Question

1) and every tongue,through utter drought , was withered at the root ; we could not speak , no more thanif we had been choked with soot. explain the line! ah! well - a - day !what evil looks had i from old and young! explain the line!

Answer 1

1)somthing had happened that made them stop talking. they could not move their tongue so they couldn't speak. if they had been choked with soot they could not speak, thats obvious, because when you are choked u cannot talk. its like that. similarly they could not speak under the circumstance like they could not speak when they r choked.
2) something had happened that made every1 stare at the author whether young or old.they stared at him in a evil way. That made the narrator exclaim that what a day it was that almost everyone Starred at him.