NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew Poem Chapter 5 The School Boy is part of NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew Poem Chapter 5 The School Boy.
NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Honeydew (Poem) Chapter 5 The School Boy
verses for understanding
I. I like to wake up on summer mornings,
When birds sing on every tree;
The distant hunter turns his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
Hey! What a lovely company. (page 84)
Hindi translation-I like waking up early in the summer season. I see birds chirping on every tree. Somewhere in the distance, the sound of a hunter’s own horn player gave me tips. I want to mingle with the skylark. The morning seems full of beautiful companions.
briefly explain, I love getting out of bed on summer mornings. I find birds singing on every tree. In the distance I hear the sound of a horn blown by a hunter. I like to sing with the skylark. The morning seems full of pleasant company.
multiple choice questions
1. Birds sing
(a summer
(b) winter
(c) rainy season
(d) autumn.
2. The poet sings in the summer morning
(a) hunter’s horn
(b) bird
(c) skylark
(d) heat.
3. Summer mornings are full
(a) bird
(b) hunter
(c) music
(d) skylarks
4. The meaning of the word ‘wind’ is
(a) air
(b) Sound is produced by blowing the horn.
(c) fan
(d) Songs.
answer
1. (a summer
2. (c) skylark
3. (c) music
4. (b) Sound is produced by blowing the horn.
Second. But to go to school on a summer morning,
Hey! It takes away all joy;
worn out under a cruel gaze,
Little children spend the day,
Sigh and despair. (page 84)
, Hindi translation-One thing destroys all happiness. It’s about going to school. At school a student, a tired teacher reads to the children. Small children sigh as they recount their day in Saptarishi.
briefly explain, There is one thing very enjoyable on a summer morning. He is going to school. A tired and indifferent teacher teaches small children in school. That’s why schoolboys spend their days groaning and being in trouble.
questions
1. What is the joy of a summer morning?
2. What is it that he hates to do on summer mornings?
3. Whose eye is being referred to?
4. Who feels shy and where?
answer
1. The joy of summer mornings is to see the birds and trees up close.
2. Children hate going to school on summer mornings.
3. Here the ‘cruel gaze’ of the cruel teacher is being mentioned.
4. The child hesitates in school.
Third. Ahh! Then sometimes I sit down,
And spend many anxious hours.
Nor can I be pleased with my book,
Nor sit in the university,
Tired of the monotonous shower. (page 84)
Hindi translation: Sometimes a boy remains tired in class in school. In this way she spends many worry-filled hours. He doesn’t find any fun in his documentary. He gets tired and nauseous, doesn’t teach him anything.
briefly explain, Sometimes in school, the boy sits tired in the class. He spends many anxious hours this way. He does not enjoy reading his books. He is tired and the dull barrage of words fails to teach him.
multiple choice questions
1. Many times a schoolboy sits bent down because
(A) He is always sad
(b) he does not want to study
(c) The atmosphere in the class is not good
(d) He has dropped something.
2. He cannot enjoy his books because
(A) He is attracted to nature
(b) he is lazy
(c) He does not like to study
(d) Books are uninteresting.
3. The speaker in the poem is
(a) very happy
(b) unhappy
(c) playing
(d) enjoying
4. Meaning of the word worry
(A) careless
(b) playful
(c) happy
(d) worried.
answer
1. (c) The atmosphere in the class is not good
2. (A) He is attracted to nature
3. (b) unhappy
4. (d) worried
IV. How can a bird which is born for happiness be so?
Sit in the cage and sing.
How can a child get upset when he is afraid?
But bend his soft wing,
And forget his young spring. (page 84)
Hindi translation- Birds are the birthplace to sing with joy. But he cannot do this because he is locked in the market. Similarly, a frightened child cannot be happy. The bird of the deity gives its wings to the deity and forgets to fly. Go to the same kind of school. The boy forgets to be happy. A life of happiness is a pure happiness.
briefly explain, A bird is born to sing happily. However, he cannot do this when he is in the cage. Similarly, a scared child cannot feel happy. A bird kept in a cage folds its soft wings and forgets to fly. Similarly the school boy forgets to be happy. The fresh fountain of joy dries up within.
questions
1. What is natural for a bird?
2. What is being compared to the caged bird?
3. What does the phrase ‘tender wing’ refer to?
4. Find the phrase that means “happy days of childhood”.
answer
1. It is natural for a bird to sing happily.
2. A child studying in school is being compared to a bird kept in a cage.
3. The phrase ‘tender wings’ refers to the simple and playful nature of childhood.
4. The phrase young spring refers to the joyous days of childhood.
V. Hey! Father and mother, if the buds are gnawed,
And the flowers flew away,
And if the tender plants are peeled
Of their happiness in the spring day,
Sadness and worry lead to despair. (page 85)
Hindi translation- Parents should be told what kind of studies their child should pursue. What would happen to those remedies if, like the day, the buds were plucked and blown into flowers? This would mean that the treatment was started at the time of flowering in all its glory. The same thing happens with school going students when sorrows and worries haunt them.
briefly explain, Parents should understand that their children are like tender plants. What would happen if the buds of a plant were plucked early in the morning and the flowers were blown away? Of course, this will deprive the plant of all its joys in the germination stage. The same thing happens with a schoolboy when sorrows and worries make him dejected.
multiple choice questions
1. The poet of this poem is
(A) RN Tagore
(b) William Blake
(c) TS Eliot
(d) Zulfikar Ghosh.
2. Whose parents are being mentioned here?
(A) the parents of the bird
(b) all parents
(c) poet’s
(d) School-boy’s.
3. What does the phrase ‘tender plants’ mean?
(a) young plants
(b) young birds
(c) small children
(d) Soft buds.
4. The meaning of the word stripped is
(A) deprived
(B) uprooted
(c) cutting
(d) gave water.
answer
1. (b) William Blake
2. (d) school-boy’s
3. (c) small children
4. (A) deprived
VI. How fun will summer be,
Or the fruits of summer? (page 85)
Hindi translation – In that situation (when the company has been developed from buds and flowers) how can we enjoy greenery? And if the grass has no flowers, then no fruit will be produced.
briefly explain, In that situation (when plants are deprived of buds and flowers) how will we be able to enjoy summer? Now if there are no summer flowers then there will be no fruits either.
questions
1. Who is the author of the poem?
2. What does summer symbolize?
3. What is meant by ‘summer fruits’?
4. Find the word in the passage that means ’emerge’.
answer
1. William Blake is the name of the poet.
2. Summer is a symbol of youth.
3. The phrase ‘summer fruits’ means ‘beautiful deeds done by the youth’.
4. ‘Rise’.
text question
Working with Poetry (page 85)
Question. 1.
Find three or four words/phrases in stanza 1 that show the child’s happiness and joy.
Answer:
The following phrases in stanza 1 reflect the child’s happiness and joy:
(a) birds sing
(b) The distant hunter swings his horn
(c) The skylark sings with me
(Do! What a lovely company.
Question. 2.
In stanza 2, the mood changes. Which words/phrases indicate changed mood?
Answer:
The following words/phrases indicate changed mood:
(A) takes away all happiness
(b) cruel eye rubbing
(c) sighing and despairing
Question. 3.
Refers to ‘a cruel eye gouged out’ (stanza 2)
(i) A classroom which is shabby/noisy.
(ii) Those lessons which are difficult/uninteresting.
(iii) Dull/indifferent life due to lots of work and no play in school.
Mark the answer you think is correct.
Answer:
(ii) Dull/indifferent life of lots of work and no play in school.
Question. 4.
‘Nor sit in the grove of knowledge
Tired of the monotonous shower’
Which of the following is the closest explanation of the above lines?
(i) I cannot sit even in a roofless classroom when it rains.
(ii) Nor can I learn anything in school, although the teachers keep lecturing and explaining.
(iii) Nor can I sit in the school garden for fear of getting wet in the rain.
Answer:
(ii) Nor can I learn anything in school, although the teachers keep lecturing and explaining.
Read the following poem and compare it with The School Boy.
a pool
I went to school when I was little
With pencil and foot rule
sponge and slate,
and sat on a high stool
At the door of learning.
When I was older, the gate used to be wider;
astute and sharp-eyed
I pressed,
But found in pride of mind
No peace, no rest.
Then who was it that taught me to go back
For cattle and barrows,
Field and plough:
To stay in the same groove,
As I do now?
-RS Thomas
Compare:
Both poems say the same thing but in different ways. In the poem ‘School Boy’ the poet says that the child is sad. He is unhappy because he has been removed from nature. Instead, they have been given dull and uninspiring books.
In the poem ‘The One Furrow’ the poet says that first of all he studied in school. After this he entered the modern world. He found neither peace nor rest in both these places. So he came back to nature. He became a farmer and is now at peace.
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