2.8 Small Towns and Rivers (Appreciation)

 

English Poem Appreciations 12th HSC Board
Section Two (Poetry)

Unit 2.8

Small Towns and Rivers

Small Towns and Rivers

                                     - Mamang Dai

Small towns always remind me of death.

My hometown lies calmly amidst the trees,

it is always the same, 

in summer or winter,

with the dust flying, 

or the wind howling down the gorge.

Just the other day someone died.

In the dreadful silence we wept

looking at the sad wreath of tuberoses.

Life and death, life and death,

only the rituals are permanent.

The river has a soul.

In the summer it cuts through the land

like a torrent of grief. Sometimes,

sometimes, I think it holds its breath

seeking a land of fish and stars

The river has a soul.

It knows, stretching past the town,

from the first drop of rain to dry earth

and mist on the mountaintops,

the river knows

the immortality of water.

A shrine of happy pictures

marks the days of childhood.

Small towns grow with anxiety

for the future.

The dead are placed pointing west.

When the soul rises

it will walk into the golden east, 

into the house of the sun.

In the cool bamboo,

restored in sunlight,

life matters, like this.

In small towns by the river

we all want to walk with the gods.

                                   - Mamang Dai

Q.  With the help of the following points, write a poetic appreciation of the poem      'Small Towns and Rivers.'

• About the poem/poet and the title

• The theme

• Poetic style

• The language/ poetic devices used in the poem    

• Special features

• Message, values, morals in the poem

• Your opinion about the poem

 

Appreciation of the poem :-

Small Towns and Rivers

The title indicates that the poem is related to nature. The poem is written by Mamang Dai, who is also a novelist, journalist and former civil servant from Itanagar, she writes in English as well as in Adi language. This poem is taken from the collection of the poems,  ' The River Poems', published in 2004.

The theme shows in the way she begins the poem that small towns remind her of death. It is shocking. She implies the town is unchanging in all weathers, but development comes along and changes everything. The poem describes a landscape and nature where river is a dominant phenomenon. The poetess finds that even life and death are transient, but the nature and rituals are permanent, the poetess has expressed anxiety at the developments in the small towns. The towns, she implies, have prospered when nature has been destroyed. It is a nature poem, but with a difference that while celebrating nature around her hometown, the poet also laments the destruction of that nature to make way for the lifeless small towns along the river. The poem contains seven stanzas of unequal length and it is written in free verse. The lines are short and the verses are lucid. The poetic devices used in the poem are Alliteration, Antithesis, Personification, Metaphor, Euphemism, Repetition, Transferred Epithet, Simile, Onomatopoeia. The depiction of towns during the summer and winter seasons adds to the visual Imagery in the poem.

We can all feel the sorrow of the poetess when we read about how nature's beauty is damaged for man's greed, which is euphemistically called 'progress'. I like the poem because it is interesting read and for its curious mix of the positive and negative aspects.

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2.7 She Walks in Beauty (Appreciation)

 

English Poem Appreciations 12th HSC Board
Section Two (Poetry)

Unit 2.7

She Walks in Beauty

She Walks in Beauty

                            - George Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven trees,

Or softly lightens o'er face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

                                 - George Byron

Q.  With the help of the following points, write a poetic appreciation of the poem      'She Walks in Beauty.'

• About the poem/poet and the title

• The theme

• Poetic style

• The language/ poetic devices used in the poem    

• Special features

• Message, values, morals in the poem

• Your opinion about the poem

 

Appreciation of the poem :-

She Walks in Beauty

The title 'She Walks in Beauty' of the poem is also the first line of the poem, which gives the reader a glimpse of the woman whose beauty the poet appreciated. It is written by George Byron, known simply as Lord Byron was a famous English romantic poet and also a Satirist.

It is a short lyrical poem celebrating female beauty. The poet describes an unnamed woman who is exceptionally striking. The poet not only describes her external appearance but also her inner goodness which makes her so attractive. This 18-line lyrical poem consists of three stanzas of six lines each i.e Sestets. The main theme explored by the poet is that of beauty, where he praises a woman. Each feature of the woman- her eyes, her face, her cheek, her brow, her smile- is praised. The poet speaks of harmony between day and night and the perfect balance between mind and the body. The main symbolism in the poem is that the poet presents the woman as someone who is a symbol of purity and innocence. The poem follows a regular rhyme scheme of 'ababab'. The language used by the poet is rich and complex. The poet uses several poetic devices like Simile, Antithesis, Repetition, Alliteration, Exclamation, Synecdoche, Metaphor, Transferred Epithet, Metaphor to express the undefinable beauty of the poem. The message is about the importance of inner beauty, which is almost a divine thing that will in turn, bring external beauty.

I like the poem because the poet's depiction of woman's outer beauty being linked to inner beauty create a powerful impact on the reader's mind, thus making them understand the absolute meaning of being beautiful.

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2.6 Money (Appreciation)

 

English Poem Appreciations 12th HSC Board
Section Two (Poetry)

Unit 2.6

Money

Money

                                       - William H. Davies

When I had money, money, O!

I knew no joy till I went poor;

For many false man as a friend

Came knocking all day at my door.

Then felt I like a child that holds 

A trumpet that he must not blow

Because a man is dead; I dared

Not speak to let this false world know.

Much have I thought of life, and seen

How poor men's hearts are ever light;

And how their wives do hum like bees

About their work from morn till night.

So, when I hear these poor ones laugh,

And see the rich ones coldly frown

Poor men, think I, need not go up

So much as rich men should come down.

When I had money, money, O!

My many friends proved all untrue;

But now I have no money, O!

My friends are real, though very few.

                                            - William H. Davies

Q.  With the help of the following points, write a poetic appreciation of the poem      'Money.'

• About the poem/poet and the title

• The theme

• Poetic style

• The language/ poetic devices used in the poem    

• Special features

• Message, values, morals in the poem

• Your opinion about the poem

 

Appreciation of the poem :-

Money

The title of the poem 'Money' is very suggestive and reflective. It is written by a Welsh poet and writer William H. Davies. In this narrative poem poet depicted his own real life experience as the rich man and a poor man in the context of the money. 

The poem tells us about a rich man who wants to be a poor man to find the real happiness. It is when we do not have money or have lost our money, we realize how important the money.  The theme of the poem is that money cannot give you eternal happiness. The poem consists of five stanzas of four line sonnets. It is written in narrative form which is a biographical. The poem is written in a simple language which is easy to read and understand. The rhyme scheme used is 'abcb'. The poetic devices used in the poem are Exclamation, Repetition, Simile, Imagery, Euphemism, Antithesis, Inversion, Transferred Epithet. The special feature of the poem is a very simple subject but has deep bitter truth of human relationships. It relates the experiences and observations of human life. The poem gives us a strong message that money and richness is not essential for happiness. Money invites many false and selfish people in our life. 

I like the poem because it teaches that money may attract temporary happiness but for real and eternal happiness true people are important in our life.

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2.5 Father Returning Home (Appreciation)

 

English Poem Appreciations 12th HSC Board
Section Two (Poetry)

Unit 2.5

Father Returning Home

Father Returning Home

                                 - Dilip Chitre

My father travels on the late evening train

Standing among silent commuters in the yellow light

Suburbs slide past his unseeing eyes

His shirt and pants are soggy and his black raincoat

Stained with mud and his bag stuffed with books

Is falling apart. His eyes dimmed by age

Fade homeward through the humid monsoon night.

Now I can see him getting off the train

Like a word dropped from a long sentence.

He hurries across the length of the grey platform,

Crosses the railway line, enters the lane,

His chappals are sticky with mud, but he hurries onward.

Home again, I see him drinking weak tea, 

Eating a stale chapati, reading a book.

He goes into the toilet to contemplate

Man's estrangement from a man-made world.

Coming out he trembles at the sink,

The cold water running over his brown hands,

A few droplets cling to the greying hair on his wrists.

His sullen children have often refused to share

Jokes and secrets with him.

He will now go to sleep

Listening to the static on the radio, dreaming

Of his ancestors and grandchildren, thinking 

Of nomads entering a subcontinent through a narrow pass.

                                                  - Dilip Chitre

Q.  With the help of the following points, write a poetic appreciation of the poem      'Father Returning Home.'

• About the poem/poet and the title

• The theme

• Poetic style

• The language/ poetic devices used in the poem    

• Special features

• Message, values, morals in the poem

• Your opinion about the poem

 

Appreciation of the poem :-

Father Returning Home

The title 'Father Returning Home' is very suitable. The poet Dilip Chitre was a celebrated bilingual poet and translator with a remarkable work in Marathi and English. This poem is taken from "Travelling in a Cage".

The poem is about a suburban commuter who work hard in his life for his family. The theme depicts the isolation, loneliness and alienation suffered by any old person. It also depicts his dull, monotonous, exhausting and equally pitiable daily routine. Despite working hard for his family throughout the life, the father feels uncared and his children refuse to share their joys and sorrow with him. They consider him as an outsider or insignificant. This very painful loneliness is a symbol of man's isolation from the materialistic man-made world. The poem is written in simple narrative form which is a monologue. The poem consists of two stanzas of 12 lines each. The poem is written in free verse. The figures of speech used in the poem are Transferred Epithet, Synecdoche, Simile, Personification, Climax, Alliteration. The poem conveys the message to younger generation to respect elder people and treat them with dignity. They are treasure of wisdom and experience, we can learn a lot from them. 

I like the poem because the topic is very relevant for the present time and has left a mark on me and made this poem unforgettable.

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2.4 Have you Earned your Tomorrow (Appreciation)

 

English Poem Appreciations 12th HSC Board
Section Two (Poetry)

Unit 2.4

Have you Earned your Tomorrow

Poet Edgar Guest

Have you Earned your Tomorrow

                                          - Edgar Guest

Is anybody happier because you passed his way?

Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?

This day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;

Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?

Did you give a cheerful greeting to the friend who came along?
Or a churlish sort of "Howdy" and then vanish in the throng?

Were you selfish pure and simple as you rushed along the way,

Or is someone mighty grateful for a deed you did today?

Can you say tonight, in parting with the days that's slipping fast,

That you helped a single brother of the many that you passed?

Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said;

Does a man whose hopes were fading now with courage look ahead?

Did you waste the day, or lose it, was it well or sorely spent?

Did you leave a trail of kindness or a scar of discontent?

As you close your eyes in slumber do you think that God would say,

You have earned one more tomorrow by the work you did today?

                                                          - Edgar Guest

Q.  With the help of the following points, write a poetic appreciation of the poem      'Have you Earned your Tomorrow.'

• About the poem/poet and the title

• The theme

• Poetic style

• The language/ poetic devices used in the poem    

• Special features

• Message, values, morals in the poem

• Your opinion about the poem

 

Appreciation of the poem :-

Have you Earned your Tomorrow

The title 'Have you Earned your Tomorrow' is very introspective. The poem is written by the poet Edgar Guest, an American writer of newspaper and magazines.  Edgar Guest is known as 'people's poet' for his simple style and optimistic tone of writing. It is an inspirational poem.

In this poem, the poet is asking the readers whether they have done anything to improve the life of another human being or not. It is upto you whether you will have a better fortune or not. Therefore, one should consider one's actions and deeds for a better fortune. The poetic devices employed in the poem are Interrogation, Alliteration, Transferred Epithet, Synecdoche, Repetition. The poet uses interrogative style to elaborate his idea of goodness in the poem.

The tone of the poem is Interrogative. The language used is simple and straight forward. The poet is making us aware of our duties and responsibilities to gain our fruitful future. The poet conveys that the way we act today will determine whether we get to have a better tomorrow or not, because the good we do today will earn us our bright and happy tomorrow.

The poem gives an inspiration to be a good human being. I like the poem as it makes the readers evaluate their own behavior and improve it which ensures a better future. 

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2.3 The Inchcape Rock (Appreciation)

 

English Poem Appreciations 12th HSC Board
Section Two (Poetry)

Unit 2.3

The Inchcape Rock

The Inchcape Rock

                              - Robert Southey

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,

The ship was still as she could be;

Her sails from heaven received no motion;

Her keel was steady in the ocean.

Without either sign or sound of their shock,

The waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock;

So little they rose, so little they fell,

They did not move the Inchcape Bell.

The Abbot of Aberbrothok

Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock;

On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,

And over the waves its warning rung.

When the rock was hid by the surge's swell,

The mariners heard the warning bell;

And then they knew the perilous rock,

And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

The sun in heaven was shining gay;

All things were joyful on that day;

The sea-birds screamed as they wheeled round,

And there was joyance in their sound.

The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen,

A darker speck on the ocean green:

Sir Ralph the Rover walked his deck,

And he fixed his eye on the darker speck.

He felt the cheering power of spring;

It made him whistle, it made him sing:

His heart was mirthful to excess,

But the Rover's mirth was wickedness.

His eye was on the Inchcape float;

Quoth he, "My men, put out the boat,

And row me to the Inchcape Rock,

And I'll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok."

The boat is lowered, the boatmen row,

And to the Inchcape Rock they go;

Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,

And he cut the bell from the Inchcape float.

Down sunk the bell with a gurgling sound;

The bubbles rose and burst around:

Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to the rock

Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok."

Sir Ralph the Rover sailed away;

He scoured the seas for many a day;

And now, grown rich with plundered store,

He steers his course for Scotland's shore.

So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky,

They cannot see the sun on high:

The wind hath blown a gale all day;

At evening it hath died away.

On the deck the Rover takes his stand;

So dark it is, they see no land.

Quoth Sir Ralph, "It will be lighter soon,

For there is the dawn of the rising moon."

"Canst hear," said one, "the breakers roar?

For methinks we should be near the shore."

"Now where we are I cannot tell,

But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell."

They hear no sound; the swell is strong;

Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along,

Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock:

"O Christ! it is the Inchcape Rock!"

Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair,

He curst himself in his despair:

The waves rush in on every side;

The ship is sinking beneath the tide.

But even in his dying fear

One dreadful sound could the Rover hear,-

A sound as if, with the Inchcape Bell,

The Devil below was ringing his knell.

                                     - Robert Southey

Q.  With the help of the following points, write a poetic appreciation of the poem      'The Inchcape Rock.'

• About the poem/poet and the title

• The theme

• Poetic style

• The language/ poetic devices used in the poem    

• Special features

• Message, values, morals in the poem

• Your opinion about the poem

 

Appreciation of the poem :-

The Inchcape Rock

The poem 'The Inchcape Rock' is a lyrical ballad written in 1802 by Robert Southey, an English poet and also was a Poet of  Laureate of England from 1813 to 1843. The title of the poem is based on the Inchcape Rock situated in the North Sea and the kindness act of a monk.

The poem is based on the theme of jealousy and the conflict between good and evil. The story is about the attempt by the Abbot of Aberbrothok who placed a bell on the Inchcape rock to give warning and to save sailors from ship wreck by crashing with the rock. Moving forward, Sir Ralph, the pirate, got jealous at the Abbot of Aberbrothok's fame for putting a bell, due to jealousy Sir Ralph cuts the bell and later the story ends with the downfall of the Pirate due to Inchcape rock to death. The poetic devices employed in the poem are Alliteration, Metaphor, Repetition, Simile, Climax, Onomatopoeia, Inversion, Interrogation, Apostrophe. It contains archaic words. 'aabb' is the rhyme scheme used in the poem. 

The poem gives us the message that those who do wrong things will meet with due punishment. I like the poem because of its teaching principle that crime gets its own punishment and life time important lesson "Tit for Tat".

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2.2 Indian Weavers (Appreciation)

 

English Poem Appreciations 12th HSC Board
Section Two (Poetry)

Unit 2.2

Indian Weavers

Indian Weavers

                        - Sarojini Naidu

Weavers, weaving at break of day,
Why do you weave a garment so gay?
Blue as the wing of a halcyon wild,
We weave the robes of a new-born child.

Weavers, weaving at fall of night,
Why do you weave a garment so bright?
Like the plumes of a peacock, purple and green,
We weave the marriage-veils of a queen.

Weavers, weaving solemn and still,
What do you weave in the moonlight chill?
White as feather and white as cloud,
We weave a dead man's funeral shroud.
                               
                               - Sarojini Naidu

 Q.  With the help of the following points, write a poetic appreciation of the poem               'Indian Weavers.'

• About the poem/poet and the title

• The theme

• Poetic style

• The language/ poetic devices used in the poem    

• Special features

• Message, values, morals in the poem

• Your opinion about the poem

 

Appreciation of the poem :-

Indian Weavers

The title, 'Indian Weavers' has symbolic and spiritual meaning. The poem is written by an Indian poetess Sarojini Naidu. She is known as the Nightingale of India. She was the first Indian women who became the President of the Indian National Congress. Indian weaver is a short poem but it has deep sense of human life.

The poem is about the three types of clothes that the weavers weave at three particular times of a day. Each stanza of the poem represents the three important events of human life: birth, adulthood, death. The poem is a beautiful way to embrace the weavers of India. The weavers are not only skillful but also talented. The central idea of the poem is remarked that all human being who are born in this earth, rise up, feel their joys, sorrow and finally have to die one day. The weavers reply to the questions that why they are weaving a particular cloth of a certain color at that time of day. The poem has three stanzas of four lines each. The language texture of poem is simple yet profound. Figures of speech like Imagery, Metaphor, Interrogation, Simile, Euphemism are used in the poem. The rhyme scheme used in the poem is 'aabb'.  

This poem is best to throw light on Indian philosophy that is birth, youth and death are the ultimate truth of life. This poem gives us spiritual and philosophical. I like the poem because of its language and the question answer method really worked a lot to read the whole poem.

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2.1 Song of the Open Road (Appreciation)

 English Poem Appreciations 12th HSC Board
Section Two (Poetry)

Unit 2.1

Song of the Open Road

Song of the Open Road

                                      - Walt Whitman

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,

Strong and content I travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,

I do not want the constellations any nearer,

I know they are very well where they are,

I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,

I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me

wherever I go,

I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,

I am fill'd with them, and I will fill them in return.)

                                                  - Walt Whitman

   Q.  With the help of the following points, write a poetic appreciation of the poem               'Song of the Open Road.'

• About the poem/poet and the title

• The theme

• Poetic style

• The language/ poetic devices used in the poem    

• Special features

• Message, values, morals in the poem

• Your opinion about the poem

 

Appreciation of the poem :-

Song of the Open Road

 

.The title 'Song of the Open Road' is very suitable and has a symbolic meaning.  The poem is written by Walt Whitman, an American poet, essayist and journalist. He is also known as 'The Father of Free Verse'. The Song of the Open Road is a motivational poem, it teaches us to live a life of freedom

 

 Here road means mobility. It means a place which is used by everyone   whether rich or poor, road signifies a place which forces all levels of the people to associate with each other without any status or social rank. This poem centres the quest for freedom, free will, self-realization, and optimism. This poem consists of four stanzas. It is written in free verse and the lines are unrhymed. The poet used very motivational language in the poem. The poetic devices used in the poem are Metaphor, Personification, Transferred Epithet, Repetition, Climax, Antithesis. The poet employs metaphor when he refers to Road to actually mean to road of life and Constellations indirectly compared to the influential people. Use of Imagery is a special feature of the poem.

This optimistic poem motivates us to be optimistic and courageously step out to realize our dreams. We learn that one should be free spirited and not be bound by a routine. I like this poem because it inspires me to free myself from worries and be confident and independent.

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