Unseen Poem

Poem 1
The Laburnum Top is silent, quite still
in the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen
Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup
A suddeness, a startlement, at a branch end
Then, sleek as a lizard, and alert and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Of chitterings, and of tremor of wings, and trillings
The whole tree trembles and thrills
It is the engine of her family.
She stokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask
Then with eerie delicate whistle chirrup whisperings.
She launches away, towards the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty Ted Hughes
1. Laburnum is a kind of
(1) sweetmeat which is served after meal
(2) the golden chain tree. A commonly found tree with golden
flowers that hang in bunches
(3) a strange bird which is short fly itself
(4) rays of sunlight
2. The poet ‘Ted Hughes’ got the inspiration from …….. to
compose the poem.
(1) the top of laburnum
(2) the relationship between goldfinch and the poet
(3) the romantic pro-nature poets William Blake
(4) None of the above
3. What do you notice about the beginning of the poem?
(1) Some laburnum were getting yellowish gradually
(2) Sunlight has added beauty to laburnum
(3) The laburnum top is silent and still
(4) Activity of some goldfinches
4. The line ‘A suddeness, a startlement at a branch end’
contains which figure of speech
(1) Alliteration (2) Simile
(3) Personification (4) Hyperbole
5. The poet evoked the image of engine,
(1) it produces a variety of sounds
(2) it moves faster than other
(3) it has been compared with the tree
(4) it makes the machine work
6. What does the phrase ‘her barred face identity mask’
mean
(1) the beauty of laburnum top
(2) the rays of sunlight
(3) the striped face of the goldfinch
(4) the image of the engine of her family
Poem 2
I do not understand this child
Though we have lived together now
In the same house for years. I know
Nothing of him, so try to build
Up a relationship from how
He was when small. 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. I would have
Him prodigal, returning to
His father’s house, the home he knew,
Rather than see him make and move
His world. 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.
He speaks: I cannot understand
Myself, why anger grows from grief.
We each put out an empty hand,
Longing for something to forgive. Elizabeth Jennings
1. What is the title of the poem from which these lines
have been extracted?
(1) Son to Father (2) Son to Mother
(3) Father to Son (4) Son and Father
2. This poem seems to be a
(1) personal (2) non-subjective
(3) subjective (4) memory of childhood
3. This poem deals with
(1) general issue of generation gap
(2) extravagance of son
(3) caring for elderly (4) comfortable relationship
4. The father’s helplessness is brought out very
(1) differently (2) poignantly (3) seriously (4) commonly
5. The rhyme scheme is
(1) a, b, b, a, b, a (2) abcdef, faebdc
(3) aaba (4) a, b, a, b, ab, c, c
6. Identify the phrase or line from the poem that indicates
distance between father and son.
(1) In the same house for years
(2) Silence surrounds us
(3) On the same globe and the same land
(4) Shaping from sorrow a new love
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PRACTICE EXERCISE
CHAPTER 2 : UNSEEN POEM 279
Poem 3
A chieftain, to the Highlands bound, Cries,
“Boatman, do not tarry!
And I’ll give thee a silver pound
To row us o’er the ferry!”–
‘‘Now, who be ye, would cross Lochgyle,
This dark and stormy weather?”
‘‘O, I’m the chief of Ulva’s isle,
And this, Lord Ullin’s daughter”.
‘‘And fast before her father’s men
Three days we’ve fled together,
For should he find us in the glen,
My blood would stain the heather.
“His horsemen hard behind us ride
Should they our steps discover,
Then, who will cheer my bonny bride
When they have slain her lover?’’–
“And by my word! the bonny bird
In danger shall not tarry;
So, though the waves are raging white,
I’ll row you o’er the ferry.’’-
By this the storm grew loud space,
The water-wraith was shrieking;
And in the scowl of heaven each face
Grew dark as they were speaking.
But still as wilder blew the wind,
And as the night grew drearer,
Adown the glen rode armed men,
Their trampling sounded nearer. Thomas Campbell
1. Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover are trying to
(1) escape the wrath of her father
(2) settle in a distant land
(3) challenge the storm in the lake
(4) trying to prove their love for each other
2. The boatman agrees to ferry them across because
(1) he has fallen in love with Lord Ullin’s daughter
(2) he wants to avenge Lord Ullin
(3) he has lost his love
(4) he is sorry for the childlike innocence of the lady
3. The poem is an example of a
(1) folk tale (2) Ballad
(3) Narrative Poem (4) Lyric
4. The phrase ‘raging white’ is an example of
(1) personification (2) alliteration
(3) imagery (4) onomatopoeia
5. The title of the poem is
(1) The Love Has no Bound (2) Wishful
(3) Lord Ullin’s Daughter (4) The Last First Again
6. Who is the lover of Lord Ullin’s daughter?
(1) A chieftain (2) The boatman
(3) Lord Ullin (4) Daughter of Lord Ullin
Poem 4
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts.
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail.
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad,
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank: and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
William Shakespeare
1. All the world’s a stage is an extended metaphor for
(1) the life shown in well known plays
(2) seeing the well known plays
(3) life of well known actors
(4) life of man that comes to an end
2. All ‘have their exits and their entrances’. ‘Exits and
entrances’ refer to
(1) death and birth
(2) beginning and end of play
(3) coming and going of actors
(4) the end of the Shakespearean era
3. The seven roles that a man plays correspond to his
(1) chronological age in life
(2) desires
(3) mental age in life
(4) idea of a perfect life
4. These lines have been taken from
(1) The famous play ‘‘As You Like It’’
(2) Responsibilities
(3) The Stages of life
(4) Turning Again Toward Childish
5. The line ‘Creeping like snail unwilling to go to school’
contains the poetic device of
(1) Metaphor (2) Simile
(3) Personification (4) Hyperbole
6. In the first stage ‘Infancy’, what are the characteristic
feature?
(1) Complaining, properly dressed
(2) Wise, protective
(3) Weak, dependent
(4) Teethless, poor eyesight
Poem 5
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,
And spotted the perils beneath
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food.
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.
I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
To give up gobstoppers.
From respect to me choppers,
And to buy something else with me shillin’.
When I think of the lollies I licked
And the liquorice all sorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
My conscience gets horribly pricked.
My mother, she told me no end,
‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend’.
I was young then, and careless,
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend. Pam Ayres
1. The poetess went to the ……. for the treatment.
(1) doctor (2) surgeon
(3) dental college (4) dentist
2. The title ‘Oh, I wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth’,
expresses
(1) regret and longing (2) humour
(3) excitement (4) pleasure
3. The conscience of the speaker pricks her as she has
(1) been careless (2) been ignorant
(3) been fun loving (4) been rude
4. The speaker says that she has paved the way for cavities
and decay by
(1) eating the wrong food and not brushing
(2) not listening to his mother
(3) laughing at his mother’s false teeth
(4) not listening to the dentist
5. The words that can replace ‘gobstoppers’ is ……… .
(1) dark chocolate
(2) bunch of flowers
(3) a hard round candy
(4) boiled sweets
6. The line ‘I never had much time to spend’ means that
the poetess
(1) was very busy
(2) was too lazy
(3) did not take out time for brushing her teeth
(4) was very tired to brush her teeth
Poem 6
I am dotted silver threads dropped from heaven
By the gods. Nature then takes me, to adorn
Her fields and valleys.
I am beautiful pearls, plucked from the
Crown of Ishtar by the daughter of Dawn
To embellish the gardens.
When I cry the hills laugh;
When I humble myself the flowers rejoice;
When I bow, all things are elated.
The field and the cloud are lovers
And between them I am a messenger of mercy.
I quench the thirst of one;
I cure the ailment of the other.
The voice of thunder declares my arrival;
The rainbow announces my departure.
I am like earthly life, which begins at
The feet of the mad elements and ends
Under the upraised wings of death.
I emerge from the heart of the sea
Soar with the breeze. When I see a field in
Need, I descend and embrace the flowers and
The trees in a million little ways. Khalil Gibran
1. What is ‘I’ in the poem?
(1) The poet (2) The rain
(3) The nature (4) The heaven
2. The rain calls itself the ‘dotted silver threads’ as
(1) the shimmering drops fall one after the other
(2) it ties heaven and Earth
(3) it dots the Earth with shimmering water
(4) it decorates the fields
3. The tone and mood of the rain in the poem reflect its
(1) love for the Earth
(2) desire to take revenge
(3) merriment as it destroys
(4) desire to look beautiful
4. ‘When I cry, the hills laugh’ here cry refers to
(1) heavy rain (2) drizzling
(3) rain like cats and dogs (4) flood
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5. The poet wants to convey the idea that
(1) rain is blissful
(2) everybody hears the sound of rain
(3) it gives freshness and sorrow
(4) it provides us prosperity
6. The poetic device used in the line
‘Rain embraces the trees’ is
(1) Metaphor (2) Simile
(3) Alliteration (4) Personification
Poem 7
Where is the peace, the wishful thinking of us all?
Where is the law and order, the basic desire of each and all?
We look for a thing, which we have seldom wished for
from our genuine heart.
How to get rid of this rotten society where everyone is
sick, but calls himself healthy?
Life is short but the wish to live is too long.
The more and more we are heading towards death,
The more and more the allurements of the world do seize us,
The germs of discord and dissension prey on us,
And life is reduced to a mere dream;
What a strange world this is indeed, which keeps us all
restless and dissatisfied;
Perhaps this is all the leela the play of Maya, entrapping
us all.
O God! You have made us all slaves to Maya, seizing us
from all sides and keeping us disturbed;
I don’t know what is good and what is evil,
I fail to distinguish between Maya and reality, the foul and
the fair,
As if being born in this world was a punishment;
Are we condemned to live in this hell once and for all?
Where we have to come again and again to suffer,
God! Make us get rid of all that glitters but is not gold.
Anonymous
1. According to the poet, what is a punishment for us?
(1) To be born in this world (2) To live in discord
(3) The play of Maya (4) Death
2. The poet is not being able to distinguish between
(1) life and death (2) foul and fair
(3) rich and poor (4) strong and weak
3. What does the line ‘Where we have to come again and
again to suffer’ signify?
(1) Cycle of birth and death (2) Place to visit
(3) Our homes (4) This world
4. In the above poem ‘allurement’ refers to
(1) being unsatisfied (2) getting carried away
(3) worldly pleasures (4) emotions
5. What, according to the poet, is our wishful thinking?
(1) Law and order (2) Outer peace
(3) Inner peace (4) Genuine heart
6. Our life has been condemned to like
(1) living in hell (2) living in luxury
(3) Maya (4) Leela
Poem 8
She lives in a garret
Up a haunted stair,
And even when she’s frightened
There’s nobody to care.
She cooks so small a dinner
She dines on the smell,
And even if she’s hungry
There’s nobody to tell.
She sweeps her musty lodging
As the dawn steals near,
And even when she’s crying
There’s nobody to hear.
I haven’t seen my neighbour
Since a long time ago,
And even if she’s dead
There’s nobody to know. Frances Park
1. The line ‘She dines on the smell’ means
(1) her food is stale
(2) she eats very little
(3) she dislikes the smell of her food
(d) she dislikes the food
2. Who is ‘she’ in the poem?
(1) A miserly woman
(2) A hungry woman
(3) A woman who lives next door
(4) A woman who lives in an old age home
3. The woman cooks a small dinner because
(1) she has no food to cook
(2) she is alone
(3) she is stingy
(4) she dislikes food
4. The attitude of the speaker is
(1) indifferent (2) uncaring
(3) sympathetic (3) pitiable
5. The purpose of the poem is to tell us that
(1) no one cares for lonely people
(2) the speaker’s neighbour is dead
(3) the speaker’s neighbour is hungry
(4) the woman was treated badly
6. The woman described in the poem is
(1) brave (2) helpless
(3) sad and lonely (4) disappointed
CHAPTER 2 : UNSEEN POEM 281
Poem 9
These few precepts in thy memory
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought this act:
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel,
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
One each new hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice,
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy; rich not gaudy;
For the apparel often proclaims the man.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
William Shakespeare
1. It is always suggested to beware of
(1) dogs (2) backbiting
(3) quarrels (4) artificial policies
2. Here, the poet proposes that habit should be in ratio
(1) to one’s pocket (2) to what suits him
(3) with the ability (4) what are his engagements
3. What is seen through percepts in memory?
(1) Face (2) Character (3) Appearance (4) Clause
4. It is always said to speak less
(1) still you can see everything
(2) but you can hear everyone
(3) and eat properly
(4) and be more productive
5. What is the side effect of taking a loan?
(1) You will have to pay interest
(2) It loses friend and itself
(3) It earns bad name
(4) You can die in debt
6. What is the opposite of ‘rich’ here in line 14?
(1) Poor (2) Borrower
(3) Poverty (4) Gaudy
Poem 10
A nightingale, that all day long
Had cheered the village with his song
Not yet at eve his note suspended,
Nor yet when eventide was ended,
Began to feel, as well he might,
The keen demands of appetite;
When, looking eagerly around,
He spied far off, upon the ground
A something shining in the dark,
And knew the glow-worm by his spark;
So, stooping down from hawthorn top,
He thought to put him in his crop
The worm, aware of his intent,
Harangued him thus, right eloquent-
‘Did you admire my lamp,’ quoth he,
‘As much as I your minstrelsy’,
You would abhor to do me wrong,
As much as I to spoil your song;
For’t was the self-same power divine,
Taught you to sing, and me to shine;
That you with music, I with light,
Might beautify and cheer the night;
The songster heard his short oration
And warbling out his approbation,
Released him as my story tells,
And found a supper somewhere else. William Cowper
1. Whom did the nightingale wish to make his crop?
(1) Hawthorn top (2) Glow worm
(3) Mils insects (4) Something else
2. Who taught the nightingale to sing and worm to shine?
(1) Their parents (2) God
(3) Right from birth (4) Each other
3. Explain- ‘The keen demands of appetite’.
(1) Good appetite is important for singing
(2) The nightingale was now very hungry
(3) He had a very large appetite
(4) He thought he could not fulfill his appetite
4. What is the rhyming scheme of the poem?
(1) Abba (2) Abab
(3) Baba (4) Aabb
5. What did the nightingale finally decide?
(1) To make the glowworm his supper
(2) To find his supper somewhere else
(3) To sit and wait for something else
(4) To keep singing for the whole night
6. Suggest a suitable topic for the poem.
(1) Song Versus Light
(2) Power of Divine
(3) The Nightingale and the Glowworm
(4) The Nightingale’s Tragedy
Poem 11
Snug in mother’s bosom
The newly born
Rests in warm embrace,
Listening to mother’s heart beat
Love takes another form
In the friendship of mates,
Eating, playing and fighting,
Childhood moves on to youth,
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The irresistible attraction
Of the opposite sexes,
Brings a fiery love
Through tempestuous adulthood.
This melts into paternal love
Losing sleep when a child is sick
Untold pleasure in his achievements,
And anxiety in his misfortunes.
Old age brings another love,
And lust for life
Seeking pleasures when pleasure recedes,
And love gets colder by the day.
Inexorably moving towards the end
The ultimate love lies ahead.
But through changing seasons,
It has been all the way. Anonymous
1. What is the significant aspect of childhood?
(1) Friendship of mates (2) Eating
(3) Playing and fighting (4) All of these
2. Who is snug in the mother’s bosom?
(1) The new born baby (2) A child
(3) A boy (4) A girl
3. What is the person attracted to most in adulthood?
(1) Studies (2) Opposite sex
(3) Games (4) Roaming here and there
4. We receive untold pleasures
(1) when we grow up
(2) when we become a parent
(3) in a child’s achievements
(4) in misfortunes
5. Which line indicates the closeness of the baby to
mother?
(1) Melts into paternal love
(2) Ultimate love lies ahead
(3) Listening to mother’s heartbeat
(4) Fiery love
6. What does ‘tempestuous mean’?
(1) Stormy (2) Testing patience
(3) Violent (4) High in temper
Poem 12
Our constant march towards infinity,
Seems to have jeopardised the real identity.
What are we sent for?
Is it to experience the exuberance of Nature?
Or to plunge into an eternal race of rivalry,
Where a man devours his divine self,
And strives to show his supremacy.
Really a blind race, full of strife,
That has soaked the sap of human life.
O, Misguided soul,
Listen patiently the songs of divinity,
That’ll subdue the passion of brutality,
And lead you to the Great White Throne,
Which all of us must vie to own. Anonymous
1. Man is just running to get the most of worldly pleasures.
Amidst these, he forgets
(1) his divine self (2) his family
(3) his other priorities (4) the society
2. What does the line – ‘March towards Infinity’ mean?
(1) Getting misdirected
(2) Lack of guidance
(3) Forwarding oneself to means, that have no ends
(4) Proceeding towards God
3. The poet wants the man to listen to what kind of songs?
(1) Traditional songs (2) Songs of divinity
(3) Eternal songs (4) Patriotic songs
4. Life is like a fight, full of struggle. Find the line in the
poem that relates to this line.
(1) Has soaked the sap of human life
(2) And strives to show his supremacy
(3) Subdue the passion of brutality
(4) Really a blind race, full of strife
5. What is ‘The Great White Throne’?
(1) Place where God lives (2) The ultimate place of being
(3) Door of salvation (4) A very peaceful place
6. Instead of facing the eternal race of rivalry, a man
should?
(1) Jeopardise the real identity
(2) Experience the exuberance of nature
(3) Patiently listen the songs of divinity
(4) Should not march towards infinity
Poem 13
The Last Conqueror
Victorious men of Earth, no more
Proclaim how wide your empires are;
Though you bind-in every shore
And your triumphs reach as far
As night or day,
Yet you, proud monarchs, must obey
And mingle with forgotten ashes, when
Death calls ye to the crowd of common men.
Devouring Famine, Plague and War,
Each able to undo mankind,
Death’s servile emissaries are;
Nor to these alone confined,
He hath at will
More quaint and subtle ways to kill;
A smile or kiss, as he will use the art,
Shall have to cunning skill to break a heart.
CHAPTER 2 : UNSEEN POEM 283
1. ‘………… servile emissaries’ means
(1) Risky behaviour
(2) Humble messengers
(3) Those who protect
(4) Messengers of peace
2. The line – ‘More quaint and subtle ways to kill;
A smile or kiss, as he will use the art,’
-tell the reader that the speaker
(1) believes in human goodness
(2) is afraid of his enemies
(3) hates wars
(4) distrusts human nature
3. ‘…….. the cunning skill’ refers to
(1) A weapon of war
(2) Skillful soldier
(3) A manipulative king
(4) Hidden threat
4. ‘……… mingle with forgotten ashes’ means
(1) dead persons
(2) fires on the battlefield
(3) threats to life
(4) hidden dangers
5. In the above poem, ‘subtle’ means
(1) stupid (2) hidden
(3) suggestive (4) sullen
6. ‘And your triumphs reach as far
As night or day’
The poetic device found in these words is a
(1) pathetic fallacy (2) metaphor
(3) simile (4) formula
Poem 14
Human Nature
Is it human nature
to desire forbidden fruit,
to hunger for a blossom
so obsessed with passion
that we forget the pain,
which inevitably arises
once we tease ourselves
with the thought of it
or taste a tiny part of it,
and it becomes the predator
eating at us like a carnivore
that saves the head for last
savouring the brain to feed its own
and we, still craving illicit nectar
enjoying the fact that it is devouring us? CJ Grant
1. Another word in the poem that suggests ‘forbidden’ is
(1) obsess (2) crave
(3) savour (4) illicit
2. ‘It becomes the predator’ means
(1) strong emotions influence one negatively
(2) pursuit of happiness
(3) being cautious against outside influences
(4) being strong and positive against any threat
3. An example of personification in the poem is
(1) saves the head (2) tease ourselves
(3) illicit nectar (4) like a carnivore
4. ‘Eating at us like a carnivore’ refers to
(1) being attacked by a wild beast
(2) being attacked by a human enemy
(3) being eaten up by an unknown entity
(4) exerting a strong influence
5. ‘We, still craving illicit nectar’ can be explained by
focusing on the word
(1) we (2) craving
(3) illicit (4) nectar
6. A synonym for the word ‘savouring’ is
(1) Smelling (2) Flavouring
(3) Experiencing (4) Avoiding
Poem 15
I cannot rest from travel : I will drink
Life to the lees : All times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore and when
Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea : I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour’d of them all;
1. The speaker can be described as
(1) an adventurer
(2) a frolicsome person
(3) a vagabond
(4) a seeker after the truth
2. The expression, ‘drink life to the lees’ means
(1) to live a life of adventure
(2) to live life to the fullest
(3) to live a life of pleasure
(4) to face challenges bravely
3. Which of the following statements is true?
(1) He has suffered and enjoyed greatly.
(2) He has lost interest in life.
(3) The speaker is an aimless wanderer.
(4) His adventures have not changed his outlook.
4. The line – ‘Myself not least, but honour’d of them all’
reveals that the speaker is
(1) conscious of his merits
(2) arrogant
(3) prone to bragging
(4) a garrulous person
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5. The figure of speech used in ‘drink life to the lees’ is
(1) personification (2) assonance
(3) simile (4) metaphor
6. Which literary device has been used in ‘hungry heart’?
(1) Alliteration (2) Irony
(3) Assonance (4) Simile
Poem 16
On a Tired Housewife
Here lies a poor woman who was always tired.
She lived in a house where help wasn’t hired
Her last words on Earth were : ‘Dear friends, I am going
To where there’s no cooking, or washing, or sewing,
For everything there is exact to my wishes,
For where they don’t eat there’s no washing of dishes.
I’ll be where loud anthems will always be ringing,
But having no voice I’ll be quit of the singing.
Don’t mourn for me now, don’t mourn for me never,
I am going to do nothing for ever and ever.’ Anonymous
[CTET June 2011]
1. The woman described in the poem
(1) lived in her own house
(2) worked in the house of a rich man
(3) was very busy doing chores
(4) was no more
2. The woman was always tired because
(1) she did all the household work without any help
(2) she had hardly anything to eat
(3) she was physically very weak
(4) she was suffering from a serious ailment
3. The woman wanted to go to a place where
(1) people would take good care of her
(2) people would sincerely mourn for her
(3) people didn’t sing or dance
(4) people didn’t cook, wash or sew
4. The woman’s account in the poem shows
(1) how a woman can escape from work
(2) how we should help each other
(3) how overworked a housewife is
(4) that there is no work in heaven
5. ‘For everything there is exact to my wishes’.
In this line, the word ‘exact’ can be interpreted to mean
(1) according (2) leading
(3) contrary (4) contributing
6. The rhyme pattern in the poem is
(1) aa, bb, cc, dd, ee
(2) aa, ab, bc, cd, de
(3) ab, ab, ab, ab, ab
(4) aa, ab, cd, cd, ee
Poem 17
Night
The Sun descending in the West,
The evening star does shine;
The birds are silent in their nest,
And I must seek for mine.
The Moon, like a flower,
In heaven’s high bower,
With silent delight
Sits and smiles on the night.
Farewell, green fields and happy groves,
Where flocks have took delight.
Where lambs have nibbled, silent moves
The feet of angels bright;
Unseen they pour blessing,
And joy without ceasing,
On each bud and blossom,
And each sleeping bosom.
They look in every thoughtless nest,
Where birds are covered warm;
They visit caves of every beast,
To keep them all from harm.
If they see any weeping
That should have been sleeping,
They pour sleep on their head,
And sit down by their bed. [CTET Jan 2012]
1. The evening star rises when
(1) the Sun descends in the West
(2) the birds leave their nests
(3) it is midnight
(4) it is dawn
2. Here, ‘bower’ represents
(1) a flower vase
(2) a potted plant
(3) a framework that supports climbing plants
(4) a bouquet of flowers
3. The poet compares the moon to
(1) an angel (2) a flower
(3) a bird in the nest (4) an evening star
4. The angels come down on Earth to
(1) take blessing and joy
(2) spread moonlight
(3) give blessing and joy
(4) make people dance and have fun
5. Birds nest is described as ‘thoughtless’ because
(1) the occupants are asleep without any care
(2) the angels are blessing the birds to be happy
(3) the birds are covered in the warmth of their nest
(4) it is made without any thought
CHAPTER 2 : UNSEEN POEM 285
Previous Year’s Questions
6. The figure of speech used in the line ‘In heaven’s high
bower’ is
(1) simile (2) metaphor
(3) personification (4) alliteration
Poem 18
Between the Miles
Because existence can become
severe in one day,
just sense me and I’ll be there
In the mind’s eye,
I’m not so far away.
If you hold out your hand,
in the whispers,
I’ll become the zephyr…
and besiege you.
If your eye’s upon the stars,
in the crystalline darkness,
I’ll become the Moon.
And the light shall guide you.
If you rest upon the ground,
in the warmth,
I’ll become the grass
And embrace you.
If you turn outside,
in the wetness,
I’ll become the rain.
An upon your forhead, kiss you
If you free the air,
in the light of day,
I’ll become the Sun.
And smile for you.
Between the miles
if you need me
If you need a friend
Let me be the friend, I want to be. Heather Stoop
[CTET July 2013]
1. The theme of the poem is about
(1) nature (2) separation
(3) relationship (4) travel
2. The ‘crystalline darkness’ suggests that surrounding is
(1) pitch dark and quiet (2) black and sombre
(3) in the moonlight (4) lit up by the stars only
3. In the poem, the poet suggests that friendship is
unaffected by
(1) differences in attitude
(2) individual independence
(3) changing feelings
(4) time and distance
4. ‘The zephyr’ is a
(1) gentle, mild breeze (2) fine quality of cloth
(3) scent or odour (4) strong stream of air
5. An example of a metaphor is
(1) ‘If you rest upon the ground’
(2) ‘I’ll become the grass’
(3) ‘Between the miles’ (4) ‘I want to be’
6. A synonym of the word ‘besiege’ is
(1) Trap (2) Surround
(3) Attack (4) Befriend
Poem 19
Sprinkle, squish between my toes,
The smell of ocean to my nose.
I can feel each grain of sand,
It falls from air into my hand.
The shells I find along the shore,
Picked up by birds
that fly and soar.
They sparkle like the ocean’s waves,
And carry sand from all the lakes.
I walk
That’s where my feet leave prints to be.
I walk all the way to the end of the land,
The land that holds this beautiful sand. Morgan Swain
[CTET Feb 2014]
1. The poem’s central theme is
(1) a factual description of nature
(2) sharing experiences with nature
(3) a recollection of a visit
(4) an introspection by the writer
2. Here, ‘to the end of the land’ refers to the
(1) sealine (2) land
(3) sky (4) horizon
3. Here, ‘That’s where my feet leave prints to be’ means
that the writer
(1) knows that everything is temporary
(2) relives past visits
(3) expects to forget the experience
(4) hopes to remember his visit
4. The phrase in the poem that conveys the same meaning
as ‘along the tip of the sea’ is
(1) each grain of sand (2) end of the land
(3) air into my hand (4) like the ocean’s waves
5. The poetic device used in the line ‘They sparkle like the
ocean’s waves’ is a/an
(1) hyperbole (2) exaggeration
(3) simile (4) allegory
6. A word that can replace ‘squish’ is
(1) crush (2) hold
(3) scrunch (4) trample
286 CTET SUCCESS MASTER ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND PEDAGOGY
Poem 20
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find, me unafraid. William Ernest Henley
[CTET Feb 2015]
1. The phrase ‘unconquerable soul’ means a person who is
(1) invincible (2) compassionate
(3) noble (4) sensitive
2. Lines 5 and 6 show that the speaker
(1) refuses to surrender
(2) remains undaunted even under the worst circumstances
(3) is overwhelmed by adverse circumstances
(4) accepts life’s challenges
3. ‘Wrath and tears’ means
(1) unbearable suffering
(2) anger causing havoc
(3) anger and sorrow
(4) unfavourable circumstances
4. The phrase ‘menace of the years’ suggests
(1) threats of the times
(2) danger to life
(3) cruel fate
(4) evils of life
5. The word ‘winced’ in the above poem means
(1) recoiled (2) ruffled
(3) frightened (4) worried
6. The poetic device used in ‘Black as the pit from pole to
pole’ is
(1) metaphor (2) irony
(3) simile (4) parallelism
Poem 21
So he spoke, mildly; Sohrab heard his voice
The mighty voice of Rustum and he saw
His giant figure planted on the sand,
Sole, like some single tower, which a chief
Hath builded on the waste in former years
Against the robbers; and he saw that head,
Streak’d with its first grey hairs; hope filled his soul,
And he ran forward and embraced his knees,
And clasp’d his hand within his own, … [CTET Sept 2015]
1. The way Sohrab reacted when he saw Rustum shows
that
(1) he felt great love and admiration for him
(2) he was utterly confused
(3) he was overcome with grief
(4) he was enraged, when he saw Rustum
2. The poet describes Rustum’s voice as
(1) booming (2) shrill
(3) loud (4) powerful
3. The figure of speech used in lines 3 and 4 is
(1) personification (2) metonymy
(3) simile (4) metaphor
4. Identify the literary device used in
‘……… he saw that head
Streak’d with its first grey hairs’
(1) Imagery (2) Alliteration
(3) Simile (4) Contrast
5. The encounter between Rustum and Sohrab took place
(1) on the sea-shore (2) in a desert
(3) in a valley (4) in a forest
6. The description of Rustum’s physical appearance shows
that he was
(1) middle-aged (2) a teenager
(3) young (4) old
Poem 22
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stol’n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew’th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth
That I to manhood am arriv’d so near;
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy
spirits endu’th.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure ev’n
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heav’n.
[CTET Feb 2016]
1. The poet presents ‘Time’ as a/an
(1) enemy (2) spirit (3) friend (4) thief
2. The poet regrets that
(1) he has not attained inner maturity
(2) his teachers are not happy with his progress
(3) his academic progress has been very slow
(4) he is not popular with his peers
3. The poet envies his friends because they
(1) have achieved name and fame
(2) are popular with their friends
(3) are blessed with robust health
(4) have attained inward ripeness
CHAPTER 2 : UNSEEN POEM 287
4. The inner maturity the poet longs for will come
(1) with the help of peers
(2) with the help of teachers
(3) only by the will of God
(4) through hard work
5. The poet is ……….. about his future.
(1) pessimistic (2) unconcerned
(3) cynical (4) optimistic
6. The ‘figure of speech’ used in lines (1) and (2) is
(1) personification (2) a hyperbole
(3) an irony (4) a simile
Poem 23
My mother bore me in the Southern wild,
And I am black, but O ! my soul is white;
White as an angel is the English child:
But I am black as if bereav’d of light.
My mother taught me underneath a tree
And sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissed me,
And pointing to the East began to say.
Look on the rising Sun : there God does live
And gives his light, and gives his heat away.
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning joy in the noonday.
And we are put on Earth a little space,
That, we may learn to bear the beams of love,
And these black bodies and this Sun-burnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove. [CTET Dec 2018]
1. ‘The Little Black Boy’ was born in
(1) the East coast (2) the desert wastes
(3) the servants’ house (4) the Southern wild
2. ‘The Little Black Boy’ wished that he could be
(1) white (2) educated
(3) older (4) free
3. The mother of ‘the Little Black Boy’ says God put people
on Earth
(1) to learn how to treat one another as equals
(2) to learn to endure his love
(3) to work off their sins
(4) to prepare them for future trials
4. The mother of ‘The Little Black Boy’ says his dark skin
and face are
(1) a cloud (2) a blessing
(3) a veil (4) a curse
5. The phrase ‘like a shady grove’ is
(1) a personification (2) a metaphor
(3) a simile (4) an example of alliteration
6. Through the phrase ‘as if bereav’d of light’, the poet
hints at the
(1) colour of the boy (2) low self-esteem of the child
(3) lack of hope for the future (4) All of these
Poem 24
All creation drinks with pleasure
Drinks at Mother Nature’s breast;
All the just and all the evil,
Follow down her rosy path.
Kisses she bestowed, and grape wine,
Friendship true, proved e’en in death;
Every worm knows nature’s pleasure,
Every cherub meets his God.
Gladly, like the planets flying
True to heaven’s mighty plan,
Brothers, run your course now,
Happy as a knight in victory. [CTET July 2019]
1. What does the expression, ‘Brothers, run your course
now’ mean?
(1) Cultivate a positive attitude to life
(2) Keep on moving towards your goal
(3) Don’t let failures upset you
(4) Seek God’s help when you are in difficulty
2. How can we say that God’s creatures are most fortunate
and happy?
(1) They have benevolent Mother Nature to look after them
(2) The world they live in lacks romance and beauty
(3) They have no friends to share their joys and sorrows
(4) They do not have enough pleasures at their disposal
3. Which of the following does not support the idea that
Mother Nature’s love embraces all?
(1) She also blesses us with true friendship
(2) All creation drinks at Mother Nature’s heart
(3) She bestows kisses on all her children
(4) She loves all the just but not all the evil
4. What is the hallmark of a true friend?
(1) He can take on all the evils for you
(2) He saves you from troubles
(3) He helps you to enjoy the fruits of nature
(4) He proves true even in death
5. Rosy path is followed by
(1) neither the just nor the evil (2) the honest
(3) the evil (4) Both (2) and (3)
6. Identify the figure of speech used in ‘All creation drinks
at Mother Nature’s breast.’
(1) Alliteration (2) Metonymy
(3) Simile (4) Personification
Poem 25
Light Brigade
By Alfred Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
‘‘Forward the Light Brigade!
288 CTET SUCCESS MASTER ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND PEDAGOGY
Charge for the guns !’’ he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Forward, the Light Brigade!’’
Was there a man dismay’d ?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred. [CTECT Dec 2019]
1. The expression’ the valley of death’ refers to
(1) the place where the dead soldiers are lying buried
(2) the impending death of soldiers
(3) the house of death
(4) a nightmarish place
2. Which of the following statement is not true? The
military discipline teaches the soldiers
(1) to do and die
(2) to obey their commander’s order
(3) to act tactfully in the battlefield
(4) not to ask any question
3. Which of the following adjectives does not apply to the
soldiers?
(1) courageous (2) disciplined
(3) patriotic (4) impractical
4. Identify the figure of speech used in ‘the Valley of
Death’.
(1) Metaphor (2) Simile (3) Synecdoche (4) Metonymy
5. Which literary device is used in the expression, ‘to do
and die’?
(1) Assonance (2) Alliteration
(3) Simile (4) Personification
6. In the first stanza of the extract, the soldiers are
(1) talking to each other about their personal problems
(2) waiting for their commander’s order
(3) thinking about the result of the war
(4) seen riding fast to the enemy territory
Poem 26
1. I come from haunts of coot and hern.
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley,
2. By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorpes, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges,
3. Till last by Philip’s farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever,
4. I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles,
5. With many a curve my banks I fret
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow, [CTET Jan 2022]
1. Identify the figure of speech used in the line, ‘I come
from haunts of coot and herm’.
(1) Metaphor (2) Synecdoche
(3) Personification (4) Hyperbole
2. The brook chatters over stony ways
(1) noiselessly
(2) in little sharps and trebles
(3) in a meandering fashion
(4) gleefully
3. Which of the following is not true according to the
poem?
(1) The brook chatters over stony ways.
(2) Man is moral and Nature is eternal.
(3) The brook will finally join the brimming river.
(4) Man may go and come anywhere and everywhere.
4. The line ‘I make a sudden sally’ means:
(1) I flow evenly
(2) I flow by fits and starts
(3) I leap enthusiastically
(4) I move in a zig zag manner
5. Where is the brook headed for?
(1) Philip’s farm
(2) a valley
(3) the brimming river
(4) fields and bays
6. Identify the figure of speech used in ‘with willow-weed’
in stanza 5?
(1) Hyperbole (2) Alliteration
(3) Metaphor (4) Metonymy
Poem 27
When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders.
Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through!
Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seen grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
CHAPTER 2 : UNSEEN POEM 289
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will no save you,
See it through! [CTET Jan 2022]
1. What does the poet want to ‘brace’ for?
(1) planting one’s feet firmly (2) setting up shoulders
(3) facing difficulties (4) dodging someone
2. In ‘dodge it’ line 5, ‘it’ stands for
(1) nerves (2) the problems
(3) black clouds (4) vanity
3. By ‘lift your chin’ (line 3) the poet wants us to be
(1) alert (2) punctual
(3) smart (4) bold
4. The poet wants us to avoid
(1) black clouds (2) grim future
(3) meanness (4) failing nerves
5. What is the rhyme scheme in lines no 9-12?
(1) abab (2) abcd
(3) abac (4) abbb
6. ‘Your future may see grim’
The underlined word means the same as:
(1) soft (2) bright
(3) depressing (4) sure
Poem 28
‘Will you walk into my parlour?’ said the spider to the fly;
“It is the prettiest little parlour that you may ever spy
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I have many curious things to show when you are
there.”
“O no, no,” said the little fly; “to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can n’ver come down
again.” [CTET Jan 2022]
1. The spider is very eager to invite the fly to his home
because he wants to
(1) show her the architectural beauty of his home.
(2) trap her into the web and gobble her up
(3) show her many pretty things in his possession.
(4) make her envious of his beautiful home
2. The spider can be compared to a
(1) clever business man (2) greedy dog
(3) crafty person (4) heartless hunter
3. What prompts the fly to say an emphatic ‘no’ to the
spider’s proposal?
(1) Her innate wisdom.
(2) The instinctive fear of spiders.
(3) Her friend’s warning against the spiders.
(4) Her personal experience.
4. The central idea of the extract is
(1) Spiders are ugly, scary creatures
(2) Beware of honey-tongued people
(3) One should not miss opportunities to see beautiful things
(4) We should not be cynical about everything
5. The word, ‘parlour’ in the line – “Will you walk into my
parlour?” is an example of
(1) a metaphor
(2) euphemism
(3) a hyperbole
(4) a simile
6. Which literary device has been used in the words, “O no,
no”?
(1) Assonance (2) Pun
(3) Simile (4) Repetition
Poem 29
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! For the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss or pain,
That has been, and may be again? [CTET Jan 2022]
1. The poem suggests that
(1) The song the girl is singing is meant for others.
(2) The poet is greatly moved by the song.
(3) The song that the girl is singing is one of ecstasy.
(4) The theme of the song concerns familiar matters of today.
2. The song is addressed to
(1) the travellers who pass by her
(2) herself
(3) the vale around her
(4) the poet
3. The phrase ‘a melancholy strain’ means
(1) a playful song (2) a lilting song
(3) a sad song (4) a mysterious song
4. The tone of the poem is
(1) cheerful (2) passionate
(3) loud (4) sad
290 CTET SUCCESS MASTER ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND PEDAGOGY
5. Which figure of speech is used in ‘Among Arabian
sands’?
(1) Metaphor (2) Metonymy
(3) Personification (4) Alliteration
6. Which figure of speech has been used in the following
lines?
“Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides”
(1) Metaphor (2) Simile
(3) Personification (4) Assonance
Poem 30
In friction land there is a family
With some confusions as you will see.
There is Raghu aged fifteen and others all grown.
‘Please will someone let me ever be on my own!’
Rejection, refusal, Raghu saw red.
‘Am I the Prefect at school? or the baby at home?’
Crazy! What adventures! Bah teenagers! Papa saw the
threat
They Think they can manage everything on their own
‘Look at your clothes, looks like you haven’t bathed in
years.
Cut your hair, you look like a scream! Raghu was in tears
‘Why can’t I live like I wanna be’:
I won’t change! My friends love it and the girls-look at
me.’
Days passed by, things looked better, sometimes worse.
‘Papa, there is a band, that wants me to sing a verse’.
“Join a band! yelled flabbergasted papa ‘you’ve surely gone
mad’.
Think of a career, for things gonna be sad. [CTET Jan 2022]
1. ‘Friction land’ here stands for
(1) a mysterious island (2) a confused family
(3) a desert (4) wonderland
2. ‘Saw red in line 5 means’
(1) was angry (2) was in danger
(3) was excited (4) was nervous
3. Which of the following is not a point of clash between
Raghu and his father?
(1) different lifestyle (2) different interests
(3) different food habits (4) age difference
4. Which line shows the dilemma faced by Raghu?
(1) Line 2 (2) Line 4
(3) Line 6 (4) Line 8
5. What is the rhyme in 1st stanza?
(1) abab (2) abcd (3) acbd (4) abcc
6. In ‘flabbergasted papa’, flabbergasted is used as a/an
(1) verb (2) adverb
(3) adjective (4) noun