us at all.

For what, we thought, had we to fear
With our arms and provender, load on load,
Our towering battlements, tier on tier,
And friendly allies drawing near
On every leafy summer road.

Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,
So smooth and high, no man could win
A foothold there, no clever trick
Could take us dead or quick,
Only a bird could have got in.

What could they offer us for bait?
Our captain was brave and we were true…
There was a little private gate,
A little wicked wicket gate.
The wizened warder let them through.

Oh then our maze of tunneled stone
Grew thin and treacherous as air.
The cause was lost without a groan,
The famous citadel overthrown,
And all its secret galleries bare.

How can this shameful tale be told?
I will maintain until my death
We could do nothing, being sold:
Our only enemy was gold,
And we had no arms to fight it with.

Underline the alliterated word in the following line.

With our arms and provender, load on load.

Underline the alliterated word in the following line.

A little wicked wicket gate.

Underline the alliterated word in the following line.

The wizened warder let them through.

Identify the figure of speech used in the following line.

A little wicked wicket gate.

Identify the figure of speech used in the following line.

Oh then our maze of tunneled stone

Identify the figure of speech used in the following line.

Grew thin and treacherous as air.

Identify the figure of speech used in the following line.

How can this shameful tale be told?

Identify the figure of speech used in the following line.

Our only enemy was gold,