Father to a Son-Qs-Ans- Elizabeth Jennings

 Father to a Son- Elizabeth Jennings

(A)  Short Answer-type Questions (About 30-40 words each)

Q1.  Explain the lines: “Yet have I killed 
The seed I spent or sown it where
The land is his and none of mine?”

Ans. the father means to say that he has sowed the seeds of his ideas into his son’s mind, but his ideas did not cause any fruitful effect there. The son did not mould his own personality in the frame which his father had desired.

Q2. Explain the lines:“This child is built to my design
Yet what he loves I cannot share. 
Silence surrounds us…..”

Ans. The meaning in the above lines is very much clear. The father says that the son has full physical resemblance with him.

 Q4. What is the reason for this kind of relationship between the son and the father in the poem?

Ans. It is the communication gap that is responsible for such a bad type of relationship between the father and the son. Sometimes fathers behave like a boss. So, sons do not feel comfortable in sharing their ‘joys and sorrows’ with them. They feel more comfortable with their mothers.

Q5. What can be estimated about the son’s state of mind from the lines, “He speaks: I cannot understand
Myself, why anger grows from grief. 
We each put out an empty hand, 
Longing for something to forgive.”

Ans. From the above lines, one thing is clear that the son is confused about ‘something’. A constant struggle may be going on in his mind. It may be about making a type of compromise that is made when one fails or feels helpless to proceed further with the present odd situation.

It is a kind of compromise which takes place when one is defeated. The son may have struggled hard to make his career, but may have failed in this competitive world. Now he might be thinking to come back his father’s house.

Q 6. Explain the lines:  “We each put out an empty hand, /Longing for something to forgive.”

Ans. In the above lines, ‘we’ stands for ‘the father’ and ‘the son’. The father says that each of them extend  his empty hand forward to shake and long to forgive each other. The question arises here as to why the adjective ‘empty’ used in front of the noun ‘hand’.

 When a person shakes hands with another person, the hands are always empty. But if the meaning is taken at the deeper level, the hand is never empty. It has warmth of love.  But in this case, the emotion of love is missing at present. It has to take place in the new relationship that will emerge out of ‘sorrow’.

(B)   Some Important Stanzas for Comprehension

 Stanza 1

“I do not understand this child
 Though we have lived together now
 In the same house for years.”

Q1. Who is “I” in the above stanza?

Ans. It is the father in the above stanza.

Q2. Why does the “I” say that he does not understand that child?

Ans. The father does not understand what the son wants.

Q3. Who is the child mentioned in the stanza?

Ans. The child is the son of the father, the narrator in this poem.

Q4. Name the poem and its poet.

Ans. The title of the poem is Father to Son  and the poet is Elizabeth Jennings 

Stanza 2

“Yet have I killed 
The seed I spent or sown it where
The land is his and none of mine? “

 “We speak like strangers, there's no sign
Of understanding in the air. ..”

“This child is built to my design
Yet what he loves I cannot share. 
Silence surrounds us…..”

Q1. For What does the ‘seed’ stand ?

Ans. It stands for the seed of ideas.

Q2. Why does the father say that he has spent the seed he had sown?

Ans. He says so because his son’s mind-set is different from his own. He expected the same ideas as he has in his mind.

Q3. Why do they behave like strangers?

Ans. No ideas were common between them. That’s why they speak like ‘strangers’.

Q4. What is the reason for this kind of relationship between the son and the father in the poem?

Ans. It is communciation gap that is responsible for such a bad type of relationship between the father and the son. Sometimes fathers behave like a boss. So, sons do not feel comfortable in sharing their ‘joys and sorrows’ with them. They feel more comfortable with their mothers.

 Q5. What is meant by the word ‘design’ in the poem?

Ans. Here ‘design’ means physical structure and resemblance.

Q6. Explain the expression: ‘what he loves I cannot share’.

Ans. When the father says that ‘what he loves I cannot share’, he means to say that his son has different likes, dislikes, tastes and so many other ideas.

Stanza 3

“I would have
Him prodigal, returning to
His father's house, the home he knew, 
Rather than see him make and move
His world….”

Q1. Who is a prodigal son?

Ans. ‘A prodigal  son’ is the one who has left his family to do something that his family did not allow him to do, and after sometime, he has returned home feeling sorry for his mistake.

Q2. What does the father want?

Ans. The father wants that the son should return to his house unconditionally.

Q3. What do the words ‘his father's house’ indicate?

Ans. The use of the words ‘his father's house’ show that the father does not want his son not to make his claim on the house. It shows father’s possessive nature also. He wantes his son to possess him like a thing.

Q4. Explain the line:  “Rather than see him make and move/His world.”

Ans. The father would like that his son should come back and he would not like to see him making his own house, making his own world where he can move of his own.

The above line “Rather than see him make and move/His world.” shows that the father does not like that his son should become independent and develop his own world of his own and where he could move freely. If he returns home, he would forgive him. Thus, after forgiving him, he would shape (develop) a new relationship out of the sad one that was there already between them.

Stanza 4

“I would forgive him too, 
Shaping from sorrow a new love. 
Father and son, we both must live
On the same globe and the same land.”

Q1. What does the father want to shape now?

Ans The father wants to shape a new relationship out of the sad one.

Q2. What thought has forced the father to develop a new relationship out of the old one?
Ans. The father reaches a conclusion that both the sone and the father must live together in the same house.

Q3. What meaning does the line ‘On the same globe and the same land’may convey?

Ans. The same globe stands for the earth and the same land means the same nation/country.

Stanza 5

“He speaks: I cannot understand
Myself, why anger grows from grief. 
We each put out an empty hand, 
Longing for something to forgive.”

Q1. Who is ‘He’ in the above lines?

Ans. “he” is the son in the above lines.

Q2. Who cannot understand and what?

Ans. The son cannot understand why anger grows in him from grief.

Q3.  What do each of them long?

Ans. Each of them long for something to forgive each other.

Q4. What could be something in the above lines?

Ans. It could be the past behavior that they showed towards each other.

 

 

 

 

Childhood by Markus Natten

 Childhood by Markus Natten

Short Answer-type Questions (About 30-40 words each)

Q1. What answer /answers did the poet provide to the question put in the first stanza:  “When did his childhood go?”

Ans. The answered himself by asking if it was the day when he completed the eleventh year of his age. It was the time when he had started realising the difference between ‘Hell and Heaven’. He came to know that ‘Hell and Heaven’ did not exist (present) anywhere. Those were only the states of mind.

Q2. What answer /answers did the poet provide to the question put in the second stanza: “When did my childhood go?”

Ans. The poet answered himself by asking if it was the time when he realised that adults were not
what they all seemed to be. They appeared that they were not from the inside. They talked and preached about love. But they did not follow what they preached. They were hypocrites.

Q3. What answer /answers did the poet provide to the question put in the third stanza:  “When did his childhood go?”

Ans. He answered himself by asking if it was the time when he found his mind was really his and he started using his own thoughts to decide the problems. At that time he had stopped depending on others for solving his own problems.

Q4. What answer /answers did the poet provide to the question put in the fourth stanza:  “Where did my childhood go?”

Ans. The poet answers himself by saying that it went to some forgotten place. The line “That’s hidden in an infant’s face” shows that the poet has searched for his childhood everywhere. At last, he found its reflection on an infant’s face. It means that the poet has been able to reach the realization that childhood lives in the innocence reflected in the infant’s face.

Q5. What truth does the poet seem to realize at the end of the poem?

Ans. The poet seems to realize the truth that the state of innocence must give way to the state of experience. The knowledge of worldly wisdom is desirable for the human mind. Otherwise, it would be difficult for human beings to live peacefully.

Q6. What does the poet say about the adults?

Ans. He tells us about the hypocrisy shown by the adults. He lost faith in the adults because they did not act on what they preached. They always preached to him to love others, while they themselves did not love others. They showed to others as if they were very close and loving to them. But in reality, they criticised and disliked them at their back. They showed them only mouth honour.

Q7. When did the poet’s mind start to rationalize the thoughts and how?

Ans. In the third stanza, the poet talks about his adulthood although he does not mention it. He has gained the wisdom of life. His faculty of the mind to rationalize the things has developed. Now he can differentiate between good and evil; right and wrong. He can make his own decisions and form opinions about others. He would no more depend on others’ opinions which are usually full of prejudice and jealousy.

Q8. What does the poet conclude at the end of the poem?

Ans. Thus the poem ends with the poet’s conclusion that his childhood has been transferred to another child. If a person wants to see his own childhood, he or she can watch a child’s face and feel glad to see the lost childhood reflected in it.

(B) Some Important Stanzas for Comprehension

Stanza 1

When did my childhood go?
Was it the day I ceased to be eleven,
Was it the time I realized that Hell and Heaven,
Could not be found in Geography,
And therefore could not be,
Was that the day!

Q1. Name the poem and its poet.

Ans. The poem is “Childhood’ and its poet is Markus Natten

Q2.When did the poet’s childhood come to an end according to the poet in the above stanza?

Ans. It came to an end when the poet completed the eleventh year of his age.

Q3. What knowledge did the poet gain about ‘Hell and Heaven’?

Ans. He gained the knowledge that Hell and Heaven cannot be found in geography because these are the states of the human mind.

Q4. Give the meaning of ‘ceased’.

Ans. Stopped

Stanza 2

When did my childhood go?
Was it the time I realised that adults were not
all they seemed to be,
They talked of love and preached of love,
But did not act so lovingly,
Was that the day!

Q1. What did the adults talk about and preach to the poet?

Ans. The adults talked of love and preached of love.

Q2. What knowledge did the poet gain about the adults?

Ans. He came to know that the adults did not do what they talked about and preached.

Q3. What did the behavior of the adults show to the poet?

Ans. It showed their hypocrisy.

Stanza 3

When did my childhood go?
Was it when I found my mind was really mine,
To use whichever way I choose,
Producing thoughts that were not those of other people,
But my own, and my alone,
Was that the day!

Q1. What does the poet mean by “my mind was really mine”?

Ans. It means that the poet has become able to depend on his own thoughts.

Q2. What has the poet stopped doing now?

Ans. The poet has stopped depending on others for taking opinions.

Q3. How does the poet use his own thoughts now?

Ans. He uses his thoughts in his own way now. He solves his problems himself now.

Stanza 4

Where did my childhood go?
It went to some forgotten place,
That’s hidden in an infant’s face,
That’s all I know.
Q1. Where did the poet’s childhood go according to the poet in the above stanza?

Ans. It went to some forgotten place.

Q2. Where did the poet find his childhood?

Ans. He found it in the infant’s face.

Q3. How does the poet feel after losing his childhood?

Ans. He feels sad after losing his childhood.

Q4. Which poetic device has been used in this poem?

Ans. It is ‘refrain’.

 

 

A Tiger in the Zoo by Leslie Norris

 4. A Tiger in the Zoo by Leslie Norris     (Notes Prepared bY Shish Pal Chauhan)

Questions & Answers

Summary

The tiger in the cage walks in a proud manner. He is in anger because he is shut in a small cell. He is helpless and cannot come out. The tiger should be in the jungle. He should be moving slowly in the long grass near a water hole to kill his prey. The tiger is not comfortable in the cell. It is not his natural habitat. He is in anger also. He walks inside the cell feeling uneasy and angry. He does not pay any attention to the visitor. He has no interest in them. The strength of the tiger is behind the bars. He is imprisoned in a cell. He takes no interest in the visitors. The poem gives a message that we should not keep birds and animals in cages. We should not imprison them. They should live in their natural habitats.

Q1. How does the tiger walk about in the cage? What are his emotions?

Ans. The tiger in the cage walks in a proud manner. He is in anger because he is shut in a small cell. He is helpless and cannot come out.

Q2. Where should the tiger be?

Ans. The tiger should be in the jungle. He should be moving slowly in the long grass near a water hole to kill his prey.

Q3. How is the tiger in the cell? How does he react to the visitors?

Ans. The tiger is not comfortable in the cell. It is not his natural habitat. He is in anger also. He walks inside the cell feeling uneasy and angry. He does not pay any attention to the visitor. He has no interest in them.

Q4. Where is the strength of the tiger and how does he treat the visitors?

Ans. The strength of the tiger is behind the bars. He is imprisoned in a cell. He takes no interest in the visitors.

Q5. How does the tiger feel in the cage?

Ans. The tiger is not comfortable in the cell. It is not his natural habitat. He is in anger also. He walks inside the cell feeling uneasy and angry.

Q6. What message does the poem ‘A Tiger in the Zoo’ give? Or what is the central idea/theme of the poem?

Ans. The poem gives a message that we should not keep birds and animals in cages. We should not imprison them. They should live in their natural habitats.

Q7. How does the tiger terrify the villagers?

Ans. If the tiger is in his natural habitat, he growls at the villagers who pass by that way. He also shows his fangs and bright claws to the villagers to terrify them.

Q8. How does the poet contrast the tiger in the zoo with the tiger in the jungle?

Ans. The tiger in the zoo is not free. He feels uncomfortable in the limited space of the cell. The tiger in the zoo is happy. He is free to move anywhere.

Q9. How does the tiger behave at night?

Ans. The patrolling cars create noise. The tiger in the cage just stares at the shining stars.

Q10. What should the tiger be doing if he were in the jungle?

Ans. He should be sitting near a water hole under long grass and waiting for some deer to come. He would jump to kill the deer to make his food.

Q11. What should the tiger be doing if he were at the edge of the jungle?

Ans. He should be terrorizing the villagers by roaring and showing his fangs.

Q12. Why does the tiger ignore the visitors?

Ans. The tiger is not happy. He is imprisoned in the cage.  He feels uneasy, angry and uncomfortable in the café, he needs freedom. So he has no interest in the visitors.

Very Short Qs

4. A Tiger in the Zoo by Leslie Norris  : Learn the following statements:

1.      The tiger is in cage/concrete cell.

2.      The tiger stalks inside the cage.

3.      The tiger should be snarling at the edge of the jungle near a village.

4.      ‘Pads of velvet’ means soft soles.

5.      The tiger’s strength is behind the bars.

6.      ‘Behind the bars means in the cage.

7.      The tiger ignores the visitors.

8.       The tiger stares sadly at the brilliant stars.

                         

     Important Stanzas                Stanza 1.

He stalks in his vivid stripes/The few steps of his cage,

On pads of velvet quiet, /In his quiet rage.

Q1. Who is ‘He’ in the above lines?      Ans. 1. The tiger  

Q2.How does ‘He’ walk in the cage?     Ans.2. In a proud manner  

Q3. In what mood is ‘He’?             Ans.3. Anger

Q4. Which words in the stanza show the following meanings? 

(i) Anger (ii) visible/distinct          Ans.4. (i) rage (ii) vivid

Stanza: 2. He should be lurking in shadow,/Sliding through long grass /Near the water hole/Where plump deer pass.    Word-meanings: plump, lurking

Q1. Name the poem and its poet.

Ans. The Poem is ‘A Tiger in the Zoo’ and its poet is Leslie Norris.

Q2. Where should the tiger be now?    Ans. in the jungle.

Q3. For what should he be lurking?      Ans.  For its prey/food.

Q4. Where do the deer usually pass?    Ans Near the water hole.

Q5. Give the synonyms for the words: (i) plump (ii) lurk

Ans. (i) Fleshy/fat (ii) wait/ prowl

                                                             Stanza 3.

He should be snarling around houses/At the jungle’s edge, /Baring his white fangs, his claws,

Terrorising the village!

Q1.Where should ‘he’ be snarling/growling around?               Ans. Around houses

Q2. What should ‘he’ be doing at the jungle’s edge?  Ans. Showing his sharp teeth and claws

Q3. How does he terrorise the villagers?   Ans. By growling and showing his sharp teeth and paws.

Q4. What words in the stanza above mean the following words?   (i) Sharp teeth (ii) growling

Ans.  (i) fangs (ii) snarling     Stanza 5

He hears the last voice at night, /The patrolling cars,

And stares with his brilliant eyes /At the brilliant stars.

Q1. What is the last voice here in the stanza?  Ans. It is the sound created by the patrolling cars.   Q2. How does he stare at the stars?   Ans. He stares at the stars with his brilliant eyes.

Q3 Why have his eyes been called brilliant?  Ans. Animals' eyes shine in the darkness.

Q4. Give the meaning of ‘stare’.  Ans. to watch continuously.