__hprehension Passages Passage -1 Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: Iremember, | remember, The house where | was born, The little window where the sun Came peeping in at morn; He never came a wink too soon, Nor brought too long a day, But now, | often wish the night Had borne my breath away! (i) In what mood does the poet recall his childhood? Why? Answer: The poet recalls his childhood days in a deeply reflective and sentimental mood, pondering over the lost innocence and natural bliss of those happy times. As childhood is usually considered the best period of one’s life unspoiled by the complexities of the world, the poet reminisces about his childhood with a heavy heart. (li) How is the sun treated here? Which memory of the poet’s childhood is associated with it? Answer: The sun is personified in a unique way, as if it were a caring person who would gently wake up the poet every morning by peeping through his window. The poet has fond memories of the sun arriving neither too early nor too late to start his day, associated with the natural rhythm of his childhood. (iii) What does the poet wish? Answer: The poet wishes he had died in his blissful chil rd.Vv br: The poet wishes he had died in his blissful childhood. (iv) What contrast of childhood and adulthood is made by the poet? Answer: The poet draws a stark contrast between the cheerfulness and innocent wonder of his childhood days versus the melancholy and disillusionment of his adulthood. Childhood brought unchecked joy and harmony with nature, while adulthood has weighed down his spirit with misery, exhaustion, and a yearning for the irrecoverable past. (v) How does the poet view swinging in his childhood? Answer: Swinging gave the poet a sense of freedom and thrill in childhood. He felt like a bird flying freely in the air while swinging. Passage -2 Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: | remember, | remember, The roses, red and white, The violets, and the lily-cups, The laburnum on his birth-day, The tree is living yet! (i) What has the poet wished earlier in the context? Answer: The poet has wished earlier that he had died in his childhood. (ii) ‘Those flowers made of light!’ Explain.(il) ‘Those flowers made of light!’ Explain. Answer: The poet is referring to the bright and colourful flowers like roses, violets and lilies which delighted him in childhood. Their bright colours seemed to radiate light. (iii) What is ‘laburnum’? What makes the poet excited about it? Answer: Laburnum is a tree with hanging yellow flower bunches. The poet is excited because it was planted by his brother on his birthday and is still alive, which reminds the poet of his childhood days. (iv) Childhood is a period of freedom. Which childhood image in the poem reminds you of this? Answer: The image of the poet swinging freely like a bird reminds me of the freedom of childhood. (v) Why does the poet refer to the fir tree tops later in the context? Answer: The poet refers to the fir tree tops to point out how his perspective has changed from childhood to adulthood. As a child, he thought the tree tops touched the sky but as an adult he realizes it was his childish ignorance. Passage -3 Read the extract given below and answer the questio! follow: remember, | remember,Answer: The poet refers to the fir tree tops to point out how his perspective has changed from childhood to adulthood. As a child, he thought the tree tops touched the sky but as an adult he realizes it was his childish ignorance. Passage -3 Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: | remember, | remember, Where | was used to swing, And thought the air must rush as fresh To swallows on the wing; My spirit flew in feathers then, That is so heavy now, And summer pools could hardly cool The fever on my brow! (i) What did the poet’s brother plant, and when? What is so exciting about it? Answer: The poet’s brother planted a laburnum tree on his birthday. The poet is excited because the tree is still alive, reminding him of his childhood days. (ii) How would the poet feel as a child on a swing? Answer: As a child on the swing, the poet felt light, free and thrilled like a bird flying in the fresh air.vf (iii) Elaborate the contrast between ‘then’ (childhood) and ‘now’ (adulthood). Answer: ‘Then’ symbolizes the poet’s childhood days when his spirit felt free, light and airborne, like a bird gliding effortlessly through the fresh breezy air. The poet uses the metaphor of his spirit flying with feathers to convey the untethered joy and energy of his childhood. ‘Now’ in contrast denotes his current state in adulthood where his spirit feels oppressively heavy, weighed down by the burdens of grown-up sorrows, responsibilities and disconnectedness from the natural world. (iv) Explain the last line here. Answer: The metaphorical “fever on my brow” is symbolic of the poet's restless dissatisfaction and sense of exhaustion as an adult which is in stark contrast to the cooling, calming effect of his childhood days. The “fever” represents the heat of emotions like frustration, stress and misery which the poet experiences now, unlike the relief provided by the pools of water in the carefree summers of his childhood. (v) Does the poet want to escape from the present harsh realities? Why? Answer: Yes, the poet wants to escape the gloom and misery of adulthood by reminiscing about his happy childhood. He wishes he had died in childhood to avoid the harsh realities of adulthood. Passage-4we ~Passage-4 Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: I remember, | remember, The fir trees dark and high; used to think their slender tops Were close against the sky: It was a childish ignorance, But now ‘tis little joy To know I'm farther off from heaven Than when | was a boy. (i) In what state of mind does the poet recall his childhood? What do you think has made him nostalgic? Answer: The poet reminisces about his childhood in a gloomy, wistful state of mind, filled with sadness and longing for the now distant past. The loss of the joyful innocence and unburdened bliss of childhood upon becoming an adult has. tendered the poet nostalgic about those perfect, idyllic early years. (ii) What was the childhood viewpoint about the ‘fir trees’? Answer: As a child, the poet thought the slender tops of the tall fir trees touched the sky. (iii) How does the poet view his adulthood ‘wisdom’ as compared to his childhood ‘ignorance’? Answer: The poet sees his childhood ignorance as blissful innocence which gave him joy. His adulthood wisdom has only distanced him from that heavenly joy. (iv) Explain the last two lines of the extract.Y Led him from that heavenly joy. (iv) Explain the last two lines of the extract. Answer: The last two lines mean that the poet feels he has drifted farther away from the state of heavenly joy and innocence which he possessed as a child. (v) What rhyme scheme is employed by the poet here? Answer: The rhyme scheme is abcbdefe in this stanza and throughout the poem. Additional questions and answers 1. What is the rhyme scheme of each stanza in the poem? Answer: The rhyme scheme of each stanza is ABCBDEFE. 2. What figure of speech is used in the line “Came peeping in at mom’? Answer: The poet uses the literary device of personification, attributing the human action of peeping to the sun, as if the sun were sneakily peeking through the window to check on the poet in the morning. This adds an endearing, almost mischievous character to the sun. 3. What does the poet wish had happened to him in childhood? Answer: Conveying the depth of his disillusionment and unhappiness with adulthood, the poet expresses that he wishes the figurative night had “borne his breath away” when he was a carefree child, meaning he wishes he had died during the tranquil innocence of childhood and avoided the melancholy burdens of adulthood altogether. 4, Name two types of flowers mentioned in the second staiza.Vv 4. Name two types of flowers mentioned in the second stanza. Answer: Roses and violets. 5. Who planted the laburnum tree and when? Answer: The poet's brother planted it on his birthday. 6. What makes the poet nostalgic about the laburnum tree? Answer: It reminds him of his childhood days. 7. How does the poet describe his childhood experience on the swing? Answer: The poet uses vivid imagery to capture the wonderful freedom and exhilaration he felt as a child effortlessly soaring back and forth on the swing. He describes the sensation of gliding through the fresh, brisk air as transcending, with his spirit feeling as light, untethered, and joyful as a bird in flight. 8. What metaphor does the poet use to contrast his spirit in childhood and now? Answer: His spirit used to be light and airy like feathers, now it is heavy. 9. What brings “fever” to the poet in adulthood? Answer: The metaphorical fever is symbolic of the constant worries, stresses, and disappointments of grown-up responsibilities weighing down the poet's spirit. In contrast to the carefree coolness provided by summer pools in childhood, the fever represents the burning exhaustion and discontentment of spirit brought on by the troubles of adulthood. 10. What was the poet’s childhood perspective about the10. What was the poet’s childhood perspective about the treetops and sky? Answer: He thought the treetops touched the sky. 11. How does the poet describe his childhood perspective now? Answer: As childish ignorance. 12. What does the poet’s adulthood wisdom fail to provide? Answer: Despite gaining more knowledge and experience with age, the poet expresses that his adult wisdom does not provide the childlike happiness, innocence, and closeness to heaven that he possessed in his naive childhood ignorance. His learnedness as a grown-up thus seems hollow in comparison. 13. What is the main theme expressed in the poem? Answer: Childhood innocence and joy surpass the disillusionments of adulthood. 14. Does the poet portray childhood or adulthood more positively? Answer: Childhood is portrayed more positively.