8th Standard Second Language English
POETRY 1 – BEAUTY
Glossary:
harvest: the time of the year when the crops are gathered from farms.
sigh : take a long breath when tired.
earnest : serious and sincere.
C1. Answer the following questions. Share your response with others:
1. List out the things where beauty can be seen during the day.
Answer: The things where beauty can be seen during the day.
a) The trees
b) The birds
c) Corn growing
d) People working for the harvest.
e) People dancing for their harvest.
2. The poet says ‘beauty is heard in the night’. Pick out any two things of beauty from the poem that are seen at night.
Answer: The two things of beauty from the poem that are seen at night are,
a) The Wind sighing
b) The rain falling.
3. Read the first and second stanzas of the poem again. Note the following phrases. Corn growing, people working or dancing, wind sighing, rain falling, a singer chanting….
These could be written as Corn that is growing, People who are working or dancing.
Can you rewrite the other phrases like this? Why do you think the poet uses the shorter phrases?
Answer:
Wind sighing – The wind which is sighing
Rain falling – The rain that is falling
A singer chanting – The singer who is chanting
The poet uses the shorter phrases because Poetry always conveys broad meanings in short words.
4. The poet says ‘Beauty is seen’ and ‘Beauty is heard.’ List out the beautiful things you have seen or heard.
Answer: The beautiful things I had seen.
a) Water falls
b) Lightning in sky
c) The cloud is moving
d) Peacock is dancing
e) Beauty of nature
f) Laugh of the innocent child
g) Flying birds
The beautiful things I had heard.
a) Song of Cuckoo
b) Water flowing sound
c) Man and women singing.
d) The chirping of birds
5. The poet says ‘Beauty is in yourself.’ What things does she mention here? When does she want us to follow them?
Answer: The poet says that beauty lies within us. Beauty lies in the good deeds we do. That gives us inner happiness. Beauty lies in our good thoughts. That brings mental peace. The good work and thoughts we have done are repeated in our dreams, actions and in our work.
6. Write a paragraph about beauty. You can use your own ideas along with the ideas in the poem. (You may discuss with your partner.)
Answer: It is not easy to say clearly, where beauty lies specifically. There is a saying that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. Accordingly, beauty can be seen in different ways depending on the perspective of different people. There are two categories of beauty: external and internal. External beauty is the beauty that is seen from the outside. Inner beauty is the goodness that is seen only by the mind and heart.
Beauty can be in the form of a human being. It can be in a gushing waterfall. It can be in the waves of the sea. It can be in green forests. Beauty can be in the form of gods and goddesses. Similarly, beauty can be in the character and behaviour of a human being. Sometimes goodness itself seems to be beauty. Beauty may be in words. It may be in the descriptions of poets. However, inner beauty is always better than outer appearance.
7. The phrase ‘wind sighing’ is personification. Give two more examples of personification. You may take the help of your teacher.
Answer: The two examples of personification are,
1) Nature is sleeping.
2) The flowers dancing in the wind.
