Poetry Q&A: Analyzing Key Themes and Literary Devices
1. Sweetest Love, I Do Not Goe – John Donne
Q. 1. Why does the poet want to go away from his beloved? [Sc. & Com., 2020A, Arts 2019A]
Ans. The poet wants to go away from his beloved because she has refused his love for her.
Q. 2. How does the beloved waste the speaker’s life?
Ans. The beloved wastes the speaker’s life by rejecting his love.
Q. 3. In what way will the lovers remain united?
Ans. The couple who keeps alive the love between themselves remains united.
Q. 4. What are the things that the sun does not have?
Ans. The sun does not have the wings and motives as a true lover like a poet.
Q. 5. What will make the speaker’s journey speedier?
Ans. The speaker’s journey will be speedier because he has the wings and motives behind his goal.
Q. 6. What makes a man’s power feeble?
Ans. Love makes a man’s power feeble because he is unable to do anything when he is rejected.
Q. 7. How do sighing and weeping affect the speaker?
Ans. The sighing of his beloved takes away his soul, and the weeping decays his blood.
2. Song of Myself – Walt Whitman
Q. 1. How old is he?
Ans. He is thirty-seven years old.
Q. 2. Who is the speaker in this poem?
Ans. The poet is the speaker in this poem.
Q. 3. Why does the speaker use ‘you’ twice?
Ans. The poet used ‘you’ twice to put emphasis on it.
Q. 4. What does he observe in summer?
Ans. In summer, he observed a spear that grows in grass.
Q. 5. What has formed the speaker’s blood?
Ans. The soil and the air formed the speaker’s blood.
Q. 6. What does he want to speak about?
Ans. He wants to speak about the danger with original energy.
Q. 7. What does he hope to do?
Ans. He hopes to forget all the bad effects that the religion brings upon others.
Q. 8. What does he want to do with creeds?
Ans. He does not want to give much importance to religion as it only brings suffering and pain to others. He knows that it cannot be avoided.
Q. 9. How does the speaker establish relation between ‘me’ and ‘you’?
Ans. The speaker established the relation between ‘me’ and ‘you’ by saying that every individual is born of parents and the same blood flows in human body.
Q. 10. What is the theme of the poem?
Ans. The poet is happy and celebrating. In his good mood, he is observing the minutest details of Nature. He believes that he is born with the same blood as others. He feels that one should not give much importance to religion and carry on regardless. He wants to keep everything in mind whether it is good or bad and wants to speak of every danger with the original enthusiasm.
3. Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast – W. H. Auden
Q. 1. What conditions prevail in the woods? [Sc. & Com., 2020A]
Ans. In the woods, nature looks beautiful. Wind blows in a friendly way and is pleasant. Birds sing sweetly. In the woods, the atmosphere seems happy and enthusiastic. Sun-rays make the fruit fleshy, fat, and tasty. Everywhere in the woods, the nature is calm and cool.
Q. 2. How, according to W. H. Auden, do we complete our last journey to the grave? [Arts 2019A]
Ans. When a man dies in his life, thereafter he completes his last journey to the grave.
Q. 3. What do ‘Trolls’ do in the ‘leafless wood’?
Ans. The wicked creatures look for food in the leafless wood.
Q. 4. Who are the ‘travellers’ and how will they be ‘blessed’?
Ans. The people are the travellers, and they will be blessed by the white waterfalls.
Q. 5. Who are the ‘whispering neighbours’?
Ans. The whispering neighbours are the messengers of death that are coming from every corner.
Q. 6. Which words in the first stanza suggest objects from Nature?
Ans. The leaves and Nurse’s flowers suggest objects from Nature.
Q. 7. How does human life become miserable?
Ans. Suffering, diseases, and the killing have made human life miserable.
Q. 8. In what way will the travellers be blessed?
Ans. When the travellers will move in the mountain, the white waterfall will bless them.
Q. 9. What does the poet mean when he says “Now the leaves are falling fast”?
Ans. The poet meant that like leaves, even human beings are going to their graves very fast. The destruction is clearly seen.
Q. 10. What are the words in the second stanza that suggest death and the effect of death on human body?
Ans. Whispering neighbours and freeze are the words that suggest death. The human body will become freeze, that is very cold, and the life will be snatched away from them.
4. Ode To Autumn – John Keats
Q. 1. Who are depicted as friends in the first two lines?
Ans. Autumn and sun are depicted as friends in the first two lines.
Q. 2. What happens in autumn?
Ans. Autumn is the season of soft and sweet fruits in abundance. In this season, the fruits ripen and flowers grow.
Q. 3. In what sense does the sun conspire with autumn?
Ans. The sun conspires with Autumn to fill all fruits with ripeness.
Q. 4. How do the sun and summer help in ripeness of fruits in autumn?
Ans. The rays of the summer sun and the favourable summer wind helps in ripening of fruits in autumn.
Q. 5. How are autumn and summer related to spring?
Ans. Like the spring, the summer and autumn also makes the environment friendly and green. It also helps in ripening of fruits and growing of flowers.
5. An Epitaph – Walter de la Mare
Q. 1. In the poem ‘An Epitaph’, what will happen when the poet dies? [Sc. & Com. 2019A]
Ans. When the poet will die, nobody will remember the beautiful lady of The West Country.
Q. 2. What is the poet’s impression of the lady in An Epitaph? [Arts 2018A]
Ans. The poet of ‘An Epitaph’ Walter de la Mare portrays the lady in the present poem as an idol of beauty, as the most beautiful lady that ever was in the West Country.
Q. 3. Where does the lady lie?
Ans. The lady lies inside the grave.
Q. 4. How does she look to the poet?
Ans. She looks very beautiful to the poet.
Q. 5. Was she a kind and considerate lady?
Ans. The lady had a soft heart which made her kind and considerate towards others.
Q. 6. What does the poet think about ‘beauty’?
Ans. The poet feels that no matter how rare the beauty is, it will disappear and pass away when you die.
Q. 7. What does the poet mean when he says “And when I crumble”.
Ans. The poet meant to say that when he will die.
6. The Soldier – Rupert Brooke
Q. 1. Is the speaker afraid of death? [Arts 2019A]
Ans. No, the speaker is not afraid of death. He is just laughing to see his death. It seems as if he is enjoying his death.
Q. 2. What is meant by the phrase ‘A pulse in the eternal mind’?
Ans. It means a vibration which lasts forever. The poet says that there must be a feeling against war.
Q. 3. How can ‘some corner of a foreign field’ be ‘for ever England’?
Ans. When the war starts, the dust of the earth hides a corner of a foreign field. In this way, a part of a corner will be for ever of England as the dust will get mingle with the peace of land.
Q. 4. In that rich earth a richer dust concealed. ‘ What does ‘dust ‘ stand for?
Ans. In the given line ‘dust’ refers to the soil of England which has been in service of his country.
Q. 5. If at all he dies in the battle, how would he like to be remembered?
Ans. If at all he dies in the battle, he would like to be remembered as an unforgettable soldier who never fears death.
7. Macavity: The Mystery Cat – Eliot
Q. 1. Why is Macavity termed a ‘criminal’? [Sc. & Com. 2019A]
Ans. Macavity is termed as a criminal because he can defy the law and create problems even for the Scotland Yard.
Q. 2. Why is Macavity called a criminal? [Sc. & Com. 2018A]
Ans. Macavity violates the law and indulges in activities of criminal nature. It is most clever and cunning. It is never found after committing wrong and leaves the place immediately.
Q. 3. Why does the poet call Macavity, a mystery cat?
Ans. The poet calls Macavity a Mystery cat because of its mysterious nature. It can defy the law. It does many mysterious acts.
Q. 4. What are the adjectives that have been used to describe Macavity’s character?
Ans. The adjectives that have been used to describe Macavity’s character are as following: ginger-cat, the Hidden-paw, the Napolean of crime.
Q. 5. What is suggested by the phrase ‘powers of levitation’?
Ans. The phrase ‘power of levitation’ means it can fly and float in air.
Q. 6. What would you do if a cat enters your kitchen? Would you keep a cat as pet?
Ans. If a cat enters in my kitchen, I will make it run away. No, I would not keep a cat as pet because I don’t like cats.
8. Fire-Hymn – Keki N. Daruwala
Q. 1. Which event does the expression ‘the burning ghat’ refer to? [Sc. & Com. 2020A]
Ans. The expression ‘the burning ghat’ refers to that place where people burn their relatives’ dead bodies.
Q. 2. What did the firm-hymn say to him? [Sc. & Com. 2019A]
Ans. The firm hymn said to ‘him’ the narrator that ” you stand forgiven”.
Q. 3. What does the speaker see/ observe in the morning at the ghat? [Arts 2019A]
Ans. The speaker observes the fire in the morning at the ghat with some unburn parts of the body.
Q. 4. What is the meaning of the fire forgetting its dead? [Arts 2018A]
Ans. The fire forgets its dead when it leaves the body half burnt. The speaker of the poem feels it as the fire’s immortal behaviour.
Q. 5. Why did he consign his first born to the flames?
Ans. It is a part of their religious custom.
Q. 6. Where do you think is the ghat located?
Ans. The ghat is located at down past river bank.
Q. 7. In what sense does the fire forget its dead?
Ans. The fire forgets its dead at a time it means some times it leaves things unburnt.
Q. 8. How did the passer-by get frightened?
Ans. Passer-by got frightened to see the fire at the ghat because of its horrifying look.
Q. 9. Why does the speaker reveal his religious identity?
Ans. It is so because the acts belonged a part of his religion. He wanted to make the act look a cumpulsion rather that a willing act.
Q. 10. Why does he say that the redness of the fire is cruel?
Ans. He says that the redness of the fire is cruel because it swallowed everyone. It takes everything under it like an absolute monarch.
9. Snake – D. H. Lawrence
Q. 1. Why did he poet feel honoured? [Sc. & Com., 2020A]
Ans. The poet feels very honoured by the presence of the snake. He admires it a lot initially. He thinks that the snake is like a god, who has come to his water through for quenching his thirst, and he feels honoured for it.
Q. 2. Why any how did the snake come out of the hole? (Sc. & Com. 2018A]
Ans. The Snake had come out of a hole near a carbotree, in the night. The night was too hot and the snake was thirsty. As such the snake went to the Water-trough. He put its mouth upon the bottom of the trough to drink water and sipped (drink slowly) the water with his straight mouth.
Q. 3. Where did the speaker meet the snake?!
Ans. The speaker met the snake at the poet’s water trough when he went there to drink water. That snake came there to drink.
Q. 4. Why had it come out of its hole near the trough?
Ans. It had come out of its hole near the trough to drink water because it was too hot.
Q. 5. Why did the speaker decide to wait?
Ans. The speaker decided to wait because the snake was just in front of him and drinking water.
Q. 6. What is the belief prevailing in Sicily about a snake?
Ans. The belief prevailng in sicily about a snake is black are venomous.
10. My Grandmother’s House – Kamala Devi
Q. 1. Why was the speaker proud of living in that house? [Sc. & Com. 2019A]
Ans. The speaker was proud of living in that house because in that house she received loved after a long time. For love she moved here and there but she got it in her old house only.
Q. 2. What happened to the house after the grandmother died? [Arts 2018A]
Ans. The house became deserted after the grandmother died. The house withdrew into silence and snakes moved there.
Q. 3. Who is ‘I’ in the second line of the poem ??
Ans. ‘I’ is the speaker means the poet Kamala Das in the second line of the poem.
Q. 4. Where did the speaker once receive love?
Ans. The speaker once recieved love in a house where she lived with her grandmother.
Q. 5. Why did the house go into silence?
Ans. The house went into silence because the woman which used to live in had died. It was poetess ‘ grandmother.
Q. 6. Why was the speaker unable to read the books?
Ans. The speaker was unable to read the books because at that time she was too young to read.
Q. 7. Why did the speaker often wish to go to that house?
Ans. The speaker often wished to go to that house because in that house she felt grandmother’s memory. Her grandmother lived there and died in that house. That house had unforgetable memory for the poetess.
Q. 8. Why does the speaker say that she has lost her way?
Ans. The speaker says so because she was swayed by the tides of life and had gone away from her real life which was a source of happiness and peace.