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Our only enemy was gold - English

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प्रश्न

Our only enemy was gold

टीपा लिहा

उत्तर

  • Reference:
    This line is taken from the Poem – “The Castle”, Poet – “Edwin Muir”.
  • Context:
    Here the poet talks about the ‘success of the enemy’.
  • Explanation:
    The narrator wondered about the tricks played by enemies. At last, the enemy won them by giving them gold as a bribe. So the narrator called the enemy gold.
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Poem (Class 12th)
  या प्रश्नात किंवा उत्तरात काही त्रुटी आहे का?
पाठ 1.2: The Castle - Exercise [पृष्ठ २२]

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सामाचीर कलवी English Class 12 TN Board
पाठ 1.2 The Castle
Exercise | Q 5 f) | पृष्ठ २२

संबंधित प्रश्‍न

How long had the soldiers been in the castle?


Why were the soldiers in the castle fearless?


Bring out the contrasting picture of the castle as depicted in stanzas 3 and 5.


Read the given line and answer the question that follow in a line or two.

We could do nothing, being sold.

  1. Why couldn’t they do anything?
  2. Why did they feel helpless?

They seemed no threat to us at all.


Read the poem and complete the table with suitable rhyming words.

 

All through that summer at ease we lay,
And daily from the turret wall
We watched the mowers in the hay
And the enemy half a mile away
They seemed no threat to us at all.

For what, we thought, had we to fear
With our arms and provender, load on load,
Our towering battlements, tier on tier,
And friendly allies drawing near
On every leafy summer road.

Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,
So smooth and high, no man could win
A foothold there, no clever trick
Could take us dead or quick,
Only a bird could have got in.

What could they offer us for bait?
Our captain was brave and we were true…
There was a little private gate,
A little wicked wicket gate.
The wizened warder let them through.

Oh then our maze of tunneled stone
Grew thin and treacherous as air.
The cause was lost without a groan,
The famous citadel overthrown,
And all its secret galleries bare.

How can this shameful tale be told?
I will maintain until my death
We could do nothing, being sold:
Our only enemy was gold,
And we had no arms to fight it with.

lay hay
   
   
   

Underline the alliterated word in the following line.

With our arms and provender, load on load.


Identify the figure of speech used in the following line.

Grew thin and treacherous as air.


You visit your school after several years. As you cross the banyan tree at the entrance, cheerful memories fi ll your mind. Fill the bubbles with your memories.


Does nature communicate with human beings?


Read the line given below and answer the question that follow.

The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung

In crimson clusters all the bough among!

  1. Who is the giant here?
  2. Why is the scarf colourful?

Explain the following line with reference to the context.

It is the tree’s lament, an eerie speech,…


Identify the figure of speech used in each of the extract given below and write down the answer in the space given below. 

“ A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound

No other tree could live. But gallantly

The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung......”


Shakespeare has skilfully brought out the parallels between the life of man and actors on stage. Elaborate this statement with reference to the poem.


Complete the summary of the poem, choosing words from the list given below. Lines 33 to 42

Ulysses desires to hand over his (1) ______to his son Telemachus, who would fulfil his duties towards his subjects with care and (2) ______. Telemachus possesses patience and has the will to civilise the citizens of Ithaca in a (3) ______way. Ulysses is happy that his son would do his work blamelessly and he would pursue his (4) ______for travel and knowledge.

prudence, kingdom, quest, tender

Identify the figure of speech employed in the following line.

Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea...


Read the set of line from the poem and answer the question that follow.

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

  1. What do ‘thunder’ and ‘sunshine’ refer to?
  2. What do we infer about the attitude of the sailors?

Read the set of line from the poem and answer the question that follow.

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

  1. Though made weak by time and fate, the hearts are heroic. Explain.
  2. Pick out the words in alliteration in the above lines.

Explain with reference to the context the following line.

I am become a name; For always roaming with a hungry heart


Explain with reference to the context the following line.

We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven;


Read the line given below and answer the question that follow.

Tell him solitude is creative if he is strong and the final decisions are made in silent rooms.

  1. Can being in solitude help a strong human being? How?
  2. Identify the figure of speech in the above line.

Pick out the alliterated words from the poem and write.

And this might stand him for the storms


Explain the following line with reference to the context.

and guide him among sudden betrayals

and tighten him for slack moments.


Who took the city of Ratisbon by storm?


Describe the posture of Napoleon.


Why was the rider in a hurry?


What was Napoleon’s reaction on hearing the news of victory?


Why did Napoleon’s eyes become soft as a mother eagle’s eyes?


Read the line given below and answer the question that follow.

A film the mother eagles eye When her bruised eaglet breathes

  1. Who is compared to the mother eagle in the above lines?
  2. Explain the comparison.

Explain the following line with reference to the context.

Then off there flung in smiling joy, And held himself erect


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