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प्रश्न
Thinking about the poem
Discuss what these phrases mean to you.
(i) a yellow wood
(ii) it was grassy and wanted wear
(iii) the passing there
(iv) leaves no step had trodden black
(v) how way leads on to way
उत्तर
(i) Yellow wood symbolises the autumn season. As Autumn corresponds to withering of the old leaves, the poet could be symbolically talking about the later stages of life of a man.
(ii) It conveys that the road was full of grass and less travelled one. The poet personifies the road by saying ‘wanted wear’. It could imply the road needed to be explored or travelled as only very few has done so.
(iii) The phrase is used with respect to the path he chose to walk or rather is used as ‘while walking the path’.
(iv) The poet uses this phrase to lay emphasis on the fact that he was unable to decide which path to choose. Both the paths seemed same, as the leaves had not changed their colour into black by people walking on them. Figuratively, it could represent a dilemma to choose a one path over the other for the fear of uncertainty.
(v) The phrase is used in continuation to the idea that poet wanted to return and try the first road for another day. But, he soon realizes how one way leads to another until one is very far from where it started. Figuratively, this phrase means how certain decisions one makes in life could pave the way for many other decisions.
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"Now, sir, what did you want to treat that poor dumb beast so, for?"
"I done it out of pity for him - because he hadn't any aunt."
"Hadn't any aunt! -you numskull. What has that got to do with it?"
"Heaps. Because if he'd had one, she'd a burnt him out herself! She'd a roasted his bowels out of him 'thout any more feeling than if he was a human!"
Tom looked up in her face with just a perceptible twinkle peeping through his gravity.
"I know you was meaning for the best, aunty, and so was I with Peter. It done him good, too. I never see him get around so-"
The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight.
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without
They died from the cold within.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Analyse the title and whether it is appropriate.
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Mr. Oliver had been teaching in this school for several years. He’s no longer there. The Shimla Bazaar, with its cinemas and restaurants, was about two miles from the school; and Mr. Oliver, a bachelor, usually strolled into the town in the evening returning after dark, when he would take short cut through a pine forest.
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When did Mr Oliver return from the town?
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“The poorhouse is a sad place for a sick and helpless child,” answered one.
“For your child or mine,” said the other, lightly speaking; “but for tis brat it will prove a blessed change, she will be kept clean, have healthy food, and be doctored, which is more than can be said of her past condition.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Who offered to take John? Why?
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What all did Sibia not notice as she went home?
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____________ , the elf began to help Patrick.
Multiple Choice Question:
What does the word ‘soars’ in the above extract mean?
Now let us look at the uses of the word break. Match the word with its meanings below. Try to find out at least three other ways in which to use the word.
- The storm broke – could not speak; was too sad to speak
- Daybreak – this kind of weather ended
- His voice is beginning to break – it began or burst into activity
- Her voice broke and she cried – the beginning of daylight
- The heat wave broke – changing as he grows up
- Broke the bad news – end it by making the workers submit
- Break a strike – gently told someone the bad news
- (Find your own expression. Give its meaning here)
Which of the following words does H. W. Longfellow use to describe the movement of the phantoms in his poem, ‘Haunted Houses’?
