Question

Read the following extracts and answer the question:

While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey, Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits, And by teaching them how to sleep they sleep all day, Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way.

1. Select the phrase that suggests the following:
   The so-called aids are not offered out of genuine care or consent but are imposed in a controlling and perhaps unwelcome manner.
2. What does the imagery of ‘swarm’ NOT represent in the given extract?
   1. Coordinated help
   2. Overwhelming force
   3. Discomfort and chaos
   4. Neglect of individual needs
3. Complete the following suitably.
   In the line, ‘destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way,’ the phrase ‘the ancient way’ refers to________.
4. Select the correct option from those given in brackets, to fill in the blank.
   The poet has used phrases like ‘greedy good-doers’ and ‘beneficent beasts of prey’ to illustrate the ________ (irony/satire) in the situation where those claiming to help the rural poor actually impose self-serving and detrimental actions on them.
5. Read the assertion and the reason below, with reference to the given extract.
   Assertion: The poet criticizes the way the rural poor are treated by benefactors, suggesting it instills ambition.
   Reason: The interventions are overwhelmingly calming and lead to a loss of critical thinking among the rural poor.
   Choose the correct option regarding their relationship:
   1. Both the assertion and the reason are true, and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion.
   2. Both the assertion and the reason are true, but the reason is not the correct explanation of the assertion.
   3. The assertion is true, but the reason is false.
   4. The assertion is false, but the reason is true.
6. State in one sentence, what cautionary advice your address to the rural poor from the extract, is most likely to include.

Answer 1

1. enforcing benefits
2. Coordinated help
3. In the line, ‘destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way,’ the phrase ‘the ancient way’ refers to traditional and encountering sleeping patterns and nighttime rituals that have been part of the rural community's existence for generations.
   [The speaker suggests that modern practices, possibly influenced by external forces such as urbanisation or industrialisation, disrupt the natural sleep patterns of the rural inhabitants and dilute their time-tested ways.]
4. The poet has used phrases like ‘greedy good-doers’ and ‘beneficent beasts of prey’ to illustrate the irony in the situation where those claiming to help the rural poor actually impose self-serving and detrimental actions on them.
5. The assertion is false, but the reason is true.
   (True assertion: The poet criticizes how benefactors treat the rural poor, saying that it dulls their senses and "soothes them out of their wits").
6. Be wary of outsiders' involvement, which might appear benevolent but could ultimately undermine your autonomy and dull your critical thinking abilities.
   [language/expression may vary, but the idea should remain relevant.]