Question

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

The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen
A darker speck on the ocean green;
Sir Ralph the Rover walked his deck,
And fixed eye on the darker speck.
                   (The Inchcape Rock: Robert Southey)

(i) Contrast the weather when Sir Ralph the Rover passed the Inchcape Rock the first time with the weather when he returned to the place.

(ii) Why had the Abbot of Aberbrothok hung a bell on the Inchcape Rock? 

(iii) Why did Sir Ralph cut the bell from the Inchcape Rock? Describe the manner in which it sank underwater. 

(iv) What did Sir Ralph say to reassure his men when it became very dark? What opinion did one of the sailors have about their location? What did they all wish for? 

(v) How did the ship sink? What sound did Sir Ralph imagine he could hear in his dying moments? What is the message of the poem? 

Answer 1

(i) The first time the weather was calm, the wind was gentle, the ship was motionless (Hi the sea, the waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock but they did not move the Inchcape Bell.
When he returned, the sky was covered with a thick haze. The sun was not visible. The fierce winds continued to blow all day, till the evening. It was so dark that no one was able to see anything.

(ii) The Abbot hung a bell so that the mariners would be warned of the Inchcape Rock. The timely warning would make them alert and no ship would hit the rock and thus perish.

(iii) Sir Ralph was a wicked pirate, he got pleasure seeing others in pain. He was jealous of the Abbot for being praised for placing the bell on the Inchcape Rock and out of malice he cut the bell.
The bell sank with a gurgling sound. The bubbles rose to the surface and burst around.

(iv) Sir Ralph said that soon the moon will rise and provide some light on the sea. One of the sailor said he could not tell where they were and hoped they were near the shore. They all wished to hear the Inchcape Bell.

(v) The wind had dropped and their ship was drifting along. The waves were rising high furiously and no warning sound from the Inchcape Bell was heard. The ship struck hard against the rock and the waves rushed in on every side and the ship sank.
The dreadful sound of the devil ringing one’s death knell. 
One who digs a pit for others falls into it himself. The message is when one intends to harm, others by doing a wrong deed one becomes a victim of the deed himself.