Chapter 5: The School Boy

Working with the Poem

Question 1: Find three or four words/phrases in stanza 1 that reflect the child’s happiness and joy.

Answer:The phrases that reflect the child’s joy and happiness are ‘love to rise in a summer morn’, ‘birds sing on every tree’, ‘the skylark sings with me’, and ‘sweet company’.

Question 2: In stanza 2, the mood changes. Which words/phrases reflect the changed mood?

Answer:The phrases that reflect the changed mood are ‘it drives all joy away’ and ‘spend the day in sighing and dismay’.

Question 3: ‘A cruel eye outworn’ (stanza 2) refers to
(i) the classroom which is shabby/noisy.
(ii) the lessons which are difficult/uninteresting.
(iii) the dull/uninspiring life at school with lots of work and no play.
Mark the answer that you consider right.

Answer:‘A cruel eye outworn’ refers to the dull/uninspiring life at school with lots of work and no play.

Question 4: ‘Nor sit in learning’s bower
Worn thro’ with the dreary shower’
Which of the following is a close paraphrase of the lines above?
(i) Nor can I sit in a roofless classroom when it is raining.
(ii) Nor can I learn anything at school though teachers go on lecturing and explaining.
(iii) Nor can I sit in the school garden for fear of getting wet in the rain.

Answer:Statement (ii) is a close paraphrase of the given lines.