RBSE Class 11 English Literature Reading Unseen Poem

Rajasthan Board RBSE Solutions for Class 11 English Literature Reading Unseen Poem Exercise Questions and Answers.

RBSE Class 11 English Literature Reading Unseen Poem

आपके प्रश्न-पत्र में 14-15 पंक्तियों की एक poem या किसी बड़ी poem में से 14-15 पंक्तियाँ Comprehension दिया जा सकता है। आपको प्रश्न-पत्र में दी हुई poem को दो-तीन बार पढ़कर उसके भावार्थ को समझने का प्रयास करना चाहिये। Unseen Poem में से तीन प्रकार के प्रश्न पूछे जा सकते हैं :

(i) Word-formation-इसके अन्तर्गत आपको दिए गए शब्द का रूप परिवर्तित करना है, जैसेnoun का verb, adjective या adverb में बदलना या अन्य को किसी और में बदलना।

(ii) Inferring word meaning-आपको प्रश्न में दी गई poem में से कुछ शब्द दिए जाएंगे जिनका अर्थ आपको बताना होगा। परन्तु ध्यान रहे कि ये अर्थ एक शब्द के सामान्य अर्थ से बिल्कुल ही भिन्न हो सकते हैं क्योंकि poetry में साहित्यिक शब्दों का प्रयोग भी किया जाता है।

(iii) Explanation or Summary-आपसे उक्त दोनों में से कोई-सी एक चीज पूछी जाएगी। Explanation के लिए दो से चार पंक्तियाँ दी गई poem में से दी जा सकती हैं जिनकी व्याख्या आपको करनी होगी या फिर दी गई poem का सारांश लिखने के लिए दिया जा सकता है। 

1. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day ? 
Thou art more lovely and more temperate : 
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, 
And summer's lease hath all too short a date : 
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines 
And often is his gold complexion dimmed, 
And every fair from fair sometime declines, 
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed : 
But thy eternal summer shall not fade 
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, 
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, . 
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 

Questions:
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines
'Shall I compare ........ short a date :' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) summer's lease 
(ii) the eye of heaven
(iii) gold complexion 

4. Change the following words into noun : 
(i) complex
(ii) posses 
Answers:
1. The poem opens with a flattering question. The poet compares his beloved with a summer's day. He finds his beloved more lovely and more temperate. Diurnal activities affect summer day but the summer of the beloved is eternal. The poet has enshrined her in the poem so she will live forever. 

2. The poet asks his beloved if he should compare her with a summer day. He tells her that she is more lovely and more temperate than the summer day. Rough winds have impact on the vegetation. The summer season is very short. 

3. (i) The allotted time to summer season is very short while the beloved is eternal.
(ii) The sun is the eye of the sky.
(iii) The golden rays of the sun gives the summer day golden colour. 

4. (i) complexion
(ii) possession 

2. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Four seasons fill the measure of the year; 
There are four seasons in the mind of man: 
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear 
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring's honey'd cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming nigh
Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness - to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forgo his mortal nature. 

Questions : :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines
'Four seasons ......... easy span :' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) fill the measure 
(ii) threshold brook 
(iii) mortal nature 

4. Change the following words into adjectives : 
(i) lust
(ii) youth 
Answers:
1. The poet visualises the whole of human life in terms of four seasons. The youthful years are his spring, the mature age is summer, the declining years are autumn and old age is winter. He is subject to decay. Hence, he has to face this change. 

2. As four seasons characterise a year so also four seasons characterise the life of a man. The youthful years are his spring. He has strength and imagination. He understands beauty with little effort.

3. (i) four seasons complete the year and the human life
(ii) small stream that flows past the house
(iii) destined to die. 

4. (i) lusty
(ii) youthful 

3. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Let me not to the marriage of true minds, 
Admit impediments. 
Love is not love Which alters when it alterations finds, 
Or bends with the remover to remove :
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark 
That looks on tempests; and is never shaken; 
It is the star to every wandering bark, 
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. 
Love's not Times's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks. 
Within his bending sickle's compass come : 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out ev'n to the edge of doom :
It tols be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

Questions : 
1. Explain the following lines
If tols be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

2. Write the summary of the poem. 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases : 
(i) Love is not love
Which alters when it alterations find 
(ii) Love's not Time's fool 
(iii) Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks

4. Change the following into verbs 
(i) alterations
(ii) admittance 
Answers:
1. The poet says that if anybody can prove his assertions wrong, he can admit it to be a fact that none has loved truly in the past. 

2. Shakespeare asserts that true love is constant. It does not change to convenience. It is firms as sea-mark or pole-star. Time can't affect it. The poet is ready to stop writing poems if he is proved wrong about the constancy of true love. 

3. (i) The love which changes to convenience is not a true love.
(ii) Time can't affect the true love but physical beauty.
(iii) True love remains firm and constant even after death. 

4. (i) alter
(ii) admit 

4. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

The World is too much with us; late or soon 
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers : 
Little we see in Nature that is ours; 
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! 
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon : 
The winds that will be howling at all hours, 
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers : 
For this, for everthing we are out of tune. 
It moves us not-Great God! I'd rather be 
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn. 
So might I standing on this pleasant lea.
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; 
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea.
Or bear old Triton blow his wreathed horn. 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
.... I'd rather be ........ creed outworn.' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) the world 
(ii) too much with us
(iii) wreathed horn 

4. Change the following into nouns : 
(i) natural
(ii) tuneful 
Answers:
1. The poem opens with a strong protest against the growing materialism in the world. The poet is unhappy to see that beauty of nature does not move the hearts of his fellow countrymen. On the full moonlit night the sea rises up to embrace the moon. The howling winds are gathered up. The poet exclaims that he would rather be a pagan than a materialist. He would see Proteus rising from the sea. He would here old Triton blowing his conch. 

2. The poet exclaims that he would rather be a pagan than a materialist for if were a pagan, he could perceive God or goddess ruling over a meadow. 

3. (i) This world is a materialistic world.
(ii) This world has occupied our mind too much.
(iii) Conch made of spiral shell. 

4. (i) Nature
(ii) Tune 

5. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

I met a traveller from an antique land Who said : 
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. 
Near them, on the sand, 
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, 
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, 
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read 
Which yet survive, stamped on those lifeless things, 
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed : 
And on the pedestal these words appear: 
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: 
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains.
Round the decay 
Of that colossal work, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away. 

Questions : 
1. Explain the following lines :
My name is ........... beside remains. 

2. Write the summary of this poem.

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) the heart that fed
(ii) the hand that mocked them
(iii) colossal work 

4. Change the following into adjectives : 
(i) antiquity
(ii) trunk 
Answers:
1. There was a pedestal at the statue, where the traveller read that the statue was of ‘Ozymandias, king of kings. Although the pedestal told mighty onlookers that they should look out at the king's works and thus despair at his greatness, the whole are was covered with flat sand. All that is left is the wrecked statue. 

2. The poet met a traveller who had been an antique land. The traveller told the poet that he had seen a vast but ruined statue where only the legs remained standing. The face was sunk in the sand, frowning and sneering. The sculptor carved the emotions very well. On the pedestal was written that I am Ozymandias, king of kings. He did mighty work. In an other king wants to compare his work with Ozmandias, then that king will be sad to find his work of lower level. The invented power is nothing the natural power. 

3. (i) the king whose heart was the source of the passions.
(ii) the sculptor who imitated them (and made fun of them).
(iii) huge statue (artificiality) that will ruin a day. 

4. (i) antique
(ii) trunkless 

6. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core. 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following stanza :
'I will arise ....... bee-loud glade.' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases : 
(i) full of a linnet's wings
(ii) pavements grey
(iii) bee-loud glade 

4. Change the following into verbs, 
(i) building
(ii) ivable 
Answers:
1. The poet declares that he will arise and go to Innisfree, where he will build a small cabin of clay and wattles. There he will have nine bean rows and a beehive and live alone in the glade loud with the sound of bees. He will have peace there, for peace drops from the veils of morning where the cricket sings. Midnight there is a glimmer and noon is a purple glow and evening is full of linnet's wings. He hears lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore while he stands in the city on the road way or on the pavement grey. He hears the sound within himself in the deep heart's core. 

2. The poet declares that he will arise and go to Innisfree, a natural place. He'll build a small cabin there. It would be of clay and wattles. He will arrange nine rows of beans. He'll find a bee-hive for honey. He'll live there alone. There will be the loud sound of the bees in the glad. 

3. (i) Linnet is a small sweet singing bird. The poet'll hear this bird.
(ii) In cities, footpaths have desparing environment.
(iii) The glade echoes with the sounds of the bees there. 

4. (i) build
(ii) live 

7. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow 

Love came to Flora asking for a flower
That would of flowers be undisputed queen,
The lily and the rose, long, long had been 
Rivals for that high honour. 
Bards of power Had sung their claims. 
“The rose can never tower
Like the pale lily with her Juno mien? 
‘But is the lily lov’lier?' 
Thus between Flower-factions rang the strife in Psyche's bower. 
'Give me a flower delicious as the rose 
And stately as the lily in her pride 
‘But of what colour ? -Rose-red', Love first chose, 
Then prayed, -No, lily - white, - or, both provide. 
And Flora gave the lotus, ‘rose-red' dyed. 
And "lily-white; the queenliest flower that blows.

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
And Flora gave ....... that blows. 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) flower-factions rang the strife in Psyche's bower. 
(ii) queenliest flower
(iii) Bards of power 

4. Change the following into nouns : 
(i) queenly
(ii) lovable 
Answers:
1. The god of Love goes to Flora, the goddess of flowers and vegetation. He asks her to give the most beautiful flower, the queen of flowers. Red rose and white lily have been claiming this honour for a long time. Powerful and famous poets have praised them in their poems. Rose symbolises sweetness. Lily symbolises purity and innocence. He requests to give the flower having the qualities of both of these flowers. Flora gives him the lotus. 

2. Flora, the goddess of flowers and vegetation, gave the lotus to the God of Love.
It is reddish and sweet like rose and impressive and pure like lily. It is queenliest and it blooms majestically. 

3. (i) The self-interested groups of flower began conflict in the mind of the goddess of flowers and vegetation. 
(ii) The flower which is impressive, pure, beautiful and majestic like a queen.
(iii) Powerful and famous poets. 

4. (i) queen
(ii) love 

8. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Why hang'st thou lonely on yon withered bough ? 
Unstrung for ever, must thou there remain; 
Thy music once was sweet - who hears it now? 
Why doth the breeze sigh over thee in vain ? 
Silence hath bound thee with her fatal chain; 
Neglected, nute, and desolate art thou, 
Like ruined monument on desert plain : 
O! many a hand more worthy far thap mine 
Once thy harmonious chords to sweetness gave, 
And many a wreath for them did Fame entwine 
Of flowers still blooming on the minstrel’s grave : 
Those hands are cold - but if thy notes divine 
May be by mortal wakened once again,
Harp of my country, let me strike the strain ! 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
“Why hang'st thou ................ there remain; 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) withered bough 
(ii) silence hath bound thee 
(iii) let me strike the strain ! 

4. Change the following into adjectives : 
(i) harmony
(ii) divinity 
Answers:
1. The poet sings about India's glory and grandeur. The poem is a sustained metaphor. The harp of India had sweet music that enchanted the world in the past. The music is gone now. The fatal chain of the colonial rule has silenced it. The poet is distressed at the sight of this unstrung harp. It is silent or a withered bough of history. He wants to revitalise its chords into an immortal harmony. 

2. The poet sees the harp of India hanging on the dried branch. Its chords are unstrung. It isn't producing music. The poet doesn't want it to remain in this condition. 

3. (i) Dried branch of history. 
(ii) The colonial rule has silenced this harp of India.
(iii) The poet wants to revitalise the chords of the harp of India. 

4. (i) harmonious
(ii) divine. 

9. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Here is the old Chitor, queen-like and crown'd
with deathless glory; in the long sad past 
For thee the legion Rajput chiefs fell fast 
Amid the shock of battle; and falling found 
The lotus-heaven of the Lord. 
What streams Of precious blood they shed ! 
What wars they waged 
When marched and counter-marched the foes and blazed 
Their swords in the dark hour of doom when dreams 
Of pulsing life shone dim in them ! 
They fought For thee, they died for thee whene'er thy walls 
Guarding thy palaces, temples, towers and halls,
Were by the mighty hordes of Moslems sought. 
O Nurse and Mother of the brave and free!
How red with blood the path that leads to thee. 

Questions : 
1. Explain the following lines :
'Here is the old .......... of the Lord.' 

2. Write the summary of this poem. 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) deathless glory 
(ii) counter-marched
(iii) in the dark hour of doom 

4. Change the following words into verbs : 
(i) sought
(ii) shocking 
Answers:
1. The poet informs that it is the old Chitor. It is impressive like a queen. Its glory is immortal. The glorious past is its crown. The poet remembers its sad days of the past. The legendary Rajput chiefs and the soldiers fought hard against the invaders. They sacrificed their lives to defend their motherland. For this noble sacrifice they got a place in the lotus-heaven. 

2. The poet glorifies the old city, Chitor. If it is lovely and impressive like a queen.It has immortal, glorious past. It had to see the sad days when invaders attacked it. The Rajput chiefs with the army fought bravely. They sacrificed their lives to defend their motherland. For this noble cause, they got a place in heaven.

They shed the blood streams. They fought bravely against the invaders. When they found themselves at the end of the life, they killed so many enemy soldiers with their swords. They fought for their motherland. They guarded the palaces, temples, halls and walls of their motherland against the muslim invaders. They died for their motherland. Chitor is the nurse and mother of them. The path that leads to Chitor is fed with their blood. 

3. (i) immortal glory
(ii) marched against the attacking enemy
(iii) the darkest period of misfortune 

4. (i) seek
(ii) shock 

10. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

The Laburnum top is silent, quite still
In the afternoon yellow September sunlight.
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.
Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup
A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.
Then sleek as a lizard, and alert, and abrupt,
She enters the thickness and a machine starts up
Of chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings
The whole tree trembles and thrills,
It is the engine of her family.
She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask
Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings
She launches away, towards the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty.

Questions :

1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
‘She launches ........ to empty.' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) the whole tree trembles 
(ii) she stokes it full
(iii) the laburnum subsides to empty. 

4. Change the following words into nouns : 
(i) sudden
(ii) thick 
Answers:
1. The poet says that the laburnum tree is silent. It's afternoon. The month is of September. There is yellow sunlight. A few leaves are yellowing. All its seeds had fallen. A goldfinch comes to that laburnum. As a lizard, she enters its thickness. Her young ones start chittering. The wings are flattered. The whole tree shakes as she skips branch to branch. She is the engine of her family. She feeds her broods as a stoker feeds 'an engine. She shows her barred face which is her identity. With a strange whistle like chirrup in low notes the goldfinch flies away to the infinite sky. The laburnum becomes silent as if it has become empty. 

2. The laburnum tree becomes silent and empty as soon as the goldfinch leaves it away. 

3. (i) The tree is full of activity
(ii) She feeds her young ones fully.
(iii) The activities of the laburnum halts. 

4. (i) suddenness
(ii) thickness 

11. Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

When I bring you coloured toys, my child, 
I understand why there is such a play of 
colours on clouds, on water, and why 
flowers are painted in tints when I 
give coloured toys to you, my child. 
When I sing to make you dance, I truly
know why there is music, in leaves, 
and why waves send their chorus of voices to the 
heart of the listening earth--when I sing to make you dance. 
When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands, 
I know why there is honey in the cup 
of the flower, and why fruits are secretly 
filled with sweet juice - when I bring
sweet things to your greedy hands. 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
“When I bring ......... in tints' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) why flowers are painted in tints 
(ii) there is music in leaves 
(iii) greedy hands. 

4. Change the following words into adverbs : 
(i) true
(ii) secret 
Answers:
1. The poet father says to his child that he then understood why there was a play of colours on clouds, water and flowers when he gave coloured toys to him. These are the coloured toys given by God to humans. He knew the music of nature in leaves and waves when he sang to make his child dance. He knew about the natural sweetness in honey and fruits given by God when he brought sweet things for his child.

2. The poet father understood why God had added colours to clouds, water, flowers etc. when he brought coloured toys for his child. 

3. (i) The poet knew why God had created colourful flowers.
(ii) The rustling of leaves generate natural music.
(iii) A child's hands are greedy for things.

4. (i) truly
(ii) secretly 

12. Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

The cardboard shows me how it was When the two girl cousins went paddling, Each one holding one of my mother's hands. And she the big girl some twelve years or so. All three stood still to smile through their hair At the uncle with the camera. A sweet face, My mother's, that was before I was born.

And the sea, which appears to have changed less, Washed their terribly transient feet. Some twenty -- thrity -- years later She'd laugh at the snapshot. “See Betty And Dolly”, she'd say, “and, look how they Dressed us for the beach.” The sea holiday Was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry With the laboured ease of loss. 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
“The sea holiday ....... ease of loss.

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) And she the big girl 
(ii) And the sea, which appears to have changed less 
(iii) terribly transient feet 

4. Change the following words into nouns : 
(i) easy
(ii) laugh
Answers:
1. The speaker has a snapshot or cardboard or photo. It has her mother and two cousins of her mother. It was clicked when she was a teenager and went to a beach with her uncle or a holiday. All three were smiling through their hair. Some 20 or 30 years later the mother saw it again and laughed. The mother told her daughter about her cousins-Betty and Dolly. Then suddenly she died. The last laughter of the speaker's mother had become her past. She had to bear this loss with difficulty. 

2. The visit of the sea beach on a holiday was the part of the speaker's mother and her mother's laughter was the past of the speaker herself. They both had to bear the loss with difficulty. 

3. (i) The speaker's mother was the eldest of the three girls.
(ii) Nature is everlasting. She never changes or dies,
(iii) Human existence is bound to decay and perish. 

4. (i) ease
(ii) laughter. 

13. Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. 
To weep is to risk apearing sentimental. 
To reach out for another is to risk involvement. 
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. 
To place ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk
being called naive. 
To love is to risk not being loved in return. 
To live is to risk dying. 
To hope is to risk despair. 
To try is to risk failure. 
But risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard
in life is to risk nothing. 
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has
nothing,
is nothing, and becomes nothing. 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing.'

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases : 
(i) To laugh is to risk appearing fool 
(ii) To hope is to risk despair 
(iii) To try is to risk failure

4. Change the following words into verbs :
(i) involvement
(ii) failure 
Answers:
1. The poet says that if you laugh, you may be called a fool. If you weep, you may be called sentimental. If you reach out for another, you risk her/his involvement. If you expose your feelings, you may risk to expose your true-self. If you place ideas and dreams before commoners, you may risk of being called a naive. If you love, you risk of not being loved in return. If you hope to get something, you may meet despair. If you try for something, you may risk of meeting a failure. The poet encourages to take risk. He says if you don't risk, you'll block your progress. Those who don't risk, they are sought in their life. 

2. The poet says that those who don't take risk, they are burden on this earth. They can't give or take anything. 

3. (i) If you laugh, you risk to appear fool. 
(ii) If you hope for something, you risk to despair yourselves when you don't get it. 
(iii) If you make a try, you risk to get failed. 

4. (i) involve
(ii) fail 

14. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Break, break, break, 
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea ! 
And I would that my tongue could utter 
The thoughts that arise in me. 
O, well for the fisherman's boy 
That he shouts with his sister at play ! 
O, well for the sailor's lad, 
That he sings in his boat on the bay ! 
And the stately ships go on 
To their haven under the hill; 
But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand, 
And the sound of a voice that is still ! 
Break, break, break, 
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea ! 
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me. 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem.

2. Explain the following lines :
‘Break, break ................. back to me.' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) cold gray stones 
(ii) vanished hand
(iii) the tender grace of a day 

4. Change the following words into nouns : 
(i) think
(ii) utter 
Answers:
1. This poem is an elegy. It expresses the poet's pathetic yearning for his dead friend Arthur Henry Hallam. The sea is battering the stones. The speaker appears frustrated that the sea can keep moving and making noise while he is unable to utter his thoughts. The repetition of 'break’ aptly conveys the ceaseless motion of the waves. The people around him are happy while the isn't. The brother and sister love each other. The sailor has his boat. But the speaker is alone. the poet sees the 'stately ships' moving to port. They seem content with a destination. But the mounded grave is no pleasant destination. There is no more hands to touch, no more voice to hear. The breaking waves return repeatedly but for the poet there is no return of the dead. 

2. The waves break repeatedly against the rocks. Waves can return but the - poet's friend can't return. The sea and the poet have no choice but to be continued with their useless and repeated actions. 

3. (i) It suggests an indifferent and unsympathetic behaviour of the people in the hours of grief in this world. 
(ii) It refers to the poet's dead friend.
(iii) It refers to the happy days in the company of the poet's dead friend. 

4. (i) thought
(ii) utterance

 

15. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

I fell into grief, and began to complain; 
I looked for a friend, but I sought him in vain; 
Companions were shy, and acquaintance were cold; 
They gave me good counsel, but dreaded their gold. 
“Let them go," I exclaimed :
"I've a friend at my side, 
To lift me, and aid me, whatever betide. 
To trust to the world is to build on the sand : 
I'll trust but in heaven and my good Right Hand.” 
My courage revived, in my fortune's despite, - 
And my hand was as strong as my spirit was light; 
It raised me from sorrow, it saved me from pain; 
It fed me, and clad me, again and again. - 
The friends who had left me came back every one, 
And darkest advisers looked bright as the Sun; 
I need them no more, as they all understand, 
I thank thee, I trust thee, my good Right Hand ! 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of the poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
'I fell into .............. their gold'.

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases : 
(i) To trust to the world is to build on the sand 
(ii) I need them no more 
(iii) I thank thee, I trust thee, my good Righ Hand ! 

4. Change the following words into verbs :
(i) acquaintance
(ii) advisers 
Answers:
1. The poet says that once he had to face adverse circumstances in life. All friends, companions, acquaintances, deserted him. They made lip service but gave no real help. The poet then recollects that he has God to his side and trust in hard work. His right hand is his best friend. He can face adversity. He can't trust the world. It is like building castle in the air. His courage revived. His spirit was light. He controlled his sorrows and pains. He started earning handsomely. The friends and advisers started returning but the poet didn't need them then. He thanked and trusted his good right hand. 

2. The poet says that when he was in grief, friends companions and acquaintances, deserted him. They gave him advices but no real help. 

3. (i) We should not trust this world. It is like building castles in the air. 
(ii) When a person becomes rich again, he doesn't need those friends who deserted him in adversity. 
(iii) The poet thanks his right hand for supporting him in adversity. He is a trusted friend. 

4. (i) acquaint
(ii) advise 

16. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

I hear a sudden cry of pain ! 
There is a rabbit in a snare; 
Now I hear the cry again, 
But I cannot tell from where. 
But I cannot tell from where 
He is calling out for aid; 
Crying on the frightened air, 
Making everything afraid. 
Making everything afraid, 
Wrinkling up his little face, 
As he cries again for aid; 
And I cannot find the place! 
And I cannot find the place 
Where his paw is in the snare; 
Little one! Oh, little one!
I am searching everywhere. 

Questions : 
1. Write the summary of this poem.

2. Explain the following lines :
‘But I cannot ............ everything afraid.' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) frightened air 
(ii) a rabbit in a snare 
(iii) I can not find the place 

4. Change the following words into adjectives : 
(i) suddenly
(ii) fright 
Answers:
1. The poet is grieved to hear a sudden cry of pain. A rabbit is in a snare. He again hears the cry. He is unable to find out the place. The cry is so pathetic that it makes everything afraid. He has to wrinkle up his little face to give out such frightening and pathetic cries. The poet imagines that his paw is in the snare but he is unable to search him. 

2. The poet is unable to locate the ensnared rabbit though it is calling for the aid. Its cry is so pathetic that everything appears frightened. 

3. (i) The air appears frightened.
(ii) A rabbit has trapped itself in a snare.
(iii) The poet is unable to reach the ensnared rabbit. 

4. (i) sudden
(ii) frightened. 

17. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Drink to me only with thine eyes, 
And I will pledge with mine; 
Or leave a kiss but in the cup 
And I'll not look for wine. 
The thirst that from the soul doth rise 
Doth ask a drink divine; 
But might I of Jove's nectar sup, 
I would not change for thine. 
I sent thee late a rosy wreath, 
Not so much honouring thee 
As giving it a hope that there 
It could not wither'd be; 
But thou thereon didst only breathe, 
And sent'st it back to me; 
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself, but thee! 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
The thirst that ............ drink divine. 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) But might I of Jove's nector sup 
(ii) ............ and smells, I swear, not of itself but thee !
(iii) I would not change for thine.

4. Change the following words into nouns : 
(i) thirsty
(ii) drinking
Answers:
1. The poet/speaker asks his beloved Celia to dedicate herself only to him with her eyes. He pledges himself to her with his loving stare. Leave a kiss in the cup you are holding, and I'll be satisfied. I won't look for wine. The thirst from one's soul dreeds a divine drink but I won't exchange the nector of god for a drink from you. I sent you some roses, these won't rot in your presence. You smell them and return. Then, they will smell like you, not like roses.

2. This thirst is not for physical contentment but it is a thirst of soul which needs divine drink. 

3. (i) The speaker would not drink the nector given by the God, Jupiter.
(ii) The roses would smell his beloved, not to themselves.
(iii) He would not change the nector of his beloved for anything. 

4. (i) thirst
(ii) drink 

18. Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :

My heart is like a singing bird 
Whose nest is in a watered shoot; 
My heart is like an apple-tree 
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit; 
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea; 
My heart is gladder than all these 
Because my love is come to me. 
Raise me a dais of silk and down; 
Hand it with vair and purple dyes; 
Carve it in doves and pomegranates, 
And peacocks with a hundred eyes, 
Work it in gold and silver grapes, 
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys; 
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

Questions :
Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
‘My heart is ............ come to me.' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) Gold and silver grapes 
(ii) Rainbow shell
(iii) peacocks with a hundred eyes 

4. Change the following words into nouns : 
(i) golden
(ii) silvery 
Answers:
1. The poet compares the state of her heart with a singing bird, an apple tree laden with fruits, a rainbow shell. She is happier than all of them because her love is coming to her. She wishes a stage to be prepared with silk and feathers. Squirrel fur should be hung. It should have paintings of birds and fruits. It should have peacock feathers. She has her birthday and her love is coming to her. 

2. The poet says that her heart is happier than a singing bird or an apple tree with fruits or a rainbow because her love is coming to her. 

3. (i) fruits in glittering colours produced through painting etc.
(ii) reflection of a rainbow.
(iii) peacock feathers which have eyes-like patterns. 

4. (i) gold
(ii) silver. 

19. Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! 
Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner
of a temple with doors all shut ? 
Open thine eyes and see
thy God is not before thee. 
He is there where the tíller is tilling the hard
ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. 
He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment
is covered with dust.  Put off
thy holy mantle and even like him
come down on the dusty soil. 
Deliverance ? Where is the deliverance
to be found ?  Our master himself has joyfully
taken upto him the bonds of creation; he is
bound with us all for ever. 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem.

2. Explain the following lines :
'Put off thy .................. dusty soil.' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) telling of beads 
(ii) in sun and in shower 
(iii) Where is the deliverance to be found ? 

4. Change the following words into nouns : 
(i) deliver
(ii) create 
Answers:
1. The poet compares the state of her heart with a singing bird, an apple tree laden with fruits, a rainbow shell. She is happier than all of them because her love is coming to her. She wishes a stage to be prepared with silk and feathers. Squirrel fur should be hung. It should have paintings of birds and fruits. It should have peacock feathers. She has her birthday and her love is coming to her. 

2. The poet says that her heart is happier than a singing bird or an apple tree with fruits or a rainbow because her love is coming to her. 

3. (i) fruits in glittering colours produced through painting etc.
(ii) reflection of a rainbow.
(iii) peacock feathers which have eyes-like patterns. 

4. (i) gold
(ii) silver. 

20. Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :

I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew) : 
Their names are What and Why and When 
And How and Where and Who. 
I send them over land and sea. 
I send them east and west; 
But after they have worked for me, 
I give them all a rest.
I let them rest from nine till five, 
For I am busy then, 
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea, 
For they are hungry men : 
But different folk have different views; 
I know a person small 
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all ! 

Questions :
1. Write the summary of this poem. 

2. Explain the following lines :
‘She keeps ............. at all !' 

3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases :
(i) honest serving-men 
(ii) I give them all a rest
(iii) different folk have different views 

4. Change the following words into adjectives : 
(i) honesty
(ii) difference 
Answers:
1. The poet says he keeps six serving men. They impart him all knowledge. Their names are What, Why, When, How, Where and Who. He learns from them about land, sea, east and west. He engages himself in other activities too. He doesn't use them from nine to five. He remains busy in taking meals and in other activities. But different people have different opinions. He knows a small lady who has ten million serving men. She gets no rest. 

2. The lady is always enquiring. She gets no rest. The poet advises not to be over enquiring. Devote time to other activities too. 

3. (i) Provide real help honestly.
(ii) I don't use them round the clock
(iii) These are diverse opinions among humans even on the same subject. 

4. (i) honest
(ii) different.