Lesson. No. 5: The Brook

Glossary

Haunt: place visited frequently

Coot and hern: water birds

Sally: to rush; to issue forth suddenly

Bicker: to move quickly with a participating noise

Ridge: a high edge along a mountain

Thorp: village

Sharps and trebles: the loud and low sound of music

Eddying bays: bays full of whirlpools

Fret: to wear away

Fallow: unploughed land

Foreland: tiny cape

Chatter: to pass with a noise

Wind about: to move in a curved way

Lusty: strong

Grayling: a trout having a broad fin

Gravel: small stones, often used to make the surface of paths & roads,

Steal: to move quietly

Hazel: a small tree that produces nuts, woods or buses

Gloom(verb): to grow dark

Glance: to produce small bright flashes of light

Netted(adj): looking like meshes

Brambly: full of thorns

Shingly bars: pebbles & sand hindering the flow

Cresses: small plants with thin stems & very small leaves

Summary Of The Brook

This poem “The Brook” is written by Alfred Lord Tennyson. In the poem, the Brook narrates a tale about a journey. The brook speaks about its emergence from a mountain and the resort of water birds. It sparkles and shines among the fern. Then the brook flows down the hill into a valley with a turbulent flow. Then it flows past hills, ridges, villages, a town & under many bridges.

Then the brook flows through the fields and meanders through the plains. As the brook flows through the plains its pace slows down. It becomes calm & quiet. And then it pours its water into the overflowing river.

Thinking About the poem

Q1) Who is “I” referred to as in the poem?

Ans: “I” is referred to the brook itself.

Q2) Trace the journey of the brook?

Ans: The brook starts its journey on the hilltops frequented by water birds. Then the brook rushes down the hill into the valleys and plains. It passes by a town, many grasslands, many villages, and half a hundred bridges. As it flows through the plains its pace slows down. It becomes calm & quiet. And then it joins the brimming river.

Q3) Explain the following lines:

“For men may come and men may go

But I go on forever.”

Ans: In these lines, the brook says that men come to this world and leave it very shortly as they are mortals. But the journey of the brook is unending and everlasting.

Q) Can the journey of the brook be compared with human life?

Ans: Yes, the very journey of the brook can be compared with the life span of a man. Like brook, a human being also passes through different stages of life before his death. And the flow of the brook can be compared with this world that doesn’t stop while mortals are born & mortals die

Lesson No. 6: Mercy

Glossary

strain’d == forced

droppeth == drops; descends

mightiest in the mightiest == mercy is more powerful than the most powerful kings

crown == symbolizes the supreme power of the king

sceptre == the royal

enthroned (adj.) == seated (in the hearts of kings)

attribute (n) == quality

temporal == not lasting

enthrone == stain a throne seasons breeds sway == over powering

awe == dread, terror

Summary of Mercy

The poem “Mercy” has been extracted from the play The Merchant of Venice written by William Shakespeare. In this poem, the poet talks about mercy. He says that mercy descends like the drops of gentle rain. It blesses the person who gives and the one who receives it. Mercy is stronger than the strongest. Mercy is better for a king than his own crown. The majesty of a king is temporal but mercy is more encompassing and more fruitful. Mercy is an attribute to God himself. Mercy is sometimes enthroned in the heart of kings. The king‘s power corresponds with that of God‘s when mercy bears the fruits of justice.

Thinking about the poem
Q.1) Where does the quality of mercy come from? Who are blessed by it?

Ans) The quality of mercy is enthroned by God in the hearts of the people. It blesses both the one who gives and the one who receives it.

Q.2) How is mercy better than the crown of the king?

Ans) Mercy is better than the crown of the king because the crown represents the earthly and temporal powers but mercy is a divine quality and an attribute to God himself.

Q.3) What does sceptre stand for? How does it affect the kings?

Ans) Sceptre is a royal wand. It represents royal authority. Sceptre signifies the king’s awe and majesty both of which are subject to decay.

Q.4) When does earthly power look like God”s?

Ans) When the earthly power makes the tree of mercy bear the fruits of justice, it looks like Godly. When the person having earthly power tempers his justice with the mercy, his earthly power looks more like God‘s power.

Q.5) How is mercy alone the “sceptered sway”?

Ans) Mercy is the sceptered sway because it is the quality of God Who is all-encompassing and the most powerful.

Q.6) What happens when mercy seasons justice?

Ans) When mercy seasons justice, the earthly powers look like Godly or divine.

LANGUAGE WORK

a) Find out the similes and/or metaphors in the poem.

Ans. Some of them found in the poem are; gentle rain, sceptre, doth earthly power. b) Find out poetical words in the poem and also write their names;

Ans. Strain’d == means- forced

Droppeth == means- drops, descends

‘Tis == means- this

Blesseth == means- blesses or bless

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Lesson No. 7: Wrinkles

Glossary

Raade: a Hindu festival celebrated in Jammu

Tawi: a river of Jammu

make bold: become courageous

uproot : to pull out or remove comeliness attractiveness

Navaratra: a festival celebrating the birth of Lord Shiva
tinsel shining: decorative metallic stripes or threads

Summary of Wrinkles

The poem “Wrinkles” is a Dogri poem written by Arvind and translated by Shivnath. This poem is an extremely emotional account of a son on the subject of his mother. He says that he has been counting the wrinkles on the face of his mother. His mother got her first wrinkle when her father married her and she was uprooted from her home and planted in the courtyard of others. She got her another when she was in the family way. She got her third wrinkle when her son took away the comeliness of her face through lactation. She gets her Fourth wrinkle when her son marries off leaving his mother alone. The narrator longs to see the girl under those wrinkles which once she was when she celebrated Raade festival and went to river Tawi to immerse the seedlings and bathe during the Navratras. He wants to see his mother as a young girl who used to play hopscotch and the game of pebbles. The narrator wishes his mother to become that girl once again for a day so that he would bring colours for Raade, tinsel for her dupatta, and colourful pebbles from across the river Taw =

Thinking about the poem:

Q1) How many wrinkles does the poet see on the mother”s face?

Ans) The poet finds four wrinkles on his mother’s face.

Q2) What does the first wrinkle represent?

Ans) The first wrinkle on her face represents a sense of loss, mental strain when she was uprooted from her house and planted in the courtyard of others.

Q3) What do the second and the third wrinkles represent?

Ans) She got her second wrinkle when she nourished her child in her womb and she got her third wrinkle when she was being consumed during the process of lactation.

Q4) What is the poet seeking under the wrinkles of the mother?

Ans) The poet wants to see the young girl under the wrinkles which she was used to be in her young age.

Q5) What are the activities the poet”s mother used to do when she was a girl?

Ans) When she was a young girl, the poet’s mother used to celebrate Raade festival and bathe and immerse raade seedlings in the river. She also used to play hopscotch and the game of pebbles.

Q6) How does the poem end?

Ans) At the end of the poem, the poet wants his mother to become a young girl once again for a day. He would then bring colours for Raade, tinsel for her dupatta, and colourful pebbles for her from across the river Tawi.

LANGUAGE WORK

Write the meaning of the following phrases or expression as used in the poem:

Ans. 1. From the backyard = to separate someone from his/her birthplace or quietly
2. On your blood: to feed on the digested food, to make the host of someone.

3. Nourished me: to grow or develop own self

4. Took me away: to take someone away from the close one or separate someone from a dear one.

5. Taking courage: being courageous

6. Under the skin: beneath or below age, or feel or see something
7. From across the river: to a long distance, with hard work.

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Lesson No. 8: Meeting Poet

Vocabulary

Disconcerted : Confused (Unsettle; non plus; unnerve)

Wig: a covering of artificial hair which a bald wears

Wasp: a stinging insect (here) bitterness in the speech of poets

Air: manner and appearance

Dankness: unpleasantness

Speckled: covered with speckles (marks)

Thinking about the poem
Q1) Why is the poet confused when she meets poets?

Ans: The poet is confused due to the odd outward appearance of the poets.She is confused because of the colour of their socks, the suspicion of a wig, bitterness in their speech and their unpleasant manner.

Q2) What is the best way to know poets?

Ans: A poet expresses himself through his poems. We can know about the poets through their subjective poems which express their nature and ideas).

Q3) What does the poet compare the poets with?

Ans: The poet compares the poets with “cool speckled shells in which one hears a sad but distant sea”.

Q4) Explain the phrase-“a wasp in the voice”.

Ans: The phrase “Wasp in the voice ” means bitterness in speech.

Lesson No. 9: Stars Speak to Man

Summary of Stars Speak to Man

The poem Stars Speak to Man is written by Abdul Ahad Azad in Kashmiri and rendered into English by Prof. G.R Malik. In the poem Stars Speak to Man, they tell him that he was born with the light of reason but he chose to be fire. Due to his callousness, he became a reason for disgrace for the whole of mankind. The stars tell him that nature had fashioned him to become the fountain of love and affection but he took to buying and selling of religion and his faith. Nature had bestowed all its treasures upon him to share them equally but his materialistic pursuits led him astray. Not only this, man created divisions on the basis of religion and faith. Humanity has fallen into lament due to man‘s misdeeds. What man calls awakening is basically an intoxicating sleep. Man‘s own deeds have eluded him and he complains against fate. It is nothing but a fanciful dream and man needs to come out from it. In the end, the stars tell the man that he breaks the heart of those who are his kin. He should not ravage his own home by acting irresponsibly.

Think about the text:

1. What do the stars say to man in the first two lines of the poem?

Ans: In the first two lines of the poem the stars tell the man that he was the light of reason but he chose to be fire. And the man brought disgrace for his race due to his callousness.

2. Nature had fashioned you to apportion love and affection But you chose to buying and selling of religion and faith instead.

Explain these lines:

Ans: In these lines, stars tell the man that nature had fashioned him to become a fountain of love and affection. But he stooped so low that he fell to selling and buying of religion and faith.

3. Why is man described as a serpent?

Ans. Man amasses wealth and sits like a serpent on the treasures God has bestowed him, Unused remains a treasure upon which serpents find their shelter. A man who amasses wealth and makes no good use of it is like a serpent sitting on the ground with a treasure underneath. He uses these treasures for himself only while he was supposed to share them with his fellow-beings.

4. “That which you call awakening is a stupefying hangover”. Why?

Ans: All human beings are equal. Divisions on the basis of religion and faith are boastfully considered awakening by man. But it is nothing but an intoxicating sleep.

5. Do you think the poem is a wake-up call? Explain.

Ans: Yes, the poem is a wake-up call. The poet wants to awaken those who have created divisions in the name of religion and faith. The poet wants men to recognize their status and regain their loss.

LANGUAGE WORK

Q1. Fill in the blanks to make a meaningful summary of the poem.

Ans. The poem is addressed to Man. The poet tells Man that he was the light of reason but he put humanity to disgrace. Nature had provided him with treasures of bounties to share them equally, but he sat like a serpent on them. His heart is restlesslyvibrating and his vision clouded by fantasies. In his own garden, he cut the roots while watering twigs and leaves. He has ransacked and ravaged his own home.

Q2. Use the following phrases in your own sentences.

Ans.

(i). Choose to be: He chooses to be a teacher.

(ii). Take to: He was taken to the hospital for treatment.

(iii). Throw open: The warden throw opens the door for all students to come in.

(iv). Pose to be: He poses to be a genius.

(v). Fall into: I told him not to fall into conversation with them.

(vi). Tear apart: The professor tore apart the paper.

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Lesson No. 10: Summer and Winter

Summary of Summer and Winter

The poem Summer and Winter is written by P.B Shelley. In this poem, Summer symbolizes life and happiness, and winter symbolizes death and lifelessness. The poet draws images from the summer season to heighten the effects of life & vigor.

In the section that follows, the poet draws images from the winter which symbolize death and lifelessness. The poet, in a very subtle manner, brings about a contrast between the two natural forces: life & death; symbolized by summer & winter.

Thinking about the poem
Q1) What do the opening lines of the poem describe?

Ans: The opening lines of the poem describe the bright & cheerful afternoon towards the end of the sunny month of June.

Q2) What is the effect of the shining sun on the objects of nature?

Ans: In the summer the sun shines in the clear & cloudless sky making all things rejoice.

Q3) How is winter described in the poem?

Ans: The effect of winter is harsh. The birds die in the forests. The fishes lie stiffened in the translucent ice and people gather around the fire and yet feeling cold.

Q4) Explain the following lines:

All things rejoiced beneath the sun; the weeds,

The river, and the corn-fields, and reeds;

The willow leaves that glanced in the light breeze

Ans: In these lines, the poet says that in the summer the sun shines brightly in the sky. All things the weeds, the river, the corn-fields, and the reeds are full of life and happiness.

Q5) How does the poem end?

Ans: At the end of the poem, the poet describes a family that assembles around the fire but still feel cold. And the poet is sorry for a homeless beggar.

LANGUAGE WORK

Q1. Write down some visual images from the poem:

Ans. Some visual images from the poem are:

Floating Mountains, Stainless Sky, Wrinkled Clod, Hard as Brick

Q2. Pick out the rhyming words from the poem.

Ans. Rhyming Words:

Weeds …………… Reeds

Breeze …………… Trees

Die ………………. Lie

Cold …………….. Old

Crowds ………….. Clouds

Q3. Write down five adjectives from the poem.

Ans. Five adjectives from the poem are:

1. The Silver Clouds: In summer we see silver clouds floating in the sky.

2. The Stainless Sky: The stainless sky looks attractive in summer.

3. The Lager Tress: The larger trees are found in the forests of Kashmir.

4. The Translucent Ice: In winter the translucent ice floats on the surface of the water.

5. The Homeless Beggar: The homeless beggars are always seen begging in the streets of cities.