DAYBREAK by H W Longfellow: Latest Questions

A. Complete the sentences which follow, choosing the correct answers from the alternatives given: (Each question carries 1 mark)

1.        What does ‘Daybreak’ mean?

2.       What type of poem is ‘Daybreak”?

3.       Who announces Daybreak?

4.       Whom does the wind first address in the poem?

5.       Whom does the wind tell to make room for him ?

6.       Whom does the wind hail on the sea?

7.       What does the wind advise the mariners?

8.       “Sail on, Ye mariners, …” – What does the word ‘Ye’ mean?

9.       “And hurried landward far away” – Why is the wind in haste?

10.   What does the wind say to the forest ?

11.   “Hang all your leafy banners out !” – What are ‘leafy banners’?

12.   How does the wind try to awaken the sleeping bird?

13.    “It touched the wood-bird’s folded wing” – What does the expression ‘folded wings’ signify?

14.   What does the wind ask the wood-bird to do?

15.    How can ‘chanticleer’ herald the arrival of the daybreak?

16.   What is the ‘clarion’ of the chanticleer?

17.   What is the meaning of ‘clarion’?

18.   Why does the wind ask the fields of corn to bow down?

19.   What is ‘belfry-tower’?

20.   “Proclaim the hour.” – Who is called to proclaim the hour?

21.   Where does the wind finally reach?

22.   How does the wind express his sorrow for the dead ?

23.   What does the wind tell the dead souls lying in the grave?

24.   Give an example of ‘personification’ from the poem.

B. Answer the following questions in not more than 100 words each: (Each question carries 5 marks)

(i) The poet personifies the wind in “Daybreak”. How does he do this ?

Or, How is the wind personified in Longfellow’s poem “Daybreak”?

Or, Describe the activities of the wind as you find in Longfellow’s poem “Daybreak”.

Or, Give an account of the activities of the wind in the sea and on land as described in Longfellow’s poem “Daybreak”?

Or, Discuss the journey of the wind, carrying the message of daybreak in Longfellow’s poem, “Daybreak”.

(ii) Explain the significance of the title of the poem “Daybreak”.

(iii) Consider Longfellow as a poet of Nature with reference to the poem, “Daybreak”.

Or, What picture of dawn does the poem ‘Daybreak” present?

(iv) “It crossed the churchyard with a sigh …” – Who crossed the churchyard? Why did it sigh ? What did the wind say while crossing the churchyard? Why did it say so?     1+1+1+2

THE POETRY OF EARTH by John Keats: Latest Questions

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

(i)   What does Keats celebrate in this poem ?

(ii)  Why does Keats make the voices of the grasshopper and the cricket follow each other ?

(iii)   The poet contrasts summer with frost and then introduces warmth into frost. Why does he do this ?

(iv)  Where does the grasshopper rest at ease in summer ?

(v)  What does the cricket’s song seem to ‘one in drowsiness half lost’ ?

(vi)    “… he has never done with his delights…” – Whose delights are spoken of here ?

(vii)  How are the birds in summer according to Keats ?

(viii) What does the voice speak of in Keats’ “The Poetry of Earth” ?

 B.  Answer the following questions, each in about 100 words: (each question carries 6 marks)

(i) Show, after Keats, that the poetry of earth never comes to an end.

Or, How does Keats prove that poetry of earth is never dead ?

(ii)  What pictures of the two seasons does Keats draw in “The Poetry of Earth” ? How are the two pictures related ?  4+2

(iii) Name the poet who composed “The Potry of Earth”. What is meant by “The Poetry of Earth” ? How does the poet read “The Poetry of Earth” ?  1+2+3

(iv) Identify the voices of poetry in the poem. How does Keats establish continuity through these voices ?

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 ?

ON KILLING A TREE by Gieve Patel: Latest Questions

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

(i)                  Where does irony lie in the poem ?

(ii)                In what form of verse is this poem written in ?

(iii)               On what tone does the poem end ?

(iv)              What makes this poem easy to read ?

(v)                Where will green twigs rise from ?

(vi)              “And then it is done” – What act is referred to here ?

(vii)             What is to be done with the root in the poem “On Killing of a Tree” ?

(viii)           How, according to Gieve Patel, has the tree grown ?

(ix)              What kind of task is it to kill a tree ?

(x)                What type of poem is “On Killing a Tree” ?

    B.      Answer the following questions, each in about 100 words: (each question carries 6 marks)

(i)             Describe in detail the growth of the tree as given in the first stanza of the poem “On Killing a Tree”.

(ii)                How does the tree heal itself ?

           Or, How is the life-force of the tree described in the poem “On Killing a Tree” ?

(iii)               The poem “On Killing a Tree” describes man’s cruelty and violence to nature. Discuss.

(iv)              How can the tree be killed in “On Killing a Tree” ?

SHALL I COMPARE THEE by William Shakespeare: An Analysis

 The Author:

 William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is the greatest poet and dramatist of England. He is usually considered the greatest dramatist the world has known, as well the finest poet who has written in the English language. His works have been translated into more languages than any book in the world except the Bible. He is the sweetest, the richest and the noblest poet of the Elizabethan playwrights. He has written many immortal plays and sonnets.

The Source:

 There are one hundred and fifty four (154) sonnets of Shakespeare. Sonnets 1 to 126 form a series, addressed to a beautiful youth. Sonnets 127 to 152 are addressed to a dark lady. The last two sonnets (153 and 154) are the conventional love-sonnets on Cupid. The present sonnet "Shall I Compare Thee..." is sonnet no.18 and falls in the first series.

The Theme:

 The sonnet is a sincere tribute by the poet to the eternal beauty of his friend. He feels the destructive touch of time on all worldly elements. The loveliness of summer, the beautiful buds of May, the sun -- all fair forms of nature are subjected to decay. This very thought is certainly painful, but the poet has no feelings of dismay. He is rather inspired by his firm faith in the eternal appeal of his friend's beauty. His friend will ever live and thrive, despite the cruel blow of time, through the lines of his verse written in his praise.

The Features:

   The sonnet is one of the well-known sonnets. It is addressed to a young friend of the poet, possibly the Earl of Southampton. It is vibrant with the characteristic vigour and technical artistry of Shakespeare. It clearly denotes the singularity of his theme of friendly love and devotion. It also marks his faith in his poetic power and technical innovation.

  The main theme of the sonnet is the celebration of the beauty of the poet's friend. It testifies ti his high idealism of love and his glorification of its triumph over time. The poem has a great contribution to the time-love theme of Shakespearea's sonnet. Here the poet expresses his fervent zeal to perpetuate his friend's beauty through the power of his verse. The concluding lines strike this most:

"When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:

So long as men can breath or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

  The poem is also characterised by the compact but clear imagery drawn by the poet to describe his friend's beauty. 'The darling buds of May' shaken by the rough winds of summer, the 'gold complexion' of the sun and 'shade' of death are some images which are well conceived and sharply presented here by the poet. His happy and devoted tone is properly balanced with the images.

  The sonnet strictly follows the Shakespearean pattern. It has three quatrains and a concluding couplet. The first two quatrains express, through suitable images, the changes and decay in the natural world even in the lovely summer season. The third quatrain declares the poet's faith in the friend's everlasting beauty and its triumph over death. The whole theme is summed up in the concluding couplet where the poet happily declares that his friend shall live as long as his lines live. The poem, as a typical Shakespearean sonnet is written in iambic pentameter. There are seven rhymes in the lines -- ab, ab, cd, cd, ef, ef, gg.

The Comparison:

  In the sonnet “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” (Sonnet No. 18), William Shakespeare proposes to compare his friend to the sweet day of the summer season. A summer day is rich in the plenty as well as beauty of nature and is truly charming. But the poet considers his friend to possess no less charm, no less grace. The friend even seems to possess greater loveliness and serenity than the pleasant summer day. In fact, his beauty is more attractive and impressive than what the summer season has. Moreover, it is not subjected to the decay or mutability which is wrought by time to nature in summer. The little, lovely buds of May are often tossed by the high wind of summer. All the graceful and lovely elements of summer, too, do not last long. They have a fixed time for stay and fade away in no time. The sun, no doubt, is bright and sparkling in summer. Yet, it does not remain always pleasing and lively. Its rays become occasionally scorching, unbearable. Again, its bright, golden look changes and becomes pale now and then. In fact, every lovely natural object is subjected to some decay or change that is inevitable. But the poet’s friend has a beauty that is sure to withstand the ravages of time. The poet asserts that his friend’s beauty stands superior to the natural beauty of a summer day. 

The Hope:

  The poet expresses his firm hope for perpetuating his beauty in this mortal world through the power of his verse. He finds in his friend’s beauty greater loveliness and serenity than that of the summer day. He also feels this beauty imperishable. It is subjected to no decay or destruction, although every fair element of nature loses its beauty in course of time. The cold, cruel touch of death is unable to claim this beauty and drag it down to the dark, lifeless realm as a victim against the enlivening effect of his verse. The poet’s friend will, in fact, ever live and thrive through his verse. As long as the human race lives and loves to read, this very sonnet will remain to celebrate his beauty. It will give him an eternal life which no ravage of time can ever take away. In this transient human world, he will live ever. 

 The MCQ Data Bank:

• Nature of the poem  >>  sonnet.
• Shakespeare’s sonnet no. >> 18
• Written in >> Iambic pentameter, with three quatrains and a concluding couplet.
• Rhyme pattern >> ab, ab, cd, cd, ef, ef, gg.
• Addressed to >> a young friend, possibly the Earl of Southampton.
• The main theme >> time-love
• The poet proposes to compare his friend to >> the lovely day of summer.
• The point of comparison >> beauty
• Shall I compare ....summer’s day >> This is a sort of rhetorical interrogation in which the question carries the answer. The poet implies here that the friend is lovelier than a summer day.
• Temperate >> restrained, even-tempered, moderation, not of the extreme form.
• Rough winds ... of May >> This is a case of personal metaphor.
• The darling buds of May >> the lovely buds that bloom in the month of May.
• Summer’s lease >> the fixed period of summer
• A date >> a period, a specific time
• The eye of heaven >> the sun (This is an example of the periphrasis – a roundabout statement).
• Gold complexion >> golden rays of the sun
• Dimm’d >> becomes pale
• Untrimm’d >> faded, deprived of trimming, without proper trimming.
• Eternal summer >> the enduring charms of the beauty of summer; everlasting beauty
• Ow’st >> possess, own.
• Nor shall Death ...in his shade >> death is here personified.
• Brag >> boast
• In his shade >> in his dark realm
• Eternal lines to time >> lines which will last all through the time
• Nature of the poem  >>  sonnet.
• Shakespeare’s sonnet no. >> 18
• Written in >> Iambic pentameter, with three quatrains and a concluding couplet.
• Rhyme pattern >> ab, ab, cd, cd, ef, ef, gg.
• Addressed to >> a young friend, possibly the Earl of Southampton.
• The main theme >> time-love
• The poet proposes to compare his friend to >> the lovely day of summer.
• The point of comparison >> beauty
• Shall I compare ....summer’s day >> This is a sort of rhetorical interrogation in which the question carries the answer. The poet implies here that the friend is lovelier than a summer day.
• Temperate >> restrained, even-tempered, moderation, not of the extreme form.
• Rough winds ... of May >> This is a case of personal metaphor.
• The darling buds of May >> the lovely buds that bloom in the month of May.
• Summer’s lease >> the fixed period of summer
• A date >> a period, a specific time
• The eye of heaven >> the sun (This is an example of the periphrasis – a roundabout statement).
• Gold complexion >> golden rays of the sun
• Dimm’d >> becomes pale
• Untrimm’d >> faded, deprived of trimming, without proper trimming.
• Eternal summer >> the enduring charms of the beauty of summer; everlasting beauty
• Ow’st >> possess, own.
• Nor shall Death ...in his shade >> death is here personified.
• Brag >> boast
• In his shade >> in his dark realm
• Eternal lines to time >> lines which will last all through the time

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