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Instead of ‘A Lecture Upon Love’ the poet calls the poem ‘A Lecture Upon the Shadow’. What is the effect that this has on our reading of the poem? - English Elective - NCERT

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प्रश्न

Instead of ‘A Lecture Upon Love’ the poet calls the poem ‘A Lecture Upon the Shadow’. What is the effect that this has on our reading of the poem?

संक्षेप में उत्तर

उत्तर

Love is a Universal Language it is said, yet it is not definitive for most people. The Poet has tried to explain the essence of love by defining shadows as a metaphor for the relationship between two people in love. As in the case of shadows, their length is dependent on time and Sun’s position during the day, the same ideology is applied to the relationship of love in the backdrop of intricate factors and circumstances such as emotional upheaval, misunderstandings, etc. between the two people.

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A Lecture Upon the Shadow
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अध्याय 2.1: A Lecture Upon the Shadow - Understanding the Poem [पृष्ठ ९२]

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एनसीईआरटी English - Kaleidoscope Class 12
अध्याय 2.1 A Lecture Upon the Shadow
Understanding the Poem | Q 5 | पृष्ठ ९२

संबंधित प्रश्न

How do the shadows before noon differ from the shadows afternoon? What do the two kinds of shadow represent?


Love is described as light. What makes the poet talk about shadows?


Comment on the use of the image of the shadows for the idea that the poet wants to convey.


The poet seems to be addressing his beloved in the poem. What is the message he wishes to convey to her?


Examples from other poems from this period:

  • How neatly doe we give one onely name
  • To parents issue and the sunnes bright starre!

As the first were made to blind
Others, these which come behind
Will work upon ourselves, and blind our eyes.
If our loves faint, and westwardly decline,
To me thou, falsely, thine,
And I to thee mine actions shall disguise.
The morning shadowes wear away,
But these grow longer all the day;
But oh, love's day is short, if love decay.
Love is a growing, or full constant light,
And his first minute, after noone, is night.
  1. What does the poet mean by ‘the first’?
  2. How are the first different from others that follow?
  3. What is meant by love declining westward?
  4. What does morning shadows represent?
  5. What is the night symbolic of?
  6. Which word is an apt synonym for ‘thine’
    1. Ours
    2. yours
    3. hers
    4. theirs

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

Stand still, and I will read to thee
A Lecture, Love, in Love's philosophy.

These three hours that we have spent,
Walking here, two shadows went
Along with us, which we ourselves produced;
But, now the sun is just above our head,
We do those shadows tread
And to brave clearness all things are reduced.

So whilst our infant loves did grow,
Disguises did, and shadows, flow
From us, and our cares; but now 'tis not so.
That love has not attain'd the high'st degree,
Which is still diligent lest others see.

  1. What is the central message of the poem?
  2. What is the significance of the shadows in the poem?
  3. What is the meaning of the phrase "Love's philosophy" in the poem?
  4. In what ways does the poem reflect Milton's view of love and relationships?
  5. How does the poem use imagery and figurative language to convey its message?
  6. Pick out the word from the extract which is an apt synonym of ‘conscientious'.

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