Little Things By Julia A. Carney
Introduction
Little things make everyone happy and are greatly responsible to change our lives. Often little things in life indicate great changes. As little drops of water make mighty oceans, similarly little deeds of kindness can make us dear to even our enemies and thus make this world a happy place to live in.
Summary / Explanation
The poem ‘Little Things’ has been written by poetess Julia A. Carney. In this poem, we shall try to understand how little things have great importance in life, and that they are very important because every big thing is made up of these little things.
The first stanza (paragraph of a poem) means that just because a drop of water is small, we think that it does not have value or is useless, but we forget to notice that when these little drops come together, they form mighty (big and powerful) oceans and the tiny sand particles make the beauteous (beautiful) lands.
The second stanza explains that the little (happy or sad) moments of life, even if they are small or humble(of less importance) they will together turn into ages (a long time or years) and these ages will make eternity- our whole life on earth.
The third stanza of the poem tells us that our little errors (mistakes) and wrongdoings bother us. These mistakes make our mind and soul (our inner self) dirty. We cannot feel the difference between wrong and right. We cannot keep good company. Our little errors and mistakes lead the soul away from the right path of virtue (goodness) towards sin(wrongdoings) which leads us to stray (wander) away from God. So we should prevent ourselves from doing even tiny mistakes.
The fourth stanza says that the little deeds of kindness like helping others, being kind, forgiving, etc. and the little words of love like talking in a loving and gentle way will make our earth like Eden(known as the garden of paradise or a place of great happiness) just like heaven and the earth will become a better place to live in.
Exercises / Questions
I. Word meanings:(leave a line after every word meaning)
1. Beauteous- beautiful.
2. Humble- of less importance.
3. Mighty- strong and powerful.
4. Eternity- endless time.
5. Errors- mistakes.
6. Soul- our inner self.
7. Sin- a wrongful act.
8. Stray- to move away from the right path.
9. Virtue- goodness.
III. Answer the following reference to context.
1. So our little errors; lead the soul away, from the paths of virtue; into sin to stray.
a) What do little errors mean?
Ans- Little errors mean small mistakes like not respecting people, fighting, making fun of others, not obeying our parents, etc.
b) How do little errors lead our soul away?
Ans- When we do little errors, we slowly start doing bigger ones and later we find ourselves in sadness, anger, greed, etc. which lead us away from goodness.
c) What are paths of virtue?
Ans- Paths of virtues are ways of goodness and morally good qualities like kindness, patience, charity, humility, etc.
d) How does sin lead us to stray?
Ans- When we sin, we hurt others and become bad. Our mind and soul gets polluted with bad things which leads us to stray and go far from God.
2. Little deeds of kindness, little words of love, make our earth an Eden, like the heaven above.
a) How can we do deeds of kindness?
Ans- We can do deeds of kindness by smiling, helping people in need, respecting everyone, forgiving our enemies, etc.
b) What do‘little words of love’ mean?
Ans- ‘Little words of love’ mean to talk in a loving and gentle way, not to shout or talk harshly with anyone, but to always speak good about others.
c) What place is Eden?
Ans- Eden is known as the garden of paradise created by God. It is said to be a place of great happiness and beauty.
d) How can we make our earth as heaven?
Ans- By doing deeds of kindness and speaking words of love there will be an atmosphere of love and peace everywhere, which will make our earth into heaven.
IV. Answer the following questions.
1. What do little drops of water and little grains of sand make?
Ans- Little drops of water make the mighty ocean and little grains of sand make the beauteous land.
2. What makes the mighty ages of eternity?
Ans- Our small humble moments in which we tried to be good and kind make the mighty ages of eternity.
3. What leads us to sin?
Ans- Our little errors lead our souls away from the path of goodness and pollute our mind with bad things which leads us to sin.
4. How can little deeds of kindness make us happy?
Ans- Little deeds of kindness can make us happy because when we will be kind and helpful towards others, we will become gentle and spread the love around us which will give us inner peace and happiness.
