Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
‘Face is the index of the mind.’ Does this adage concur with the views of the poet?
Solution
Unlike the people of the past, people in modem times “laugh only with their teeth” while their ice-block cold eyes search for something. Now, people shake hands without hearts. There is no human warmth in social relations. While they shake hands, they look for. evidence to judge the financial status of a person. People say ‘feel at home and ‘come again’.
But if a person visits a third time he is not welcomed. They all have cocktail faces ready for all occasions. Their conforming smiles are like fixed portrait smiles. They wear a standard, deceitful, artificial smile for all occasions. They have faces like masks. The poet has learned from them how to use faces like dresses, home face, office face, street face, host face, etc. Their faces, like the teeth of the elephant, show only what is accepted. The ugly side of their personality is cleverly hidden behind their deceitful smiles and polite words. So, the poet’s views do not concur with the adage “Face is the index of the mind”.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
What does he desire to unlearn and relearn?
Interpret each of the following expression used in the poem, in one or two line.
like a fixed portrait smile
The poet is satisfied just watching the heroic deeds of others. What could be the reason?
Are the athletes conscious of the feelings of others? Why do you say so?
Why would the referee ask whether there was a doctor in the stands? What stands is he referring to?
The poet does not wish to exchange places with the athletes. How does he justify his view?
According to the poet, what contributes most to the injuries sustained by the athletes?
Read the given lines and answer the questions that follow in a sentence or two.
Well, ego it might be pleased enough But zealous athletes play so rough…
- What pleases the ego?
- Why are athletes often rough during play?
Read the poem and complete the table with suitable rhyming words
| e.g. enter | center |
| hockey | |
| admire | |
| romp | |
| deeds | |
| score | |
| please | |
| wrist | |
| demands | |
| stadium |
Find out the rhyme scheme of the given stanza.
One infant grows up and becomes a jockey
Another plays basketball or hockey
This one the prize ring hates to enter
That one becomes a tackle or center…
Everybody is special and everybody is a hero. Each one has a story to tell. In the light of this observation, present your views.
Read the lines given below and answer the question that follow.
And ‘tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes…
- What is the poet’s faith?
- What trait of Nature do we see here?
Read the poem once again. Identify the rhyme scheme and pick out the rhyming pairs of words.
How do people bring grief and sorrow to one another?
Why does the poet think that the birds were happy?
The poet experiences sadness because ______.
The poem speaks of ______.
Answer in a paragraph of about 100−150 words.
Do you think the poet wants to say that man is unhappy because he has lost his link with nature and forgotten how to enjoy nature, or because man is cruel to other men?
Listening Activity
Some phrases have been left out in the poem below. First, read the poem. Then, fill in the missing words on listening to the reading or the recording of it in full. You may listen again, if required
To Autumn
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my ______, there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my ______;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the ______of fruits and flowers.
“The ______opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her ______;
Blossoms hang round the brows of morning and
Flourish down the ______of modest eve,
Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And ______strew flowers round her head.
The spirits of the air live on the smells
Of fruit; and joy, with ______, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”
Thus sang the ______as he sat,
Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his ______.
William Blake
Why is Macavity called the ‘Napoleon of Crime’?
Explain the following line with reference to the context.
And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake
Read the given line and answer the question that follow.
He, who does not stoop, is a king we adore. We bow before competence and merit;
- Who is adored as a king?
- What is the figure of speech used in the first line?
Read the given line and answer the question that follow.
Honour is a property, common to all: In dignity and pride no one need to be poor.
- Who are considered rich?
- What is their asset?
Discuss the following topics in groups of five and choose a representative to sum up the views and share them with the class.
To succeed in life, one must have a single-minded devotion to duty.
Fill in the blank with appropriate word from the box and complete the statement suitably:
The spectators died laughing at the ______of the clown.
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;”
Read the poem once again carefully and identify the figure of speech that has been used in each of the following line from the poem:
“Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth’’.
Read the poem once again carefully and identify the figure of speech that has been used in each of the following line from the poem:
“How can you say to me, I am a king?”
Pick out the alliteration from the following lines:
“And tell sad stories of the death of kings:”
Pick out the alliteration from the following lines:
“Comes at the last, and with a little pin…”
