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प्रश्न
Explain the following line with reference to the context in about 5 to 8 line:
“Our lands, our lives, and all are Bolingbroke’s,
And nothing can we call our own but death;”
उत्तर
- Reference: These lines are from the poem “The Hollow Crown” by William Shakespeare. The poem is an excerpt from the play “Richard II”.
- Context: Richard II after being defeated by his rebellious cousin Bolingbroke says these words in dejection.
- Explanation: Henry II is routed in the war. Some of his loyal nobles try to cheer him up. But Richard II faces the hard reality. He openly admits his failure. He says their lands, lives, and all belong to the victor Bolingbroke. They can call nothing but death as their own.
- Comment: Death is inevitable.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Pick out the expressions that indicate conflicting ideas.
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laugh with their eyes
Read the line given below and answer the question that follow.
‘But now they only laugh with their teeth, While their ice-block-cold eyes…’
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| Activities | ||
| performer/player | spectator/audience | |
| e.g. | cricket | magician |
| a. | ||
| b. | ||
| c. | ||
| d. | ||
| e. | ||
The poet is satisfied just watching the heroic deeds of others. What could be the reason?
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Read the poem and complete the table with suitable rhyming words
| e.g. enter | center |
| hockey | |
| admire | |
| romp | |
| deeds | |
| score | |
| please | |
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| stadium |
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The historical background:
The poem is an extract from William Shakespeare’s play King Richard the Second. The play is based on true events that occurred towards the end of the 14th century.
Richard II was crowned the King of England in the year 1367. He continued to be the British Monarch until 1399, when he was deposed by his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, who crowned himself King Henry the Fourth in the same year. Shakespeare’s play is a dramatic rendition of the last two years of King Richard II’s life. In this brief span of time, he was ousted from his royal position and sent to prison, where he died in captivity.
The following extract is set in the Coast of Wales. King Richard and some of his followers awaited the arrival of the Welsh army [after facing defeat at the hands of his cousin, Bolingbroke], of about 10000 warriors. But to their shock and surprise, they received the message that the army was not coming to their rescue. His followers tried to boost their King’s courage against the news, only in vain. When Richard came face to face with the reality of his terrible fate, he spoke the following verse, famously known as the “Hollow Crown” speech in theatrical circles. In it, King Richard is reminded of the power of Death that overshadows everything else, including the power of rulers, and renders them as powerless as any commoner at a moment’s notice.
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Explain the following line with reference to the context in about 5 to 8 line:
All murdered – for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king Keeps Death his court, …”
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“And yet not so – for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?”
