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Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Q.2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
4. Why does the poet think that a child cannot understand a fantasy or fairyland?
5. ‘HE CANNOT THINK—HE ONLY SEES!’ What does this line suggest?
Q.3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
3. How does the poet express the dilemma suffered by the parents?
4. Why does the poet use the word ‘monster’ in the last line? What does it signify?
Q.4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
1. Who are the people addressed in this stanza? What does the poet speak of?
2. What does the poet suggest as an alternative to the harmful practice of watching TV
continuously?
Q.5. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
2. What types of tales were read by children in the past? How were they useful for their
young readers?
3. How was the world depicted in the fantasies different from the one that is shown in
the TV programmes?
4. Fantasies serve as a productive and interesting pastime that stirs the imagination of
children. In which other way are they beneficial for the children?
Q.6. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
2. Which important features of reading before the invention of television does the poet
highlight here?
3. How does the poet respond to the practice of reading in the past?
4. Which age group of children can most easily relate to the fictional characters
mentioned in the stanza?
5. The name of which famous writer of children’s books has been mentioned in this
stanza?
Q.7. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
1. Explain these opening lines of the stanza: So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, Go
throw your TV set away.
2. What does the poet want the parents to replace the TV set with? Why?
3. What does the poet mean by the phrase ‘ignoring all the dirty looks’?
4. What does the concluding couplet of this stanza suggest about the response of
children to the initiative taken by their parents?
5. Parents play a major role in shaping the future of their children. How does this
assumption get reflected here?
Q.8. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
1. What does the phrase ‘Fear not’ suggest about the mental state of people to whom
this stanza is addressed?
2. Explain the concluding couplet: They’ll now begin to feel the need Of having
something to read.
5. Why does the poet feel that children should be compelled to have ‘nothing else to do’,
in order to understand the importance and joy of reading books?
Q.9. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
3. How does this stanza speak of the maturing of children’s realisation regarding their
newly acquired habit?
4. Why, according to the poet, will the children start loving their parents?
5. Describe a few qualities that the parents should have, if they want positive change in
their children as suggested here.
Antonio:
In sooth, I know not why I'm so sad :
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.
1. To whom are these words addressed? Where are the characters?
4. What reasons does his friend give for Antonio's state of mind?
5. What purpose does Shakespeare achieve by beginning the play in this manner?
Salarino:
Your mind is tossing on the ocean,
There where your argosies with portly sail,
Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood,
Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,
That courtesy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
1. Who is being addressed? Apart from the two characters, who else is there with them?
2. To what remarks of the listener, does Salarino make these comments? To what are the
ships compared? How do the ships move? What is meant by 'petty traffickers'? What do
they do when they see the argosies?
4. How would have Salanio behaved if he had such Argosies on the sea? What would
have made him sad?
5. Do you think these are the reasons which make Antonio sad? Give reasons.
6. What idea does the reader get about Antonio's financial status? What is its
significance in play?
Salarino:
My wind, cooling my broth,
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at sea.
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run
But I should think of shallows and of flats,
And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs
To kiss her burial.
1. What would be the feelings of the speaker if he saw the wind cooling his broth?
2. What is meant by 'sandy hour-glass'? How would the speaker feel if he saw the hour
glass?
3. Give the meanings of :
(a) Ague
(b) Shallows and flats
(c) Wealthy Andrew
Salarino:
Should I go to church
And see the holy edifice of stone,
And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks,
Which touching but my gentle vessel's side
Would scatter all her spices on the stream,
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks;
And, in a word, but even now worth this,
And now worth nothing ?
Gratiano:
Let me play the fool :
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cools with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster,
Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish?
1. What observation had Gratiano earlier made regarding Antonio? Is he correct in his
observations?
2. To what comment made by Antonio does Gratiano give this reply? Who else is there
with Gratiano at this moment?
3. What does the speaker prefer to do? What does it depict about his character?
5. Explain : 'grandsire cut in alabaster' and 'creep into the jaundice by being peevish'.
6. What's the Elizabethan belief about jaundice?
Gratiano:
There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond,
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit,
As who should say, 'I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!'
1. According to Gratiano, why is he speaking in such a stern manner? To whom are these
words being addressed to?
2. What sorts of men are described here? How do they look?
3. Explain- "Do cream and mantle like a standing pool".
4. According to the speaker, why do some men put on an air of solemnity?
5. Later on he refers to gudgeon. In what context is he referred to? What opinion do you
get of Gratiano from this scene? What does Lorenzo say later about him?
6. How does Gratiano prefer to have wrinkles? Why? Give another instance where he
reveals his preference for enjoying life. What does he say about grandfather cut in
alabaster?
7. Explain: (a) 'I am Sir Oracle' (b) Let no dog bark
Answer
(a) 'I am Sir Oracle'- Sir Oracle is the wisest and most respected person, who can
prophesy the future
(b) Let no dog bark- They are the dogs that should stop barking.
8. What was Gratiano's advice to Antonio at the end of his speech? Briefly.
Bassanio:
'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,
How much I have disabled mine estate,
By something showing a more swelling port
Than my faint means would grant continuance :
Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd
From such a noble rate.
1. To what inquiry of Antonio does the speaker make this reply? What details do you get
about the lady later in this scene?
2. What does Bassanio mean by 'disabled mine estate'? Why does he say this?
3. What do you understand by the term 'to be abridged'? Why is Bassanio forced to
abridge? Does he feel sorry for it? What does this show of his character? What is his chief
care now?
4. How much does Bassanio rate Antonio in his affection and respect?
5. What opinions have you formed about the speaker's character ?
Bassanio:
In my school-days, when I had lost one shaft,
I shot his fellow of the self-same flight
The self-same way with more advised watch,
To find the other forth; and by adventuring both,
I oft found
Bassanio:
Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth,
For the four winds blow in from every coast
Renowned suitors; and her sunny locks
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece;
Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchis' strand,
And many Jasons come in quest of her.
O my Antonio, had I but the means
To hold a rival place with one of them,
O my Antonio, had I but the means
To hold a rival place with one of them,
I have a mind presages me such thrift
That I should question less, be fortunate.
1. Who is the lady being talked about? Why is the speaker talking about her at this time?
2. Explain the meaning of 'Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth, For the four
winds blow from every coast Renowned suitors'. To whom this lady has been compared
in the extract and what way?
3. Bring out the significance of 'golden fleece', 'Colchos strand' and 'Jason'.
4. What does Bassanio request his friend to do? How will the friend benefit from his
action?
5. How does his friend respond to this request?
6. How is this request of Bassanio going to affect Antonio's future?
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