COMPREHENSION EXERCISES 1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that. t follow: It was a summer evening, Old Kaspar’s work was done, And he before his cottage door Was sitting in the sun, And by him sported on the green His little grandchild Wilhelmine. Scanned with CamScannerAfter Blenheim _ a) Where is old Kaspar now? Who else is with him? What is the season and time of the day? Old Kaspar is sitting in front of his house. His grandchildren Wilhelmine and Peterkin are with him. It is summer season, and it is evening time. b) Where is Peterkin at the moment? Peterkin is near the stream playing with something that he has found there. ©) Describe the atmosphere and the mood it creates. It was a pleasant summer evening. They are sitting out in the sun which makes them feel warm. As his work is done, Kaspar is relaxed. The children are playing. It creates a pleasant, relaxed and warm mood. "Old Kaspar 's work was done.’ What was his work? How do you know? Kaspar was a farmer. Elsewhere in the poem he speaks about tilling the land. That indicates that he does the work of a farmer. e) Where is the scene of the poem set? The scene of the poem is set in Blenheim, a small village on the banks of the river Danube in southern Germany—where the great battle of Blenheim was fought many years ago. 2, Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: Old Kaspar took it from the boy, Who stood expectant by; And then the old man shook his head, And, with a natural sigh, “Tis some poor fellow’s skull,” said he, " “Who fell in the great victory. @) What did Kaspar take from the boy? Who is the boy? Does the boy know what it is? Why? Kaspar took a large, round and smooth object that the boy brought to him. The boy is Peterkin, his grandson. The boy doesn’t know what it is because he saw it for the first time. B) The boy stood ‘expectant by’, What does it mean and show? It means that he stood there with an expression of eagerness to know what it is. It shows that the boy never saw such a thing before. ©) The old man shook his head and sighed What did it signify? When the old man shook his head, he was reminded of the many skulls that his ploughshare turned out in his field: His natural sigh signified the memory of the unpleasant history of many deaths that came to his mind. Scanned with CamScannerd) What is the reference to the great victory? | Reference to the great victory is the victory the English achieved against the French in the battle of Blenheim. What is the contradiction that you find in the statement ‘Who fell in the great victory’? Though he cals ita great victory, there were many who died for achieving this victory and as a result many families lost their dear ones. This is the price that a great victory demands. While there is a sigh for the loss these is the joy that accompanies 8 victory, The fellow who died is a ‘poor fellow and the victory” is ‘the great victory’. That is the contradiction that we find in the statement. 3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: “J find them in the garden, For there’s many here about; ‘And often when I go to plough, The ploughshare turns them out! For many thousand men,” said he, ; “Were slain in that great victory.” @) Who is ‘I’in the first line of the extract? What does ‘them’ stand for? What do you learn from this? ‘T’ mentioned in the extract is old Kaspar. ‘Them’ stands for the skulls that he finds in the garden. We leam that many dead bodies were buried in the garden. b) What does ‘I’do? What does it show about the person? ‘T’ stands for old Kaspar; he tills the land for cultivation. It shows that he is a farmer. ¢) What is strange about the ‘ploughshare turn them out’? The strange thing is that the dead bodies weren't buried deep or they were not buried at all. A ploughshare, doesn’t dig and turn the soil deep enough, it only tums up the upper crust of the soil. @ What is strange about the great victory? It was a fierce battle and very bitterly fought causing death and destruction all around. Althogh the poem is said to be a narration and glorification of a battle yet actually it is a denunciation of wars and all evils associated with them: @/Why does old Kaspar say great victory in spite of many deaths? J Ordinary people like Kaspar were not taught to think; they were made to believe say what the rulers wanted them to do without thinking, Scanned with CamScanner4, Read the extract given below and answer the questions that. follow: “Now tell us what ’twas all about,” Young Peterkin, he cries; And little Wilhelmine looks up With wonder-waiting eyes; “Now tell us all about the war, And what they fought each other for.” a) What makes Peterkin ask his grandfather to tell all about the victory? Peterkin’s grandfather tells him about the thousands of men who died inthe great victory. Therefore, the young boy becomes very keen to know more about the war and the victory. b) What words used in the above lines show the eagerness of Peterkin and Wilhelmine to listen about the war? The poet uses words ‘cries’ and ‘wonder-waiting eyes’ to show the keenness with which the young children ask their grandfather to know about the war. ¢) What is special about their questions? ‘Their questions show their curiosity and strong desire to know all about the war, and the causes that led to the war. @ Why do you think the poet uses children to enquire about the war? Children are the ones who could ask questions freely and without fear. They would ask the right questions and sometimes it becomes difficult for others to shy away from the appropriate answers. &\-Bid Kaspar answer them to their satisfaction? Justify your answer. Kaspar could not answer them to their satisfaction because he kept on answering by repeating that it was a famous victory but without giving logical reasons. 5. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: “I¢ was the English,” Kaspar cried, “Who put the French to routs But what they fought each other for, I could not well make out; But everybody said,” quoth he, “That "twas a famous victory. . @) Who were the two opponents in the war? What is the historical background of the war? ‘The English, Austrians and the Dutch'were on one side, and-on the other side, there were the French, Spanish and the Bavarians. It was connected with the succession to Scanned with CamScannerthe Spanish throne. King of Spain died without an heir and he wanted a French prince to be the king which was opposed by the Austrians. This led to the war. )) Where did the final battle take place and who won? The final battle took place at Blenheim, a village in Baveria in Germany where the English and the Austrians defeated the French. ©) Kaspar says, ‘But what they fought each other for, I could impact these lines make in the mind of the. reader? The reader can understand the answer that the old man common people remember the great events. The cause is never death of the soldier is the real event and so is the victory. d) How do you know that this poem was written some centuries ago? The poet has used the word ‘quoth’ which is an Old English word which is not used in modern English. The use of such words shows that it was written centuries ago. @) Kaspar says ‘But everybody said’. Why does he say this? Kaspar has no mind of his own to think. He believes what the general public was told and they unquestioningly followed. He has no opinion of his own. . 6. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: “My father lived at Blenheim then, Yon little stream hard by; : They burnt his dwelling to the ground, ‘And he was forced to fly; So with his wife and child he fled, Nor had he where to rest his head. @) Whois the speaker inthe fist line of the extract? Where is Blenheim? What happened there? Old Kaspar is the speaker in the extract. Blenheim is in Baveria, Germany. The final battle took place there where the English defeated the French. 8) Who are ‘They’ in the extract? What did ‘they'do and why? ither side who were fighting in the battle. They burnt their ily flee from the place. In a war situation there is no not well make out’. What gives because this is how the clear to them but the ‘They’ are the soldiers on i house and made the Kaspar fami justification for what the soldiers do. ©) Where did Kaspar. family live? What emotion does this incident evoke in you? Is this poem relévant today? Ifyes, how? Kaspar family lived in a small cottage near forced to run away from their place to ‘save poem is relevant today as we see and read about the ref a stream in Blenheim. A family which is their life is a pitiful scene of a war. The fugees fleeing countries during Scanned with CamScannerwars like Syria and Iraq to safer places. The difficulties they face show us that nobody has learnt lessons from the past wars. d) How did old Kaspar come to know what he knows about the war? Old Kaspar came to know about the war from his father, and people who lived through the war of that time. e) Is there anything to show that the poem is written a long time ago? The use of word ‘yon’ in this stanza is a word not used in current English. This shows that it was written a long time ago. 7. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: “With fire and sword the country round ‘Was wasted far and wide, And many a childing mother then, And new-born baby died; But things like that, you know, must be At every famous victory. @) What does the expression ‘With fire and sword’ signify? The word ‘fire’ stands for destruction and ‘sword’ signifies death. In older days soldiers fought with swords, spears and bows and arrows. b) What do the first two lines of the extract reveal to you? The poet describes the battle scene. All around the place where the battle took place, there were deaths of human beings and destruction of property and houses and other facilities. Such deaths and destruction took the country backwards. ¢) The poet mentions of the death of childing mothers and new-born babies, not of that of soldiers. Why does he do so? Normally people focus on the deaths on the battlefield, especially of the soldiers. The poet here mentions the death of mothers and babies to highlight the horrors of war, and the harm it does to innocent people. This is to create the opposite impression in the minds of readers who hear the repeated words of Kaspar that it was a famous victory. @) How are the last two lines of the extract different from the rest? The first four lines-show the genuine description of the painful scenes of a war. Reading those lines makes everyone touched by the human suffering. But soon after, he states in a matter of fact manner without any emotion, that such things are a normal scene in a famous victory. This shows the heartlessness of the leaders and those who justify war. Scanned with CamScanner¢) Do you agree with the. sentiment expressed in the last two lines? Give a reason to Justify your view, . T do not agree with the sentiments expressed in the last two lines because it supports and justifies such atrocities committed by the soldiers. War mongers without any valid argument make statements to fool and make the public believe their side of the argument. 8 Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: “They say it was a shocking sight After the field was won; For many thousand bodies here Lay rotting in the sun; But things like that, you know, must be After a famous victory. @) Who are ‘They’ in the extract? They are the people who were present in the battlefield and saw the scene after the war was over. . 4) Why does the poet say that thousands of bodies lay rotting in the sun? It was a fierce battle and many thousands died on both sides. It is the right of every dead to get a burial, and the duty of both the armies to bury the dead. Both the armies failed in their duty; therefore, the bodies decayed in the open like dead animals. The Poet says this to project the inhumanity associated with war. ©) After the field was won, if it was shocking sight, can we treat it a famous victory? Why does the poet say so? After the English won the battle, dead bodies rotting in the open was really a shocking sight, anid we cannot call it a famous victory. But’ the poet says so as to make us feel repulsive to any thought of supporting war because of 80 much loss of life and Property. 5 @ How many times so far in the poem has Kaspar mentioned that it was'a ‘great victory’? Why did he repeat it? What impression it créates in his ‘grandchildren? . Kaspar used five times the term ‘famous victory’ so far in the poem. This repetition makes the reader feel annoyed or displeased with the statement which will make them disapprove any war. @) Kaspar ’s grandchildren have been listening o him for a while afie? asking questions. What would be in their minds now? Kaspar’s grandchildren have been waiting for some logical and sensible answer, but they could not get it so far. As a result they would be dissatisfied with the answers and would like to tell him their view on the war. Scanned with CamScanner