D.K.

T GLOBAL PUBLIC SCHOOL

(SENIOR SECONDARY – CBSE AFFILIATION NO: 1930876)
CLASS XI FAIR WORK CONTENT
ENGLISH

POEM2 :THE LABURNUM TOP

I. Extract based questions:

1. The Laburnum top is silent, quite still

In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen.

1. At what time of the day does the poem open?

Ans. The poem opens in the afternoon.
2. What is the condition of the Laburnum top?
Ans. The Laburnum top is silent.
3. What does the word ‘yellowing’ mean?
Ans. The word ‘yellowing’ means becoming yellow.

2. It is the engine of her family.

She strokes it full, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask

1.Where is referred to here as “the engine”?

Ans. The mother Goldfinch bird is here referred as “the engine”.

2.Where does the mother goldfinch bird flirt out?

Ans. The mother goldfinch bird flirt outto the end of a branch.

3.What ‘masks’ the identity of the mother goldfinch bird?

Ans. The yellowing leaves and yellow flowers ‘mask’ the ‘identity’ of the mother goldfinch
bird.

II. Paraphrase:
1.The Laburnum Top is silent, quite still
in the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fallen

In this stanza, the poet says that he saw a Laburnum Tree (with its yellow flowers). In his
words, “The Laburnum top is silent“. The tree is still and looks dead-like in the daytime of
September. Even the sunlight is also yellow. As it is the time of autumn, the leaves of the tree
have turned yellow and its seeds have fallen off it.

2.Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings

She launches away, towards the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty

Reaching the branch-end of the tree, it makes strange but sweet chirping sounds and then
begins his journey towards the infinite i.e. the sky and the Laburnum Tree again becomes
silent and dead-like.
III. Poetic devices:
1.Simile: In this figure of speech, one thing is compared to another. An example of simile in
this poem is ‘sleek as a lizard’.

2. Alliteration: In this figure of speech, a number of words having the same first consonant
sound occur close together in a series. Examples of alliteration in this ‘ poem are ‘September
sunlight’, ‘A suddenness, a startlement’, ‘and alert and abrupt’ and ‘tree trembles and thrills’.

3. Metaphor: In this figure of speech, a word/ phrase is used to represent something else.
Examples of metaphor in this poem are ‘engine of her family’, where ‘engine’ represents the
mother goldfinch, and ‘machine’ which represents the nest with its brood of bird chicks.

4. Onomatopoeia: In this figure of speech, a word is formed from a sound similar to it.
Examples of onomatopoeia in this poem are ‘twitching chirrup’, ‘chitterings’, ‘trillings’ and
‘whistle-chirrup’.

5.Transferred Epithet: A transferred epithet is a 1 description which refers to a character or

event but is used to describe a different situation or character ‘Her barred face identity mask’
is an example of transferred epithet in this poem. The flowers of the Laburnum tree fall like
bars and, when the bird sits behind the flowers, the shadow of the flowers on her face looks
like she is wearing a mask that has bars on it.

POEM3 :THE VOICE OF THE RAIN

I. Extract based questions:

1.And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,

Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:
I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,

1.Name the poem and the poet.

Ans. The title of the poem is ‘The Voice of the Rain’. The poet’s name is Walt Whitman.
2. What does the phrase strange to tell mean?
Ans. ‘Strange to tell’ sounds a note or exclamation of surprise. The poet had not expected
to get an answer inhuman voice from the rain.
3. Why does the rain call herself the ‘Poem of the Earth’?
Ans. The rain has its birthplace in the river bodies and season the earth. It is the lovely
and musical child of the earth.

2. I descend to lave the droughts, Atomies, dust- layers of the globe,

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;

1. With what purpose does the rain descend from the sky?
Ans. The rain drops fall from the sky in order to give life to the dry areas and wash the
famine-stricken lands.

2. How does the rain help the seeds?

Ans. The rain helps the seeds to germinate and grow into a new life.

3. What is latent and unborn and why?

Ans. The seeds are dormant and unborn because of lack of water which is needed for them to
germinate and form a new plant.

II. Summary:
Write summary on the poem “THE VOICE OF THE RAIN”
In the poem, the poet asks the soft-falling shower, ‘Who are you?’ to which she replies that
she is the poem of earth. It is a strange thing for the rain to reply to the poet. The rain told the
poet that she cannot be touched as she rises in the form of water vapour in the sky from the
land and the bottomless sea. It changes its shape yet it remains the same. The vapour changes
into clouds due to condensation.

It falls back on the surface of the earth to provide water to the drought-prone areas and to
beautify and purify the earth (its birthplace). It provides life to the seeds inside the earth and
helps them grow.

The rain doesn’t care if anyone bothers about her deeds or not, she completes her work and
comes back home. The poet also compares the rain with a song as they both share a common
journey. The song originates from the heart of the singer, travels across to fulfill the aim and
comes back with due love for the singer (its originator)

III. Poetic devices:

1. Personification :- Rain is personified in the whole poem. The rain talks to the poet like
a human. Here are some dialogues by the rain – “I am the Poem of Earth”, “I descend to
lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe”, “I give back life to my own origin, and
make pure and beautify it;” etc.
 2. Metaphor – The poet uses a lot of metaphors in the poem e.g. “I am the Poem of Earth”,
“the voice of the rain” etc.

3.Alliteration – “(s)aid I to the (s)oft-falling (s)hower”, “(w)hence, (v)aguely form’d” etc.

4.Imagery – Phrase that creates image in the readers mind. Eg: “soft-falling shower”.

5.Hyperbole – Exaggeration ofaomething to give great effect. Eg: Bottomless sea.

6.Antithesis – Opposites on same line. Eg: “day and night”,”Reck’d or unreck’d”.

NON-DETAIL 2 THE ADDRESS

I. Short answer questions:
1.Why did the narrator want to meet Mrs. Dorling?
Ans. She wanted to get her possessions back which were in the custody of Mrs Dorling. She
had insisted on keeping their things safely till the war was over.
2. How was narrator’s first interaction with Mrs Dorling?
Ans. One day coming downstairs, the narrator saw her mother about to see someone out. It
was a woman, dressed in a brown coat and a shapeless hat, with a broad back; she nodded and
picked up the suitcase.
3. What was the reaction of Mrs Dorling when the narrator said she is the daughter of
Mrs S?
Ans. She reacted weirdly on seeing her. She held her door against the door not wanting to
open it any further. She looked at her without uttering a word.
4.What did the narrator’s mother tell her about Mrs Dorling?
Ans. She was an old acquaintance. She suddenly turned up to renew her contact with the
narrator’s mother. During every single visit she took something or the other valuable article
with her.
5.Why did the author first hesitate to claim her belongings from Mrs. Dorling?
Ans. She began to suspect that the presence of her family articles would remind her of her
dear ones who were no more with her. Besides, she lived in a poor room that looked the
oddest place to accommodate her expensive possessions.
6. Why did the narrator finally decide to forget the address?
Ans. She realised that the objects which are associated with the past had lost their value as
being cut off from them. The easiest way was to forget. So she decided to forget the address.

II. Long answer questions:

1 Describe the narrator’s first visit to Mrs. Dorling’s house in Marconi Street
Ans Narrator went to Mrs. Dorling’s house in Marconi Street. She rang the bell. A woman
opened the door and looked at her searchingly. The narrator came closer and introduced
herself that she was Mrs. S’s daughter. The woman kept staring at her in silence. There was no
sign of recognition on her face. The narrator thought perhaps she had come to the wrong
house. But she saw the woman was wearing her mother’s green knitted cardigan. She knew at
once that she had made no mistake. She asked the woman whether she knew her mother. The
woman could not deny this. The woman regretted that she could not do anything for her. She
asked the narrator to come some other time and cautiously closed the door. The narrator
realized that her visit was in vain. She stood on the step for a while and then left the place.

2. Describe the narrator’s second visit to Mrs. Dorling.

Ans During her second visit, Mrs Dorling’s daughter opened the door.The narrator said that
she would wait for her. Following her along the passage she saw their old fashioned candle
holder hanging beside the mirror. She saw woollen table cloth, cups, spoons , white tea-pot
,the pewter plate everything which was a family belonging. But they all looked strange in the
strange surroundings. She no longer had desire to possess them. She got up, walked to the
door, and came out of the house.
3 Write the character- sketch of Mrs. Dorling.
Ans. Mrs. Dorling is an acquaintance of Mrs. S, the narrator’s mother. In the story Mrs.
Dorling exploits Mrs. S’s fears and insecurity during the war. She insists Mrs. S and took
away all her valuable things after giving assurance that she would keep them safe until the war
was over. In fact, Mrs. Dorling had no intentions of returning the valuables as she was sure
that Mrs. S and her family would not survive the war. So when the narrator, Mrs. S’s daughter,
went to Mrs. Dorling’s house to claim those articles to which her mother’s precious memories
were associated, she even pretended not to recognize her. Instead of returning those articles to
the narrator, she shamelessly used them which actually belonged to the narrator’s mother and
also behaved rudely to the narrator.
4 Do you think the title of the story ‘The Address’ is appropriate?
Ans. The story 'The Address' is about an address that the author had been given by her
deceased mother to go to and reclaim her belongings. The address Mrs Dorling, 46, Marconi
Street is the nucleus of the story around which the entire plot develops. The author goes there;
but she is not entertained encouragingly; she goes back; and again comes back to the same
address. Later the author decides not to take back her belongings as it lost its value due to the
tasteless arrangements. According to the author the things also contained the memories of her
mother so she decided not to take it back. The narrator in the end resolves to forget 46,
Marconi Street forever. Hence, the title The Address is quite appropriate and bears a definite
meaning for the story.
 POEM4 :CHILDHOOD
I. Extract based questions:

1.

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3.
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2.

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3.
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II. Paraphrase:
1.

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III. Poetic devices:

1. Simile:

2. Alliteration:

3. Metaphor:

4. Onomatopoeia:

5. Transferred Epithet: