ASLEEP IN THE VALLEY by Arthur Rimbaud: Latest Questions

  A.  Answer the following questions, each in a complete sentence:   (Each question carries 1 mark)

(i) What is the theme of this poem ?
(ii) What kind of poetry does the poet use to drive home the pity of war ?
(iii) To which historical event does the setting of this war goes back ?
(iv) What was Rimbaud’s nationality ?
(v) In what manner does the soldier lie in the countryside ?
(vi) ‘The humming insects don’t disturb his rest’  Why?
(vii) What is the smile of the dead soldier compared to?
(viii) ‘… they fill the hollow full of light’. – What does ‘the hollow’ describe?
(ix) What does the slow stream leave on the bright grass?
(x) What is the soldier’s pillow is made of fern.


B.  Answer the following questions, each in about 100 words: (each question carries 6 marks)
(i)  Justify the title of the poem ”Asleep in the Valley”.
(ii)  How does the poet Arthur Rimbaud look upon war ?
Or, How is Arthur Rimbaud’s attitude against war revealed in his poem “Asleep in the Valley”?
Or, Evaluate “Asleep in the Valley” as an anti-war poem.
(iii)  How does the soldier lie in “Asleep in the Valley”?
(iv)  How does the picture of the soldier describe the tragedy of war ? Explain.
(v)  What do we normally associate with the word ‘asleep’? When does the readers recognise that the soldier is asleep in a different state ?