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Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

Treasure Trove Poems Workbook Answers Television

Television Questions and Answers

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

1. The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set –
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been.
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)

Question 1.
The poet’s treatment of his subject is critical, but he still does not sound too opinionated. Why?
Answer:
In this stanza, the poet criticises the increasing craze for television among children. However, as the stalling line puts it, he has learned about it primarily from other people or some other source. Thus, he does not directly start criticizing television for its bad impact on children, but traces the root of his opinion in how others perceive it. That is why he. does not sound opinionated.

Question 2.
Why do you think the poet has used the adverb ‘never’ three times in the third line?
Answer:
The adverb ‘never’ is generally used to mean ‘not ever’. The purpose of using it is to stress the avoidance of something not agreeable or acceptable. In this stanza, the poet wants to say that children should not be allowed by their parents to spend a lot of time sitting before the television set, because this is a harmful practice in many ways. In order to assert this point forcefully, the poet repeats the adverb ‘never’ three times. The use of capital letters twice further reinforces his point.

Question 3.
What has been referred to as ‘the idiotic thing’ in this stanza? Why?
Answer:
In this stanza, the phrase ‘the idiotic thing’ has been used for the television set. In some way, the phrase reinforces the poet’s view that television is an extremely useless thing as far as children are concerned. This explains why he feels that children should be kept away from it.

Question 4.
Do you think that the idea of not installing a television set sounds practical in today’s context?
Answer:
The presence of a television set in almost every urban household is almost unavoidable today. Keeping that in mind, this idea may appear to be rather unrealistic. However, the negative impact that its presence casts on children is a stark reality. Perhaps the poet is just too impulsive while expressing his view against television. But if we look at the problem with a sensitive and empathetic approach, we may find that his view is not illogical or unacceptable. As readers, we cannot simply overlook his deep concern for children that is quite genuine.

Question 5.
Describe the significance of the bracketed lines at the end of the stanza.
Answer:
The pair of lines bracketed here is an example of a literary device called parenthesis. Usually, a parenthesis is added to a sentence or word, either to provide an explanation or to emphasise the point expressed by its precedent. Here, the poet employs this device to exemplify the negative impact of children’s obsession with television. Indulging in a bit of exaggeration, he says that sometimes the children stare so hard that their eyeballs fall off, and he has seen a dozen such eyeballs rolling about on the floor in one house. This ‘diversion’ from the normal track of expression lends an amusing twist to it, and makes the reading more interesting and enjoyable.

2. They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotised by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
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?

Question 1.
How does this stanza describe children’s fascination with television?
Answer:
The poet says that it is not uncommon to see the children sitting and staring continuously at the television sets. In almost every house, the same scenario is seen. The children are so obsessive of watching the television, that they remain engrossed in it without caring for how long they have been sitting.

Question 2.
How does children’s habit of watching TV gives some relief to their elders in the house?
Answer:
As the poet says, due to their obsessive indulgence in watching television, children remain glued to one place. This means that they do not perform their naughty acts like climbing out of the window sill. Moreover, they do not quarrel or fight as children are normally supposed to do. Due to this, their elders can feel relieved and feel free to cook the lunch or wash the dishes, without worrying too much about them.

Question 3.
What does the phrase ‘all that shocking ghastly junk’ imply in this stanza?
Answer:
This phrase is obviously for the contents of the TV programmes watched by children so obsessively. By using this phrase, the poet wants to tell that almost all that is dished out to children in the name of information and entertainment has no use for them.

Question 4.
Who are the people directly addressed by the poet in the last three lines? Do they have a particular identity?
Answer:
People referred to as ‘you’ are the parents of those children about whom the poet seems to be deeply concerned. They are not particular people with specific identities, but all the parents addressed together. The poet wants all of them to think over the problem, because children are affected everywhere. In other words, the problem that the poet talks about is generic and universal in nature.

Question 5.
What message does the poet want to give his readers?
Answer:
The poet wants to tell them that, they should not feel complacent just because children do not disturb them with their activities and stay away from their engagements. Instead, they must try to closely observe them and try to find out why their children do not behave as they should. What gives them a temporary relief and opportunity to do things without the intervention of their kids is actually a dangerous trap that will spoil their natural talent.

3. 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!

Question 1.
What do the personal pronouns ‘IT’ and ‘HE’ signify in this stanza?
Answer:
These two pronouns respectively signify ‘television’ and ‘any child who watches television continuously for hours’. In the first four lines of the stanza, ‘IT’ has been used as the subject thus implying that the poet’s focus is on what television does in terms of its detrimental impact on a child. Subsequently, the focus shifts to the child.

Question 2.
Why are the lines of this stanza written in capitals?
Answer:
These lines are written in capitals with a view to stress the main message of the poem. As they are written differently, these lines show a distinc¬tive appeal capable of easily drawing the attention of the readers. They also suggest the poet’s penchant for experiment in terms of style and presentation.

Question 3.
What is the message that the poet wants to give here?
Answer:
The message is that watching too much television fills up the mind of children with useless facts while at the same time destroying their ability to be creative or imaginative. It takes away their ability to think and they can only keep staring at the television screen.

Question 4.
Why does the poet think that a child cannot understand a fantasy or fairyland?
Answer:
The ability to understand a fantasy or fairyland calls for the application of creativity and imagination. As the poet says, the unproductive and useless practice of watching television for hours and hours continuously has severely affected a child’s creativity and imagination. That is why he/she cannot understand a fantasy or fairyland.

Question 5.
‘HE CANNOT THINK—HE ONLY SEES!’ What does this line suggest?
Answer:
This is the concluding line of this stanza that presents the crux of what the poet wants to say here. In the preceding lines of the stanza, the poet categorically opines that television spoils the creativity of children so much that they cannot use their brain to understand things that are abstract and invisible for which imaginative power is required. As they are absolutely accustomed to seeing things that appear on the TV screen before them, they lose the ability to think of things and situations that are not readily presented before them in concrete form. This indicates the loss of their creativity and imaginative faculty.

4. ‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’ .
We’ll answer this by asking you,
What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’

Question 1.
Comment on the style of expression employed by the poet in this stanza.
Answer:
The poet adopts a style that is simple, lucid and conversational in nature. It seems that the poet is interacting with the parents directly, and responding to their query.

Question 2.
Who are referred to as ‘you’ and ‘we’ in this stanza?
Answer:
In this stanza, the personal pronoun ‘you’ has been used for the parents of children. ‘We’ is used for the speaker, i.e. the poet himself and all those who like him feel that television has badly affected children.

Question 3.
How does the poet express the dilemma suffered by the parents?
Answer:
In the first four lines of this stanza, the poet focuses on the dilemma of the parents by bringing out their possible response. As it shows, the parents understand that the televisions are of course not good for the development and growth of their child. However, they do not know what they should do to entertain the children.

Question 4.
Why does the poet use the word ‘monster’ in the last line? What does it signify?
Answer:
The word ‘monster’ has been used here for the television set. The poet feels that it is responsible for all the bad things that have happened to children.

Question 5.
Which point does the poet try to stress here?
Answer:
The poet wants to stress the view that substitutes for televisions should be thought about, which are as entertaining as the TV sets and even overcome the flaws which the latter has. He further says that the task of finding such substitutes is quite simple. For this, the parents should take their thinking far before when this TV set was invented. He therefore asks their parents to recall the past when children were able to find better and far more productive ways to entertain themselves.

5. Have youforgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY… USED …TO… READ! They’d READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!

Question 1.
Who are the people addressed in this stanza? What does the poet speak of?
Answer:
People addressed in the first line of this stanza are parents of children who, the poet thinks, have been affected by the ill-effects of watching TV habitually. By posing a couple of questions in the beginning, the poet tries to stir their conscience reminding them of the good old times when children used to get entertained without the TV sets.

Question 2.
What does the poet suggest as an alternative to the harmful practice of watching TV continuously?
Answer:
In this stanza, the poet suggests with emphasises that for children, reading books is the best alternative to the harmful practice of watching TV, In the past, reading books was an extremely useful, engaging and productive pastime. He further says that the parents must motivate their children to read real good books in order to entertain themselves. There are so many great books that were readily available in the past and are still there for the children to read and learn from.

Question 3.
Explain the line: ‘We’ll say it very loud and slow’.
Answer:
This line reflects what the poet feels about the visibly lackadaisical approach of parents to their children. Though they understand that their children’s habit of continuously watching TV is not good, they are not quite prompt and self-motivated to explore sound and effective alternative that can save their future. By being ’very loud and slow’, the poet actually means that he has a solution, which he wants everyone to hear clearly and attentively.

Question 4.
What is the significance of capitalising some words in this stanza?
Answer:
The poet has deliberately capitalised some words with a view for highlighting their importance in the context of. the poem. ‘READ’ is obviously the most important of all words capitalised. By capitalising this word, he wants to reinforce his point that in the olden days, when there were no television sets, children used to read books and that was no doubt far more productive and beneficial.

Question 5.
Which famous writer has been referred to as ‘the great Scott’?
Answer:
Sir Walter Scott, the famous 19th century novelist and poet, has been referred to as ‘the great Scott’ in this stanza. He wrote a number of novels that are immensely enjoyed by young and adolescent readers even today. Scott is often regarded as ‘the father of historical novel’.

6. And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars.
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)

Question 1.
Explain the first two lines of this stanza.
Answer:
In these lines, the poet talks about the great popularity of books due to which their presence was visible literally everywhere. This was because children were very fond of reading them. The number of books was so large that the process seemed to be almost everlasting, because there were always some books that ‘were waiting to be read.’

Question 2.
What types of tales were read by children in the past? How were they useful for their young readers?
Answer:
As the poet says, the tales read by children in the past were fantasies with a galaxy of interesting characters. These tales were full of adventures and strange but interesting situations that honed the imagination and creativity of their young readers.

Question 3.
How was the world depicted in the fantasies different from the one that is shown in the TV programmes?
Answer:
As the poet says, the world depicted in the fantasies was based on pure imagination. It had a range of unusual characters and situation to entertain and amuse the young readers. That is why the tales of dragons, gypsies, queens and whales were the most engaging pastime for children before the invention of television. Today, the television programmes miss all that, as they do not involve creativity and imagination. Through these programmes, children can only see what is presented before them in concrete form, but they cannot imagine things, characters or situations that are seen so abundantly in fantasies and tales of yesteryears.

Question 4.
Fantasies serve as a productive and interesting pastime that stirs the imagination of children. In which other way are they beneficial for the children?
Answer:
One great advantage of reading books that contain these fantasies is that you can go through them anywhere. This precisely implies that it is not necessary for the readers to sit at a particular place only to read books.

Question 5.
Why has the poet used a parenthesis to end the stanza?
Answer:
Parenthesis, as we know, is a word, phrase or line in brackets either inserted in a passage or stanza, or placed at the end of it. The parenthesis used here seems to be an afterthought that serves as a sort of happy diversion or ‘comic relief from the rest of the stanza that presents his view rather categorically and in a focused manner.

7. The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know, .
Those children living long ago!

Question 1.
Which period does this stanza talk about?
Answer:
This stanza talks about the period of time when television had not been invented, and reading books was the favourite pastime of children.

Question 2.
Which important features of reading before the invention of television does the poet highlight here?
Answer:
In this stanza, the poet says that a plenty of books were available for the children before the invention of television. More importantly, they had the freedom to choose books for reading, according to their preference and interest matching their age-group.

Question 3.
How does the poet respond to the practice of reading in the past?
Answer:
In this stanza, the poet lists some of the most popular fictional characters that children in the pre-television era used to read and know about through different books available to them. In the concluding lines of the stanza, he seems to be simply awed by the extraordinary range of their reading and familiarity with comical or fictional characters.

Question 4.
Which age group of children can most easily relate to the fictional characters mentioned in the stanza?
Answer:
Mr. Tod, Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole are the characters that fascinate small, young kids most. Thus, the children, the poet talks about here must be small kids passing through the primary stage of learning. As children grow up, they gradually start looking for more mature reading stuff.

Question 5.
The name of which famous writer of children’s books has been mentioned in this stanza?
Answer:
The famous writer of children’s books referred to in this stanza is Beatrice Potter. Her name being mentioned particularly, suggests that she must have influenced the poet Roald Dahl, an outstanding writer of children’s books himself.

8. So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then Jill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-

Question 1.
Explain these opening lines of the stanza:
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away.
Answer:
In these lines, parents are exhorted by the poet to throw away their TV sets. His request to parents is propelled by his perception that their children’s habit of watching TV for long and continuous hours is dangerous and unproductive.

Question 2.
What does the poet want the parents to replace the TV set with? Why?
Answer:
The poet requests parents to replace their TV sets with a book¬shelf. The reason lies in his time-tested assumption that books alone will save the natural, imaginative, sensitive and curiously passionate inner self of a child from the blunting and barren practice of watching TV. Thus, the fundamental motive is to save the childhood and ensure that children will have a better future.

Question 3.
What does the poet mean by the phrase ‘ignoring all the dirty looks’?
Answer:
The poet says that bringing in a bookshelf as a replacement for TV set may not be tolerated in the beginning. Nevertheless, the parents must remain firm in their decision and overlook any resistance, because a change like this is beneficial for the future of their children.

Question 4.
What does the concluding couplet of this stanza suggest about the response of children to the initiative taken by their parents?
Answer:
This couplet clearly suggests that children will not put up with the change introduced by their parents. In the beginning, they will fail to understand the significance of a bookshelf filled with books. As a result, they will protest against it. Occasionally, they may be violent also. Despite all this, the parents must go ahead with their decision as they know that this will change the liVes of their dear kids for the better.

Question 5.
Parents play a major role in shaping the future of their children. How does this assumption get reflected here?
Answer:
As tire poet says, children who are used to watching television cannot understand its disadvantages themselves. Their parents must therefore take the initiative to change this habit and replace it with a much better and far more beneficial practice of reading books. They should therefore understand that their decision will eventually secure a great future for their children.

9. Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.

Question 1.
What does the phrase ‘Fear not’ suggest about the mental state of people to whom this stanza is addressed?
Answer:
The stanza is addressed to parents whom the poet exhorts to replace TV sets with books. The poet feels that the parents are apprehensive of this change, which their children may not accept easily.

Question 2.
Explain the concluding couplet:
Theyll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
Answer:
In these lines, the poet talks about the situation in which children will start realising the urgency to read something. As he says, this will happen only when TV sets are removed from their homes and they find it impossible to watch the programmes they have been used to watching so far.

Question 3.
What does the poet’s promise relate to?
Answer:
The poet’s promise is about a positive change in children, which he thinks, will be noticeable in a period of about a week or two.

Question 4.
Comment on the tone of conversation adopted by the poet.
Answer:
The poet’s approach is thoroughly conversational and his tone seems to be that of a public speaker addressing a gathering of parents. It reflects a high level of understanding, insight and confidence. It seems that he is fully self¬assured and knows the results with a remarkable precision.

Question 5.
Why does the poet feel that children should be compelled to have ‘nothing else to do’, in order to understand the importance and joy of reading books?
Answer:
In this stanza, the poet wants to say that the habit of watching TV is too deep-seated in case of children. It is therefore difficult for them to easily realise how adversely this habit is affecting their creativity, mental strength and health. That is why he feels that when there will be no TV sets inside their homes, and children will have nothing else to do, they will be forced to accept what their parents want.

10. And once they start – oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
ThatJills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

Question 1.
What kind of emotional response does the first line of the stanza convey? When will this response be noticeable?
Answer:
The emotional response of children that this line conveys is that of sheer joy. This type of response, as the poet says, will come into notice when they start reading books.

Question 2.
What has been referred to in this stanza as ‘that ridiculous machine’?
Answer:
The phrase ‘that ridiculous machine’ here refers to the TV set. It is followed by another that refers to the TV screen as ‘That nauseating, foul, unclean, repulsive television screen’. The poem has many such phrases that have been used to denounce the role of television in the lives of children excessively used to watching it.

Question 3.
How does this stanza speak of the maturing of children’s realisation regarding their newly acquired habit?
Answer:
As the poet says, children will gradually understand the joy of reading and soon will gain interest. These books will make its own place in their hearts and they will become fond of reading. Subsequently, showing a mature understanding, they will realize that they had been wasting a lot of their precious time in watching the television.

Question 4.
Why, according to the poet, the children will start loving their parents?
Answer:
The poet thinks that the children will soon realize that their parents did a wonderful thing for them by throwing away the television and instead, installing the lovely books to entertain and teach them so much. Due to this, they will love their parents all the more.

Question 5.
Describe a few qualities that the parents should have, if they want positive change in their children as suggested here.
Answer:
Two qualities that they should have are determination and patience. Determination is required when they decide to replace their children’s bad old habits with a far more productive and positive ones. Patience is needed when their decision is resisted by their own children. Furthermore, they should also be absolutely caring and sensitive to the needs of their children.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

Treasure Trove Poems Workbook Answers Daffodils

Daffodils Questions and Answers

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

1. I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Question 1.
Who is referred to T in the extract? Where is ‘I’ and what is he doing?
Answer:
The poet William Wordsworth is referred to T in the extract. He is wandering lonely in a natural scenery as a cloud in the sky that freely floats over the hills and valleys, when suddenly he sees a beautiful spectacle of golden bright daffodils near the lake and under the boughs of the trees.

2. Explain the following lines:
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Answer:
All at once the poet notices a group of daffodils waving in the breeze. He calls them a crowd’ because they are packed tightly together. Then he elaborates the word ‘crowd’ by adding the noun ‘host’. A host is a big group. As the daffodils are large in numbers, the poet refers them as a host’. The figure of speech used in ‘A host of daffodils’ is personification as the daffodils are personified and given human qualities.

Question 3.
Why do you think the poet refers to the daffodils as golden?
Answer:
While wandering alone around through the hills and valleys, the poet notices a group of daffodil flowers. The poet is enchanted to see the bright yellow colour of daffodils. He poet uses the word ‘golden’ to create more majestic sound in the poem. His enthusiasm and love towards nature is reflected in the term ‘golden’.

Question 4.
Describe the scene in your own words.
Answer:
The poet was lonely and was just wandering here and there when he saw a large group of bright and beautiful daffodils under the trees, along the bank of a lake. The flowers were moving due to the soft breeze which blew over their heads in a beautiful way. It seemed that they were dancing.

Question 5.
How does the poet describe himself in the first two lines? Do you think the use of the word “wandered” appropriate here?
Answer:
The speaker describes how he walked around and felt as lonely as a cloud. He doesn’t say, “walked around”, but uses the much more descriptive word “wandered.” The verb “to wander” means “to roam around.” Here, the past tense form of this verb has been used to suggest the feeling of purposelessness and directionlessness. Thus, the use of this word is appropriate as it reflects the sad mood of the poet.

Question 6.
What does the use of the phrase “lonely as a cloud” suggest?
Answer:
Usually, the clouds are not supposed to be lonely. It’s more likely, the speaker is projecting his own loneliness on the clouds. But that still doesn’t explain the strange image, because clouds usually travel in groups. Maybe a cloud is lonely because it is so far above the rest of the world. Also, the cloud could be lonely because it floats over a natural landscape with no people in it. Maybe the speaker has thought of hills and valleys because he happens to be “wandering” through such a landscape.

2. Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

Question 1.
With what does the poet compare the daffodils? Explain the resemblance.
Answer:
The poet is enchanted by the sight of the daffodils, shining beautifully in the sun and so he compares the daffodils with the stars that shine and twinkle in the Milky Way. The poet says that the flowers were countless and stretched continuously along the edge of the lake as the stars in the Milky Way.

Question 2.
Explain the lines- “They stretched in never-ending line, along the margin of a bay:”
Answer:
The poet is attracted towards a large number of golden daffodils. He possesses the eagerness to watch them more carefully. He tells that the daffodils are roughly concentrated in a line along the bank of the lake that seems to stretch as far as the eye can see. It creates a beautiful vision to the poet.

Question 3.
Why does the poet says- “Ten thousand saw I at a glance”? What literary device is used here and why?
Answer:
The sight of the daffodils being present in large numbers along the shore of the lake, spellbind the poet that he in a quick glance guesses them to be ‘ten thousand’. The literary device used here is ‘hyperbole’. The poet has used this literary device to stress the number of daffodils in more presentable manner and to reveal the impact it has laid on him and to give a better vision of the scene.

Question 4.
What is meant by the margin of the bay?
Answer:
This stanza tells us that the poet comes across near the shore of a lake. Suddenly, he is enchanted by the beauty of the waving golden daffodils which are stretched far and wide in large numbers along the margin of the bay. ‘Margin of the Bay’ in the poem, means near the shore of a lake.

Question 5.
How are the daffodils described here?
Answer:
The poet says that there are a whole lot of daffodils and in a quick glance guesses them to be ‘ten thousand’. The poet says that the yellow flowers tossed their heads beautifully in the breeze as if they are engaged in a lively dance. Moreover, they gleamed and stretched ‘continuously’, without a break, like the stars in the Milky Way galaxy for putting a greater implication in indicating that the flowers are heavenly as the stars

3. The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

Question 1.
How did the daffodils outdo the waves?
Answer:
The poet says that the sparkling waves danced in the breeze, but the beauty of the bright daffodils surpassed their beauty. The daffodils seemed to dance with the breeze with much more liveliness and their sight seemed happier than the waves which did not bring as much joy as the yellow flowers.

Question 2.
What is meant by jocund company? Which jocund company is the poet referring to? Why does the poet find it jocund?
Answer:
Jocund company means a cheerful company of someone. In this stanza the poet by ‘jocund company’ refers to the joyful company of the daffodils and the waves. He was amazed at the beautiful vision and could not help to be happy. They were successful in changing the pensive mood of the poet.

Question 3.
How does wealth come to the poet by looking at the scene before him?
Answer:
The wealth comes to the poet by an uncountable happiness from the site of daffodils. Its remembrance causes a transformation from the melancholy mood to a joyful mood and fills the poet’s heart with happiness. Sweet memories from the scene which are more valuable than money.

Question 4.
What according to the poet distinguishes the daffodils from the natural surroundings?
Answer:
In these lines the poet says that there are the other things which are producing the beauty. But the happiness of the golden Daffodils is more than other natural scenes. The poet wants to.be here all the day. He thinks that their value is more than money.

Question 5.
What rhyme scheme is followed in the poem? Explain the lines:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had. brought:
Answer:
The rhyme scheme followed in the poem is “ababcc”. The lines explain that the poet was so enchanted at the sight of the flowers that he kept on looking at them. It appeared that he has received some sort of precious wealth as a, permanent kind of happiness far more valuable than money.

4. For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood.
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Question 1.
What does happen to the poet when he lies on his couch?
Answer:
The poet explains that whenever he lies on his couch in a ” contemplative mood, the memory of the daffodils flashes through his mind which brings him happiness and he forgets his sadness. The pleasant sight of the daffodils dancing in the breeze fills his heart with joy and his heart begins to dance with the memory of the dancing daffodils.

Question 2.
Explain the transition from the poet’s pensive mood to his heart filled with joy.
Answer:
When the poet comes back home and lies on his couch lonely and sad, the memory of the daffodils flashes in his mind and fills him with the same happiness as he was before at the real sight of the daffodils. This remembrance changes his pensive mood to a happy mood and his heart is filled with joy.

Question 3.
How can the heart dance?
Answer:
The heart can dance when a man feels happy. His heart is filled with great pleasure and he feels great thrill. When he is relieved from all worries, when the sorrow is away from the mind of the man, then his heart is filled with joy or it dances.

Question 4.
What does the use of the phrase ‘inward eye’ imply here?
Answer:
The author imagines the daffodils in his spiritual vision, for which he uses the metaphor of an “inward eye.” This means that the poet imagined in his mind the beautiful picture of the dancing daffodils and shining waves which became a part of his being.

Question 5.
What is “bliss of solitude” referred to in the extract? How does the bliss of solitude take place?
Answer:
A person cannot share his or her spiritual vision completely with others so it is a form of ‘solitude’. But its truth and beauty makes it ‘blissful’. So whenever the poet is downhearted, the image of the daffodils flashes in his mind. The ‘bliss of solitude’ takes place in contrast between joy of the daffodils and his unhappiness and his heart fills with pleasure.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

Treasure Trove Short Stories Workbook Answers The Blue Bead

The Blue Bead Questions and Answers Extract Based

Read the extract and answer the following questions:

1. Now, nothing could pierce the inch-thick armoured hide. Not even rifle bullets, which would bounce off. Only the eyes and the soft underarms offered a place. He lived well in the river, sunning himself sometimes with other crocodiles—muggers, as well as the long-snouted fish-eating gharials— on warm rocks and sandbanks where the sun dried the clay on them quite white, and where they could plot off into the water in a moment if alarmed.

Question 1.
What were sleepers? How can they be dislodged?
Answer:
Sleepers are the heavy pieces of timber or stone on or near the ground to support a superstructure. They were lying stuck around the stones in the deep water from which the crocodile came, until someone dislodged them and send them on their way or until floods lifted them and jostled them along.

Question 2.
Describe the grandeur of the giant reptile.
OR
Where did the huge crocodile live? Where did it come to rest?
Answer:
The huge crocodile lived in the deep black water. It was twice the length of a tall man. It had not to hide itself. It came to rest in the glassy shallows, among logs with its eyes and nostrils raised above the water. Its tail had irresistible power to move with a vast force in the water. Its mouth ran almost the whole length of its head. It lay. closed with an evil smile and where the yellow underside came up to it, it was green in color.

Question 3.
How did the huge crocodile rest in the shallows?
Answer:
The crocodile came to rest in the grassy shallows, among logs and balanced there on tiptoe on the rippled sand. It raised its eyes and nostrils out of the water to breathe the clean sunny air. Around him broad sparkling water travelled between cliffs and grass and forested hills. The mugger crocodile, blackish brown above and yellowy white under, lay motionless, able to wait forever till food came.

Question 4.
When and how had the crocodile made water its permanent abode?
Answer:
It is assumed that perhaps hundred years ago, the crocodile had been hatched at the sandbank. Since then in order to protect and support itself, it had made for the water. There it escaped from being becoming the prey of the birds and great carnivorous fishes. It stored the food in holes in the bank till it was rotten. Lukewarm water and plenty of food made it grew to its great length.

Question 5.
The strength of the crocodile was unbeatable. Pen it down.
Answer:
The body of the crocodile was covered with the inch thick hide that nothing could pierce it. Even the rifles bullets would bounce off. Only the eyes and the soft underarms were exceptions. It was ferocious and formidable. It propelled in the water by the irresistible and unimaginable power of its tail. It lived well with other crocodiles, muggers and fish eating gharials.

2. Barefoot, of course, and often goosey-cold on a winter morning, and born to toil. In all her life, she had never owned anything but a rag. She had never owned even one anna—not a pice, not a pi, even, to buy, say, a handful of blown glass beads from that stall in the bazaar where they were piled like stars, or one of the thin glass bangles that the man kept on a stick, and you could choose which colour you’d have.

Question 1.
On which things did crocodile feed?
Answer:
The big crocodile fed mostly on fish but also on deer and monkeys that’came to drink water. Sometimes the ducks also became its prey. But sometimes at the ford, it fed on a pi-dog full of parasites or a skeleton cow. And sometimes it went down to the burning Ghats and found the half burnt bodies of Indians cast into streams to consume.

Question 2.
Which objects were found near crocodile in the river?
Answer:
The place where the crocodile rested, fed and moved had strange objects around him. In the shoals, beside him there lay a glimmered blue gem. It was actually a sand worn glass that had been rolling about in the river for a long time. It was piercing through the neck of the bottle.

Question 3.
Throw the light on Sibia’s lifestyle?
Answer:
Sibia lived in a mud house in a village above the ford. She was thin starving child. She had no proper clothes but her body was covered with rags. Her skin was of oiled brown cream color. Those rags were also torn to make a skirt and a saree. She ate chapatti wrapped round green chili and rancid butter. It was her best meal. Her hair was black and she had great eyes. She was poor and never owned anything except a rag.

Question 4.
Why is Sibia called as ‘child woman’ and how was she born to toil?
Answer:
Sibia, the main character or the protagonist of the story, is called a happy immature child woman at the age of only twelve years just because of her appearance and the burden which she bore to help in household chores. She was marked for work since her childhood. She had to carry the household duties and in them also she found the objects of happiness. She was immature in the sense that in spite of doing all the work, she had not lost her childishness.

Question 5.
What was Sibia’s economic background?
Answer:
Sibia belonged to a poor family. She lived in a mud house. She did not possess even one anna, a pice or a pi even to buy a handful of blown glass beads or one of the thin glass bangles from the stall in the bazaar where they were piled like stars or one of the thin glass bangles that the man kept on a stick from where one could chose the colour of his choice. She had been living with her parents and brothers all through the jungle to the little town at the railhead.

3. But Sibia, in all her life from birth to death, was market for work. Since she could toddle, she had husked corn, and gathered sticks, and put dung to dry, and cooked and weeded, and carried, and fetched water, and cut grass for fodder. She was going with her mother and some other women now to get paper grass from the cliffs above the river. When you had enough of it, you could take it down by bullock cart to the railhead and sell it to the agent who would arrange for its dispatch to the paper mills.

Question 1.
Where was the bazaar located? While passing through this bazaar, which things or sounds she came across?
Answer:
Though Sibia belonged to a poor family, she knew what finery was. She used to go through jungle with her parents and brothers to the little town at the railhead where the bazaar was located. She walked through all the milling people, and the dogs and monkeys full of fleas, idle human beings spitting betel juice, bargaining and gossiping. On the way she heard the bell of a sacred bull clonking as he lumped along through the dust and hubbub.

Question 2.
Which things attracted Sibia on her way to work?
Answer:
Sibia was little girl with little likings. She did not have high expectations. Very petty things attracted her attention. She could even enjoy the sight and smell of the honey confections, abuzz with dust and flies at the sweetmeat stall. The smell was wonderful above the smells of drains and humanity and cheap cigarettes. At home she sometimes tasted wild honey or crunched the syrup out of a stalk of sugar cane. There was the cloth stall stacked with great rolls of new cotton cloth, stamped at the age with the maker’s sign of a tiger’s head and the smell was so dear to her that she could stand by it whole day.

Question 3.
Other wonders also fascinated her. What were they?
Answer:
The other wonders that fascinated her were satin sewn with real silver thread tin trays from Birmingham and a saree which had got chips of looking glass embroidered into the border. She also liked to follow the Kashmiri merchant on his way to bungalows. He had dawn colored silks that poured like cream, a little locked chest with turquoises and opals in it. Best of all the things was a box which when pressed, a bell tinkled and a yellow woolen chicken jumped out of it.

Question 4.
Which thoughts never troubled her?
Answer:
Sibia was marked only for work since birth. “She had started husking the corn and gathering sticks, putting the dung to dry, cooked and weeded, and carried and fetched the water and cut the grass for fodder, when she was just a toddler. She accompanied her mother to get the paper grass to sell it to the agent who was rich enough to sit on silk cushions smoking a hookah. But these things never troubled her.

Question 5.
Why couldn’t Sibia skip during her return journey?
Answer:
Sibia was a child-woman but she had the heart of a child. She was not bothered by the thoughts of an agent sitting on silk cushions or smoking hookah. She, with her mother and other women toiled all through the day. She skipped along with her sickle and homemade hayfork beside her mother. But on the way back home she couldn’t skip due to excessive tiredness, when the back ached and had great load to carry.

4. The women came out on the shore, and made for the stepping-stones. They had plenty to laugh and bicker about, as they approached the river in a noisy crowd. They girded up their skirts, so as to jump from stone to stone, and they clanked their sickles and forks together over their shoulders to have ease of movement. They shouted their quarrels above the gush of the river. Noise frightens crocodiles.

Question 1.
What were the ornaments of the village women? Why could not she make a necklace for herself?
Answer:
The village women who wore the necklaces made of shiny scarlet seeds, black at one end, that grew everywhere in the jungle looked very beautiful to Sibia. They were made every year as it was better to discard the old faded ones. Sibia was making one for her too. But the seed was hard to pierce, it required a red hot needle and the family needle was snapped. So she could not make it for herself.

Question 2.
Who were ‘nomadic graziers’? Describe the nomadic Gujars.
Answer:
Nomadic graziers are the people who roam from one place to another without a fixed pattern along with their cattle. While going towards the river, the village women passed a Gujar encampment where these nomadic graziers would live for a short period of time. They lived till their animals finish all the grazing or are unable to sell their white butter and white milk in the district or there is no one to buy the young male buffaloes for tiger bait.

Question 3.
How were the Gujar women dressed?
OR
What did Sibia notice about the Gujar women’s appearance?
Answer:
Sibia looked at the Gujar women as she went past. They were wearing trousers, tight and wrinkled at the ankles. In their ears they wore large silver rings which were made out of melted rupees. One of the women was clinking a stick against the big brass gurrahs in which they fetched water from the river for the camp, to see which ones were empty.

Question 4.
Where had the boys and men of Gujar community gone? Why were they called junglis?
Answer:
The men and the boys of the Gujar community were out of the camp either with their herd for grazing or gone to bazaar to sell the produce when the women were away to fetch the water from the river. The Gujars were junglis as they were born and bred in the forest. They did not know the world outside the jungle. For many centuries, their forebears had lived like this, getting their living from animals, grass and trees. They were man in the wandering Pastoral Age, not Stone Age hunters and not yet Cultivators.

Question 5.
Why did the women make noises while crossing the river?
Answer:
There was a river on the way where the women went to collect the paper grass twinkling between the tress, sunlit beyond dark trunks. The women came out on the shore and made for the stepping stones. They laughed and quarreled while going towards the river. They clanked their sickles and forks together over their shoulders. They shouted above the gush of the river. It was all due to keep the crocodiles away as the noises frightened them.

5. Sibia hung back. She would just dawdle a bit and run and see if the little clay cups were still there in the cave, waiting to be painted and used. Although the women were now tired and loaded, they still talked. Tose in front yelled to those behind. They crossed the river safely and disappeared up the track into the trees on the other side. Even their voices died away. Silence fell. Sibia came down alone to the stepping-stones.

Question 1
What was the course of flow of river which the women used to cross?
Answer:
After crossing the river, the women had to climb the hillside to get the paper grass. Down below them was the broad river pouring powerfully out from its deep narrow pools among the cold cliffs and shadows, spreading into warm shallows, lit by kingfishers. Great turtles lived there along with mahseer which weighed more than a hundred pounds.

Question 2.
Under what conditions did Sibia work? What did she keep in the cave?
Answer:
Sibia was a hard worker. She worked nonstop under her mother’s vigilance but her imagination sore high over the bright water and golden air to the banks where she had played as a child. She had stored some little bowls, moulded of clay while they hardened for painting. The only thing that cooled her sweating body was wind coming across the hundreds of miles of trees.

Question 3.
Why was Sibia’s mother angry with her? What was Sibia’s reaction when her mother shouted at her?
Answer:
The women used to climb a still hillside across the river to get the grass. Sibia also worked with them in harsh conditions but she never thought of that. Even she did not dare to stop for a moment but her imagination took a flight over the bright water and golden air to the banks where she had played as a child. In the cavelets above the high water mark of the highest flood, she had kept some little bowls of moulded clay for coloring while they hardened. Suddenly her mother cried in a sharp voice,’’Child!” Hearing this and looking at the glare of her mother’s angry sweating face pulled Sibia back to work.

Question 4.
What was the condition of the women when they return?
Answer:
In the evening, after collecting the grass, it was the time to go back for women to see their animals and the evening meal. The women carried the load and set out to cross the river again. Sibia hung back. She would walk slowly and run to see if the clay cups were still there in the cave. The women were now tired and loaded. Still they talked. Those who were in front yelled to those who were behind. They crossed the river safely and disappeared in the track into the trees on the other side.

Question 5.
Why did Sibia come alone when there were other women too in the group?
Answer:
It was evening and the time to return back to see the grazing animals and evening meal. The loaded women set out to cross the river again. But Sibia remained there only. She walked slowly a bit and ran to see if the little clay cups were still there in the cave, waiting to be painted and used. When all the women left for their homes, she ran behind to see her cups and had to come down alone to the stepping stones.

6. Bang!—bang!—to and fro in great smacking flails as he tried to drag her free and carry her off down into the deeps of the pool. Blood spread everywhere. Sibia sprang.From boulder to boulder she came leaping like a rock goat. Sometimes it had seemed difficult to cross these stones, especially the big gap in the middle where the river coursed through like a bulge of glass. But now she came on wings, choosing her footing in midair without even thinking about it, and in one moment she was beside the shrieking woman.

Question 1.
Why did Sibia put her load down when she was halfway over?
OR
When did Sibia stop and why?
Answer:
The light of the evening was striking up the gorge, pink into the ultraviolet shadows. The sun was off; the water poured was totally invisible with no reflection to show where it began. Sibia-stepped onto the first stone. She was heavily weighted, her muscles stretched and aching. The hayfork squeaked in the packed dry grass and dug into her collarbone so close under the skin, in spite of the sari bunched up to make a pad. Out of tiredness, she put her load down on a big boulder to rest when she was halfway over.

Question 2.
Why did the Gujar woman walked onto the stepping stone?
Answer:
Sibia was halfway over on her way back to hut; she put her load down on a big boulder to rest. At the same moment a Gujar woman came down with two gurrahs to the water on the other side. She walked onto the stepping stone to get the good clear water which would quickly fill both gurrahs up to the brim without sand.

Question 3.
What happened to her?
Answer:
When the woman went to the other side to fill her gurrahs with clear water, she reached within a yard of the crocodile unknowingly. The great reptile heaved up out of the darkling water with its livid jaws yawning and all its teeth fleshing as it slashed at her leg. Crocodile pulled her leg, threshing its mighty tail to and fro in great movements and dragged her down into the deeps of the pool. Blood spread everywhere.

Question 4.
How did Sibia react later on seeing this?
OR
What did Sibia do when she saw the Gujar woman attacked by the crocodile?
Answer:
Sibia was watching everything. She came into action leaping like a rock.goat and jumped from boulder to boulder. She reached beside the shrieking woman and drove the hayfork at the reptile’s eyes. The beast crashed back, exploded the water and disappeared in the bloody-foam water. She then pulled the wounded woman out from the water and thus, saved her life.

Question 5.
If Sibia hadn’t taken action On time, do you think that woman would be dead?
Answer:
Yes, the woman would be dead if Sibia hadn’t taken action on time. She did the daring thing which sometimes adults are unable to do. Besides taking action it was her mental status too that supported her in taking right decision at right time. She was a small girl of twelve years whose age allowed her to play childlike games but she showed courage and got success in saving a woman’s life.

7. The fork was lying in the river, not carried away, luckily, and as she bent to pick it up out of the water, she saw the blue bead. Not blue now, with the sun nearly gone, but a no colour white-blue, and its shape wobbling in the movement of the stream. She reached her arm down into a yard of the cold silk water to get it. Missing it first of all, because of refraction. Then there it lay in her wet palm, perfect, even pierced ready for use, with the sunset shuffled about inside it like gold-dust. All her heart went up in flames of joy.

Question 1.
Which body part of the crocodile was aimed at by Sibia and how?
Answer:
The face of the crocodile was fastened round the Gujar woman’s leg in the boiling bloody water. He was tugging to and fro. His eyes rolled on to Sibia. One slap of its tail could kill her. But Sibia did not either hesitate or got frightened. She gathered her courage and with all the force of her little body she drove the hayfork at crocodile’s eyes. One prong of it went in while the other scratched past on the horny cheek.

Question 2.
How did crocodile react on being attacked by Sibia?
Answer:
The crocodile reared up in convulsion, till half his lizard body was out of the river, the tail and nose nearly met over his stony back. Then he crashed back, exploding the water and in an uproar of bloody foam, he disappeared.

Question 3.
Did the crocodile die immediately? If not then when and how would one come to know about it?
Answer:
The crocodile did not die immediately after being attacked. And it’s not sure when would it die as his death would not be known for days. It would be found upside down among the logs at the timber boom with pus in his eyes only when his stomach blown with gas would float him.

Question 4.
How did Sibia manage to get the Gujar woman out of water? What did she do with her wound?
Answer:
Sibia got her arms round the fainting woman and somehow dragged her out of the water. She stopped her wounds with sand and bound them with rags and helped her home to the Gujar encampment where the men made a litter to carry her to someone for treatment.

Question 5.
What did Sibia find in river? Why her heart was went up in flames of joy?
Answer:
Sibia took the wounded Gujar woman to her encampment and then went back to the river for her grass, sickle and fork. The fork was lying in the river and as she bent to pick it up, she saw the blue bead. At that time it was not appearing blue because sun had already set but its shape was wobbling in the stream. She reached her arm down into the cold silky water and took it out. It was already pierced and ready for use. Finding it, her heart went up in flames of joy as since long she wanted a bead to make her necklace.

The Blue Bead Questions and Answers

Question 1.
The writer presents a vivid graphic picture of a huge crocodile ‘ which is a significant character in the story. How does she achieve it ?
Answer:
Norah Burke begins the story with a dramatic presentation of a huge crocodile. She refers to it as ‘he’ to make it appear like a character out of a suspense thriller. “Out of black water, curved with whirlpools, and into the frill of gold shallows by the stepping stones”, came the crocodile. This vivid description, full of life and visual details marks the appearance of the huge animal that can fill us with awe and trepidation.
The description of the beast, “Twice the length of a tall man”, “Fed mostly on fish but also on deer and monkeys that came to drink perhaps a duck or two and half-burned bodies of Indians” conceives a physical image of sheer viciousness.

Apart from this, it is referred to as a prehistoric juggernaut, ferocious and formidable, a vast force in the water, propelled by the power of his huge tail. “His mouth almost the whole length of his head, closed in a fixed evil bony smile” completes the picture of the awesome creature.The survival instinct shown by the animal also portrays its brainless craft by which he has lived for hundred years. The whole description is to create an awesome image in the reader’s mind, so that Sibia, the young girl who fights with the crocodile rises to a heroic proportion.

Question 2.
Sibia, is a little frail girl with a zest for simple things in life. How does the author bring out the simplicity of the girl ?
Answer:
Sibia lived in a mud house above a ford in which dangerous creatures like crocodiles lived. She is described as a starveling child dressed in rags. She had ebony hair and great eyes and her skin was creamy brown. A child of twelve years old, she was born to toil.In all her life, she had never owned anything but a rag. She did not even have a pi to buy even a single glass bead which she admired in the market. She would often pause before the sweetmeat stall, gazing longingly at the display.

Yes, she sometimes tasted wild honey or sugar cane at home but never the green and magenta sweets. There were other wonders like soft silk fabrics and stones like turquoises and opals but these wonders of the world were not for a forest girl like her. She was marked for work, husking corn, putting dung to dry, gathering dry sticks and fetching water. Her only adornment could be the black and red jungle beads, but that too were denied to her as the needle to thread them was broken.

Question 3.
How does the unassuming simple girl of the village assume an aura of heroism in the story ? What is the dramatic irony at the end of the story?
Answer:
Sibia was walking along the stepping stones, when she saw a Gujar woman approaching to fill her earthen pots. It was at that time when the crocodile lunged at her and slashed at her leg with his sharp teeth. The huge animal tried to drag her away. Sibia sprang into action. From boulder to boulder, she came leaping like a rock goat. She seemed to come on wings, choosing her footing instinctively, without thinking about it. In a moment, she was beside the screaming woman.

Seeing the girl, the crocodile struck, throwing the water twenty feet high. Sibia did not hesitate. She aimed at the animal’s eyes. With all the force of her body, she drove her hayfork into one of its eyes. The crocodile reared up in convulsion, crashed back and disappeared into the bloody water. It would die in a few days. But Sibia did not think about its fate. She put her arms around the woman, dragged her from water, stopped her wounds with sand and bound them with rag and helped her home.

The dramatic irony is that Sibia was not aware of the heroic deed she had done. She went through an adventurous battle with a ferocious creature and arrived home to her worried mother. Instead of stating her courageous and adventurous rescue act, she simply said “I found a blue bead for my necklace, look!” The readers may marvel at her heroism, but for the girl, it was the blue bead that mattered by which she could make a beautiful necklace.

Question 4.
How does the author paint the majesty, ferocity and strength of the giant animal ?
Answer:
The huge crocodile lived in the deep black water. It was twice the length of a tall man. It did not have to hide itself. It came to rest in the glassy shallows, among logs with its eyes and nostrils raised above the water to breathe the clean sunny air. Its tail had irresistible power to move with a vast force In the water. Its mouth ran almost the whole length of its head. It lay with its eyes closed with an evil smile and where the yellow underside came up to it, it was green in colour. The mugger crocodile, blackish-brown above and yellowy-white under, lay motionless, ready to wait forever till food came.

The body of the crocodile was covered with the inch thick hide that nothing could pierce it. Even the rifle bullets would bounce off. Only the eyes and the soft underarms were exceptions. It was ferocious and formidable. It propelled in the water by the irresistible and unimaginable power of its tail. It lived well with other crocodiles, muggers and fish-eating gharials.

Question 5.
What is said about, Sibia, the child-woman, and her routine life ?
Answer:
Sibia, the main character or the protagonist of the story, is called a happy immature child- woman at the age of only twelve years just because of her appearance and the burden which she bore to help in household chores. Her hair was black and she had great eyes. She had to carry the household duties. She husked corn, gathered sticks, put dung to dry, cooked and weeded and fetched water and cut grass for fodder. She went with her mother and other ladies to get paper grass from the cliffs. She lived in a mud house in a village above the fort. She had no proper clothes but her body was covered with rags. Those rags were also torn to make a skirt and a saree.

She ate chapatti wrapped round green chilli and rancid butter. She was poor and never owned anything except a rag. She was interested in the natural jewelry made by seeds that rattled round her neck. She appreciated little things in life like watching Kashmiri merchant selling silks, smell of the wonderful dressing of the cloth stall and much more. She was brave, laborious, courageous and extremely observant.

Question 6.
Describe in detail, the ferocious fight between the crocodile and Sibia.
Answer:
When Sibia saw the Gujar woman carried away by the giant crocodile, she immediately ran beside the shrieking woman without thinking anything and without wasting a moment. With a quick presence of mind she came into action and sprang up. She jumped from boulder to boulder leaping like a rock goat. She came on wings, choosing her footing mid-air and without even thinking of it she reached beside the shrieking woman. She did not hesitate and with all the force of her little body, drove the hayfork at the crocodile’s eyes and one prong went in while the other scratched past the thorny cheek.

The crocodile reared up in convulsion, till half his lizard body was out of the river, the tail and nose nearly, met over his stony back. Then he crashed back, exploding the water and in an uproar of bloody foam, he disappeared. Sibia got her arms round the fainting woman and somehow dragged her out of the water. She stopped her wounds with sand and bound them with rags and helped her home to the Gujar encampment where the men made a litter to carry her to someone for treatment,

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

Treasure Trove Poems Workbook Answers I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Questions and Answers

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

1. A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange sun rays
And dares to claim the sky.

Question 1.
How does the poet refer to nature here? What does the poet mean by the phrase ‘dares to claim the sky’ in the last line?
Answer:
She refers to nature by describing the way “a free bird leaps on the back of the wind”. She also describes the bird’s flight against the orange sky.

The last line speaks of the state of absolute freedom enjoyed by the bird out of cage. A free bird such as this can fly in the sky as it wishes.

Question 2.
How does a reader get a hint of appreciation for the beauty of nature?
Answer:
The way she describes the “orange sun rays” gives the reader an appreciation for the natural beauty of the sky. Moreover, her description of the way the bird “dips his wing” helps the reader to appreciate the bird in his natural habitat, enjoying his freedom.

Question 3.
What is the free bird metaphor for here? Explain.
Answer:
The free bird enjoys its freedom without any interference. The free bird is compared to the white race retaining freedom and aversion towards black people of America. They have the freedom to pursue their ambition easily. They are unaware of the cries and needs of the oppressed black community.

Question 4.
What is meant by “orange sun rays”?
Answer:
The poet says that the bird seems to dip its wings in the orange rays of the sun. Here she refers to beauty of nature, that nature is full of colours. The way she describes the “orange sun rays” gives the reader an appreciation for the natural beauty of the sky. It alludes to a free, lively and a blissful atmosphere where the free bird lives.

Question 5.
Describe the image of the bird as presented in the stanza.
Answer:
The poem is a contrast between a caged bird and a free bird. In the first stanza Maya Angelou breathes life into her description of a ‘free bird’ by using verbs like ‘leaps’,‘floats’,‘dips’. The free bird is a symbol of freedom and happiness and these well chosen verbs are especially meaningful because they contain joy and energy. The free bird has the freedom to go wherever and can claim the sky because there are no other birds to contest with her. The stanza shows us that the free bird is lazy and would rather float with the wind instead of making its own path.

2. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

Question 1.
Describe the tone of the poet in these lines. How does the bird respond to his existential condition?
Answer:
The poet’s tone is dark, unnerving, and even frustrating. She describes that the caged bird can hardly see through his bars of rage. The bird is helpless by everything but only responds by opening his throat to sing due to his immense longing for freedom.

Question 2.
Explain the lines:’ can seldom see through his bars of rage.’
Answer:
By the lines, “can seldom see through his bars of rage” i.e., the poet says that the caged bird is hardly able to get a glimpse of the sky which makes him angry. His clipped wings and tied feet tied prevent him from flying away. His aspirations are suppressed, he is helpless to even get a sight of the great freedom outside the bars of the cage which makes the bird resentful for he longs for freedom to be outside the cage

Question 3.
What does the use of the word ’but’ in the beginning suggest?
Answer:
This stanza is in stark contrast with the first. By using the word “but” to begin this stanza, the poet prepares the reader for this contrast. The poet then describes the pathetic condition of another bird that is captive in a caged, with wings clipped and feet tied. The word “but” indicates that the idea or imagery that the poet is going to present is contrary to what she has already stated.

Question 4.
What is the condition of the bird described in this stanza?
Answer:
The bird’s wings are clipped and feet are tied. It hardly even gets a chance to see the sky. It has been placed in a cage that prevents it from flying. The bird is helpless. He is resentful, for this unfair captivation to him as birds fly freely in the sky and they should not be kept captive. He longs to be free from the pain and suffering inside the sorrowful cage.

Question 5.
Whom does the poet refer indirectly while mentioning of the free and the caged bird?
Answer:
This contrast between the birds enables the poet to express indirectly her own emotions about freedom and isolation. By the ‘free bird’ the poet refers to the white people, and the caged bird can be interpreted as the black race being deprived from freedom by their skin colour. This could be compared to slavery in the U.S.A, where the blacks were suppressed from their aspirations and were much tortured by the white people.

3. The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.

Question 1.
What does the poet imply about the bird’s craving for freedom?
Answer:
The author implies that even though the caged bird may have never experienced true freedom, yet deep down that bird still knows that it was created to be free. Although freedom, to the caged bird, is “fearful” because it is “unknown”, he still sings “a fearful trill” because he still longs for freedom.

Question 2.
Give the significance of the lines: The caged bird sings with A fearful trill of things unknown”.
Answer:
Maya Angelou uses irony to be cleverer and effective but less direct in conveying her feelings. ‘The caged bird sings with a fearful trill’. This sentence is ironic as the caged bird is the one singing not the free bird as we expect. However, the words ‘fearful’ and ‘trill’ makes us realize that actually it is not a happy tune but in a fearful and trembling tone. The bird is unknown of many strange things but still sings the songs of freedom in quaver which enables the readers to reach to more depth and appreciate freedom.

Question 3.
What does the poet mean by the expression ‘his tune is heard on the distant hill’?
Answer:
The speaker reveals that cry for freedom is “heard on the distant hill”. This parallels to the author and her cry for freedom in the form of equality. She feels that her cries are heard, but only as a soft background noise. She still feels that she is caged and that although she sings, her cries are heard only as a distant noise.

Question 4.
Show the relevance of the stanza.
Answer:
The stanza describes the conditions of the American black people longing for freedom. It implies that even though the caged bird may have never experienced true freedom, deep down that bird still knows that it was created to be free. Here, the poet reveals that like the caged bird many black people are deprived from their freedom and that although they sing their cries are heard, but only as a distant noise.

Question 5.
What does the last line imply?
Answer:
The last line states, “For the caged bird sings of freedom”. With this, the speaker implies that although the caged bird may never have experienced freedom, he still sings of it because he was created for freedom. This is paralleled to the African American struggle in Maya Angelou’s time. She feels that black Americans wrote and sang and danced and cried out for the freedom they deserved, but they were only heard as a distant voice. Yet, this would not stop them from crying out for freedom and equality because they knew they were made for freedom, and they would not relent until they were given their rights as human beings to enjoy the freedom they were created to enjoy.

4. The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.
But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

Question 1.
How does the poet describe the bird’s freedom here? Comment on the tone of the poet.
Answer:
The poet says that a free bird has freedom of choice and opportunities to fly at his sweet will. He can enjoy the “sighing trees” and is free to find his own food.

The tone of the poet suggests a sense of ecstasy and thrill due to freedom.

Question 2.
What is meant by another breeze? Why does the free bird thinks of another breeze? .
Answer:
“Another breeze” implies that the free birds thinks for a flight in a different air current. The poet writes that a “free bird thinks of another breeze”, so that is he can enjoy the sighing trees and be free to find his own food. The bird is not contented and is greedy to have even more freedom, but again it is shown to be lazy and unsatisfied with the stream of wind that is on but not enough to do something about it.

Question 3.
In what way is the caged bird different from the free bird?
Answer:
The poem is a contrast between a ‘free bird’ and ‘caged bird’. The caged bird possess its own limitations. His wings are clipped and feet are tied. He hardly even gets a chance to see the sky. He has been placed in a cage that prevents it from flying. Despite its fear, the cage bird continues to sing for freedom. The bird opens his mouth to sing because his desire for freedom and his desire to express himself cannot be controlled. Whereas a “free bird thinks of another breeze “so that he can enjoy the “sighing trees” i.e., it is free from all worries and sufferings.

Question 4.
Explain: “But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams”.
Answer:
The reality of the life of the caged bird is revealed in this line. It is a dark, sombre and haunting image indicating the slavery and inability to exercise one’s freedom of choice. The bird is helpless by everything. His aspirations and desires are suppressed by the sorrowful captivity of the cage. He is unable to fulfil his dreams and cries out like someone who has seen a nightmare.

Question 5.
How does this signifies the author’s own state of mind?
Answer:
The reality of the life of the caged bird that the bird “stands on the grave of dreams” reveals the author’s feelings about her own dreams. She has so many dreams that have died because she was never given the freedom to achieve all that her white counterparts were able to achieve. Discrimination and Racism made up her cage, and although she sang, she felt her voice was not heard in the wide world, but only by those nearest her cage.

Question 6.
What does the poet wants to convey by the contrast between the two birds?
Answer:
These contrasting environments—the freedom of an open world of the free bird and the restrictive surroundings of the caged bird—create the setting for the poem, to contrast a free bird with a bird who is confined to a cage; the poet wants to convey two different birds as metaphors for people free from oppression and people who are oppressed by society. The metaphor shows the free bird and caged bird which is important to understand for the theme. The tone shows the difference between the free bird, proud and controlling, and the caged bird, angry and determined which is essential to the theme. ‘For the caged bird sings of freedom’ is the last line of the poem and it delivers a very important message for the reader – the caged bird wants to be like the free bird. This tells us that we should be aware and thankful for the freedom we have and basically this sum,s up the whole poem.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

Treasure Trove Poems Workbook Answers The Patriot

The Patriot Questions and Answers

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

1. It was roses, roses, all the way,
With myrtle mixed in my path like mad:
The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway,
The church-spires flamed, such flags they had,
A year ago on this very day.

Question 1.
What does the speaker talk about in these lines? What does the third line suggest here? Describe the dominant mood of this stanza.
Answer:
The speaker talks about the rousing welcome he had been accorded by people earlier. It suggests a huge presence of the crowd that had assembled on the house-tops. This gave the impression as though they were moving and swinging. The dominant mood of this stanza is that of festive joy and cheerfulness.

Question 2.
What does the phrase ‘the church-spires flamed’ imply? When did the event, being recalled here, take place?
Answer:
It implies that the minarets and domes of churches seemed to aflame due to the massive presence of colourful flags put all over them for decorative purpose.
This event took place one year ago.

Question 3.
‘The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway’. Explain.
Answer:
In this line, the narrator of the poem remembers the grand welcome he was accorded as a hero by people one year ago. This particular line suggests the presence of a huge crowd that had gathered to see and greet him on his arrival. Picturising this, the narrator states that there was so much of excitement and joy in the air that the roofs of houses crowded with people did not appear to be still.

Question 4.
How was he welcomed?
Answer:
The first stanza gives a lively description of how, just one year ago, the narrator was welcomed with pomp and ceremony by people from his town. As the narrator says, his path was laden with roses and myrtle, signifying love and honour for him as their hero. The residents of the town have clambered onto their roofs to get a glimpse of the patriot, while the flags of different colours were so high and imposing that the church spires seemed to be surrounded by flames.

Question 5.
What significance does the line” A year ago on this very day” presents in the context of the poem?
Answer:
This line is extremely significant as it anticipates the stark irony of the narrator’s life, exposing him to paradoxical situations. Besides, it indicates that the narrator was regarded as a hero by his people in the recent past. This makes the readers curious as to how he is treated by his people ‘now’ or ‘today’. Thus, this line reinforces shift in the speaker’s description of what happened in the ‘past’ to what is happening at ‘present’ quite intelligibly.

2. The air broke into a mist with bells,
The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries.
Had I said, “Good folk, mere noise repels—
But give me your sun from yonder skies!”
They had answered, “And afterward, what else?”

Question 1.
What do the first two lines of the stanza suggest? Why did the air break into a mist?
Answer:
They suggest the celebratory mood of people according a warm welcome to their hero. They ring bells and raise slogans, and all these mingle with one another to shake the walls that are old.

The air broke into a mist because of the noisy slogans and the ringing bells.

Question 2.
What do the last three lines suggest about the mood of the crowd?
Answer:
These people were welcoming him so happily that if he had told them that mere noise and slogans did not please him. And that they should give him the sun, that is there in the sky far away from them , they would have replied, that was executed (done and what else they could do for him ‘the leader’).

Question 3.
Who were they in the following line? What light does the line throw on them?
They had answered, “And afterward, what else?”
Answer:
The personal pronoun ‘They’ has been used here for the crowd of people who welcomed the narrator. When the patriot asks them to fetch him their sun from the skies, their answer is reflective of their frivolous nature. They immediately ask the patriot what else would he require, other than the sun. This indicates that though the crowd was eager, they weren’t sensible.

Question 4.
Explain the line: “But give me your sun from yonder skies!”
Answer:
This is what the speaker as the patriot tells the crowd surrounding him. He tries to tell them that he doesn’t want all the cheers and applause, but wants them to fetch something immortal and imperishable for him. This implies that he wants to live in their memories as a great hero for ever.

Question 5.
Which particular trend in the modern-day politics does the behaviour of the crowd suggest here?
Answer:
The behaviour of the crowd here suggests the trend of hero worship that is so prevalent in contemporary politics. As we notice, the crowd is too excited for a glimpse of the patriot. They treat the patriot as a superman for whom they will not hesitate to sacrifice themselves. This amounts to over¬glorification or even deification of a leader, paving the way for the emergence of what is sometimes referred to as the personality cult in politics.

3. Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun
To give it my loving friends to keep!
Nought man could do, have I left undone:
And you see my harvest, what I reap
This very day, now a year is run.

Question 1.
Who is ‘I’ in the above extract? What does leaping at the sun signify?
Answer:
In these lines, the personal pronoun T has been used by the poet for the patriot-hero, i.e. the speaker in this poem. The phrase ‘leaping at the sun’ here implies that the patriot has done extraordinary things for the happiness and welfare of people who love him. He feels that people should reciprocate this by immortalising him as their hero.

Question 2.
In what mood is the speaker now? Where is he at present ?
Answer:
Presently, the speaker seems to have realised that he has absolutely no control over the situation he finds himself in. He is gloomy, melancholy, dejected and hapless as he knows that his life is going to end soon. At present, he is being taken away to the execution ground where he will be hanged.

Question 3.
What does the first line tell about the speaker’s sentiment? Who does the speaker refer to as ‘my loving friends’? How does the speaker justify himself as a people’s leader?
Answer:
Here, the speaker says with an aggrieved heart that it was he who made the impossible, possible for people.

The speaker calls his countrymen as ‘my loving friends’.

He says that as a leader he did everything to keep people happy and left nothing undone for them.

Question 4.
Explain what “harvest” the speaker is referring to ?
Answer:
In this stanza, the speaker uses the word “harvest” satirically. His “harvest” is what he has reaped, whereas what he had sown was bringing glory, power and honour to the people. He feels that for all the outstanding things he did for his people, he has got a reward that is extremely disgracing. As he is going to die at the gallows, he has realised that his own people who once worshipped him have misunderstood him and are responsible for his tragic end.

Question 5.
Explain what the speaker wants to say in the last two lines.
Answer:
He says with great sorrow that today when only one year has lapsed and that he is no more in chair, his reward can be seen. It can also be seen what he is reaping as a reward of his deeds. Everything has changed for him in a year. In a sorrowful tone the speaker says that the people have forgotten all what he has done for them.

4. There’s nobody on the house-tops now—
Just a palsied few at the windows set;
For the best of the sight is, all allow,
At the Shambles’ Gate—or, better yet,
By the very scaffold’s foot, I trow.

Question 1.
Compare the scene on the house-tops a year ago and now as mentioned in the extract above.
Answer:
Here, the speaker notices a stark reversal of the situation that he had experienced one year ago. Today, the house-tops are completely empty and save a very few people, who are handicapped, he sees nobody anywhere. This is so unlike what he had seen exactly one year ago, when the roof-tops were filled with a huge crowd standing there to welcome him as a hero.

Question 2.
What difference is seen in the people’s attitude towards the patriot before and now?
Answer:
One year ago, he was a hero loved, adored and honoured by his people. At that time, people’s attitude mirrored the prime of his popularity. Today, the same people hate him and he finds himself disgraced, discarded and deprived of honour and pride. The way people treat him now reflects the lowest ebb of his career from which death alone will bring in the ultimate liberation and relief.

Question 3.
Explain : “the best of sight”? What does it refer to and why?
Answer:
The phrase “the best of sight” refers to the sight of the speaker passing through the Shambles’ Gate and reaching the gallows. By using it ironically, the speaker indirectly suggests that his people lack sensibility and judiciousness, due to which they behave like a one-dimensional herd with a crude tendency to accept or reject anything without using their ability to reason and think. That is why, when people adored him as their hero, he could notice their presence everywhere. Now, as he has lost their trust and faith, they all want to see him dying. To them therefore, “the best of sight” is to be offered by the way he approaches his death.

Question 4.
What does the phrase ‘a palsied few at the windows set’ imply here?
Answer:
The phrase has been used to inform about the only set of people who are visible now. As the speaker says, they are rather paralyzed and are standing at the windows. At a deeper level, however, they may suggest those few people who might know that he is not guilty. But they are themselves too weak to protect him from capital punishment.

Question 5.
What does the speaker mourn in the first line? Why does the spectacle presented seem to be so hQrrible? Which images used in this stanza are connected to death?
Answer:
The speaker is sad to see that nobody can be seen on the housetops to welcome him now.

The sight is horrible because the leader is now being taken to the slaughter-house, or it can be better said, the leader thinks, that he is being taken to the gallows to be hanged there.

Shamble’s Gate and scaffold’s foot are two such images that are connected to death.

5. I go in the rain, and, more than needs,
A rope cuts both my wrists behind;
And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds,
For they fling, whoever has a mind,
Stones at me for my year’s misdeeds.

Question 1.
What is the general impression you get here about the condition of the speaker? What does the second line suggest here?
Answer:
These lines indicate that speaker is in a pathetic and disgraceful condition, in which no living creature would ever wish to be. The second line says that the speaker’s hands are tied behind his back with a rope. This suggests that he is being taken away as a prisoner.

Question 2.
For whom is the pronoun ‘they’ used in the fourth line? What kind of treatment does the speaker receive from people?
Answer:
It is used for the general public watching the leader as a culprit. Everybody feels that he has done nothing for his countrymen. Every person has turned against him and the achievements of his past one year have been changed to misdeeds. The people present a harsh behavior towards the speaker.

Question 3.
Whose forehead bleeds? How? How was he treated earlier?
Answer:
As the speaker passes by with his hands tied onto his back, people hurl stones at him. Due to this, his forehead bleeds. The description of this act shows the extent to which people hate him now. They treat him as a petty criminal and vent their anger against him for what they regard as a monumental betrayal.

Question 4.
The speaker uses the phrase “my year’s misdeeds”. How does this phrase add to the ambiguity in the poem?
Answer:
In this stanza, as it clearly appears, the speaker has used this phrase to mean something that remains mysterious and unknown till the end. As he states, people who loved and respected him so much have suddenly started hating him for all he has done during a period of just one year! This period seems to be too short for such a complete change in people’s attitude unless the person, whom they have acknowledged as their icon, does something that completely shatters their trust in him. As the poet does not throw any light on this aspect, we are unable to precisely know anything about it. That is why the phrase “my year’s misdeeds” adds to the ambiguity in the poem.

Question 5.
Describe the image of the stanza.
Answer:
The image is extremely sorrowful and pathetic. It is raining and the speaker is being taken to the scaffold i.e., towards his punishment of death. He is bleeding due to the wounds caused by the people who threw stones at him. All his services, his good deeds have been forgotten by everyone. He is in great humiliation and is treated as an animal. This is very emotional. It touches the hearts of the readers and makes to feel sorry for the ill-treatment, the speaker is receiving.

6. Thus I entered, and thus I go!
In triumphs, people have dropped down dead.
“Paid by the world, what dost thou owe
“Me?”—God might question; now instead,
Tis God shall repay: I am safer so.

Question 1.
What does the speaker says in the first and second line of the stanza?
Answer:
Here, the poet, through the mouth of the deposed leader, says that he was brought honourably to the chair and with great pomp and show but now he is being taken very insultingly to the gallows.

He says sometimes great heroes fall from their climax and die. Such has not happened to him. Had he died in the peak of his power, he would have been happy.

Question 2.
Explain : “In triumphs, people have dropped down dead.”
Answer:
This line is an example of paradox. The word ‘triumphs’ means victories signifying brilliant feats achieved by people on the battlefield. Such feats lead to an elevation in the status of those who achieve them. However, this occasionally happens when they lose their lives during the course of the battles they fight. Thus, falling in death is inevitable even when it contradicts what it results in, i.e., elevation or ascendance that a ‘triumph’ basically signifies.

Question 3.
‘I am safer so’. What irony is involved here?
Answer:
The speaker says that he is forced to give away his life in humiliation for which the people are largely responsible. They do not realise this and so, all his good work and his ultimate sacrifice in keeping with what they desire will remain unrewarded. Thus, when he meets God after his death, he will be in a position to be rewarded by Him. This is unlike those persons who die in glory and honour that they receive as rewards from their people in this world only.

Question 4.
What does the speaker want to say in the concluding lines?
Answer:
He says after death he will go to his Lord Creator where God Might question him about his deeds he had done for the people. He would reply that he had done his best for them but they rewarded him with shame. Now he will ask God for a reward because God is just and He would give him the best reward in the other world for his service to his people. He would be safe with God in the world here after.

Question 5.
How does the above extract reflect Browning’s optimistic philosophy of life?
Answer:
The above extract reflects the poet Robert Browning’s belief in the supremacy of divine justice. Through the speaker, he wants to convey this by assuming that the world may be absolutely fair to a person who thinks he deserves a glorious treatment. However, that person should not lose hope because the ultimate reward for him always lies with the Almighty, the supreme giver of justice.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

Treasure Trove Poems Workbook Answers Abou Ben Adhem

Abou Ben Adhem Questions and Answers

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

1. Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,

Question 1.
Who was Abou Ben Adhem? What is meant by ‘may his tribe increase’?
Answer:
Abou Ben Adhem was an 8th century Sufi mystic of royal lineage from Balkh. He loved his tribesmen who treated him as their spiritual leader and pioneer. They followed his teachings based on great ideals and values such as peace, mutual harmony, and service of the deprived and downtrodden. ‘May his tribe increase’, used as a parenthesis here, basically implies a wish for the growth of people who followed his teachings and adopted the path shown by him.

Question 2.
Describe the phrase that has been used by the poet to describe the great charm of the angel?
Answer:
In this stanza, the poet uses the phrase ‘like a lily in bloom’, to describe the great charm of the angel. This is an example of Simile. In this figure of speech, something is compared with some other thing of a different type. Here, the poet compares the charm of the heavenly angel with the beauty of a blooming lily, which is a flower.

Question 3.
Describe the imagery of the scene.
Answer:
The imagery of the scene depicted in this stanza is profound and suggestive. The opening line introduces Abou Ben Adhem with a parenthesis that signifies his tall spiritual stature, faithfulness and devotion to great ideals and values. It is followed by the descriptions of his moonlit room and the otherworldly charm of the angel through images that are fascinating and comprehensible.

Question 4.
What does the last line mean here?
Answer:
It means that Abou Ben does not react like a common human, to the presence of the angel. As he champions the great value of peace and has a great faith in God. He has done no wrong and so is not scared or frightened at the presence of the angel in his room. He is a brave person who can even face the most unusual things in life.

Question 5.
Give the significance of the ‘book of gold’ in the poem.
Answer:
The ‘book of gold’ basically signifies a divine book of records including the names of all people who love God. Its significance lies in the fact that it keeps the list of only those people who love God with pure hearted devotion and dedication. When Abou Ben Adhem is told by the angel that his name is not there on the list of people who love God, he is not worried. He is confident that the book of gold keeps the record of those also who love their fellow men or the humankind. This implies that the book of gold is not a straight record of people who love God, but one that lists people who love and follow the greatest ideals that lead one to the path of God.

2. And to the presence in the room he said,
“What writest thou?”—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, “The names of those who love the Lord.”
“And is mine one?” said Abou. “Nay, not so,”
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, ”1 pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men.”

Question 1.
What does the words ‘presence’ and ’vision’ refer to here? What made Abou bold?
Answer:
In this stanza, the words ‘presence’ and ‘vision’ refer to the presence of the angel and his vision. Use of these words indicates that the appearance of the angel is so illuminating or dazzling that it can’t perhaps be felt quite tangibly as in case of some human being. Abou’s unflinching dedication to the great ideal of peace made him bold.

Question 2.
What is the vision doing? Why is Abou Ben curious? What does he say to the vision?
Answer:
The vision is writing something in a book of gold. Abou Ben is curious as he wants to know that what the vision is writing in the book of gold. After this Abou questions the vision, “What writest thou?” or what are you writing?

Question 3.
Why does the vision raise its head? What did you note about its nature?
Answer:
The vision raises its head to reply to Abou’s question when he enquires about what it is writing in the book of gold. The vision has a sweetness and composure when it faces Abou. This indicates that it is not perturbed or disturbed by Abou suddenly intervening in its work.

Question 4.
What does the vision reply to Abou? What made Abou low?
Answer:
The vision replies that it is writing in the book the names of those who love the Lord, i.e., God. When the vision says that Abou’s name is not one of them, it makes Abou low. He probably feels slightly disheartened at this revelation because he is genuinely devoted to God.

Question 5.
What does Abou request to the vision? What happens next?
Answer:
After coming to know that his name was not on the list, Abou maintains his calm and requests the vision to write his name as someone who loves God’s fellow men. After this, the angel writes something in the book and disappears without saying anything but also reappears the next night.

3. The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest

Question 1.
What happens after the angel disappeared? What did it show Adhem?
Answer:
After disappearing from Abou’s room, the angel does not come back immediately. Instead, it revisits Abou next night with a wakening light that rouse Adhem from sleep. When it reappears, it shows Abou the names of those people who have been blessed with the love of God.

Question 2.
Describe the effect of “a great wakening light”.
Answer:
The phrase “a great wakening light” essentially implies an extremely powerful and luminous light capable of wakening the world. Here, the word ‘wakening’ is used to signify a state of supreme consciousness or complete awakening of senses. Following the reappearance of the vision, Abou experiences this state.

Question 3.
How can you look at the extract as the climax in the poem?
Answer:
The climax comes in the concluding line, when the angel shows Abou the list of those who are blessed with divine love. As the use of the phrase ‘And lo!’ suggests, Abou is visibly surprised to see his name on top of the list. This gives an unexpected twist to the poem, but it’s like a poetic justice in the context of a great man with such a pure, unadulterated devotion.

Question 4.
What did you understand about the character of Abou Ben Adhem?
Answer:
Abou Ben Adhem is a perfect personification of faith in its purest and most practical form. He has no pompous perception about his great deeds and he is most concerned about the weal and welfare of his people. The poet himself acknowledges his virtues in the end as he comes to be regarded as the blessed one.

Question 5.
What message does the poem bring?
Answer:
The poem clearly brings it to the fore that true love for God lies in the spirit of selfless service of the humankind, A number of people perform rituals and prayers to express their faith in God. However, God blesses and loves those people more who love and practically adopt the greatest of ideals and values. Thus, in this poem, the stress is on following the practical rather than dogmatic aspects of faith.