SARDAR DOON PUBLIC SCHOOL POEM 2

GEOGRAPHY LESSON CONTENT 6

Name: - Date: 12th july, 2022

Class: - VIII Sub.: - English

ABOUT THE POET

ZULFIKAR GHOSE:
Zulfikar Ghose,a novelist, poet, and essayist, was born on March 13, 1935. He grew up
in a Muslim family at Sialkot in Punjab province. His works are primarily magical realism;
blending fantasy with harsh realities of life.

GIST

The poem is a beautiful description of geographical structure of the earth viewed from
different heights. As the poet reaches to a new height, he resolves a new mystery as:

When the plane took off, he understood the logic of development of city.

At six inches to mile, he understood the reasons of uneven design of the earth as land,
water, forest, somewhere empty and somewhere populated.

At ten thousand feet, he found out the logic of geography. He understood that areas near
rivers and valleys were populated as humans depend on them to survive.

At next six miles, he found that the earth is round and sea water covers more part of it than
land.

But he could not resolve the mystery of human hatred for each other. He could understand
the geographical structure of the earth but he failed to understand men’s mental structure.
He did not understand, ‘why humans hate each other’. The question remains unanswerable
even from the highest height.

Message of the poem:The message of the poem is peace and universal brotherhood. The
geographical boundaries of the earth are necessary for survival of all the creatures
whereas the emotional boundaries of men can be proven only dangerous and
troublesome. Thus, we should try to get the answer of the poet’s question to live a happy
life.
LITERARY DEVICES

1. Personification: is a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal

is given human attributes.

Eg. the jet sprang into the sky

2. Alliteration: is a repetition two or more consonant sounds in the beginning of a

word in a row.
Eg. it was clear why the city
seeing it scaled six inches to the mile.
3. Anaphora: is the repetition of a word or phrase in a particular sentence or line

Eg. When the jet sprang into the sky, (line 1 & 8)

4. Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds within sentences, phrases

Eg. From that height, it was not clear why.
5. Imagery: to bring many images for a better understanding as the poet brings the
imagery of rivers, valleys, sea, city etc.
6. Symbolism: is the practice of using an object or a word to represent an abstract
idea.

Eg. wallssymbolise borders and citiessymbolise countries.

7. The poem is written in blank verse. (no rhyme scheme)
 SARDAR DOON PUBLIC SCHOOL POEM 2

GEOGRAPHY LESSON ASSIGNMENT 6

Name: - Date: 12th May,2020

Class: - VIII Sub.: - English

QUESTION – ANSWERS:

I. Extract based questions:

“Whenthejetreachedtenthousa
ndfeet,
itwasclearwhythecountry
hadcitieswheretheriversran
andwhythevalleyswerepopulat
ed”.

a. What did the poet observe when he reached ten thousand feet?
Ans. When the poet reached high, he found that the places near the rivers and the
valleys were highly populated.
b. What was the reason of population near rivers and valleys?
Ans. The reason of population near rivers and valleys was human survival;
agriculture, housing, meadows, and every small need could be fulfilled there only.
“Butitwasdifficulttounderstand
thatthemenontheearthfound
causestohateeachother,tobuild
wallsacrosscitiesandtokil.
Fromthatheight,itwasnotclearw
hy”.

a. What according to the poet was difficult to understand?

Ans. According to the poet it was difficult for him to understand why human
beings on earth find a reason to have grievances with each other and why
they need to draw boundaries.

b. Why do men on earth build walls?

Ans. Men on earth build walls as they are scared to lose their possession.
II. Answer in short:
Q.1 What was the logic of geography?

Ans. The logic was, why humans established near rivers and valleys.’ It was availability of
land and water which was necessary for human survival. They fulfilled their
necessities of agriculture, transportation, housing and other small business. So,
man made cities along the river and valleys and were populated for the same
reason.

Q. 2 Why did the city look haphazard on the ground?

Ans. The city looked haphazard on the ground as it looked clustered at few places and
vacant at others. It gave an impression as if it was made without proper planning.

Q.3 Describe the significance of the title.

Ans. The title signifies that God has created the world and we have created boundaries by
discriminating each other. We hate each other for our selfish motives. The
geographical conditions of this earth teach us the moral lesson of unity and the
need to live peacefully on this earth.
Q.4 Which question remains unanswerable?

Ans. The reason for hatred among people is the question that remains unanswered.

Q.5 What can be a possible answer to the poet’s question?

Ans. The only answer to the poet’s question will be to love each other and live with peace
and universal brotherhood.