1) Read the extract and answer the following questions. 1. Đeep inside my mind I was filled with an irrational dread” a) Who said and to whom? b) Explain the expression ‘irrational dread'. c) Were his fears justified? When did he realise it? d) Mention two words that would describe his feeling at this point in the narrative. e) When and Why did he feel this way?
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 6 Childhood Poem
April 15, 2020 by Kishen
Class 11 English Chapter 6 Poem NCERT Solutions Childhood Free PDF Download
NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English
I. Think it Out
Question 1.
Identify the stanza that talks of each of the following.
1. Individuality
2. Rationalism
3. Hypocrisy
Answer:
Before answering let us understand these terms.
Individuality is a person’s quality that makes him different from others or thinking for himself without following others’ thinking blindly.
Rationalism is a stage when an individual is able to analyse a situation using reason and come to his own conclusions.
Hypocrisy is a practice of engaging in the same behaviour or activity for which one criticises another. The poet has talked about the hypocritical behaviour of adults who preach something else and practise something else.
Individuality—stanza 3
Rationalism—stanza 1
Hypocrisy—stanza 2
Question 2.
What according to the poem is involved in the process of growing up?
Answer:
According to this poem the process of growing up involves many stages. Attainment of mental maturity can be seen as an indication of growing up.
When a person becomes logical, rational and is able to maintain individual thoughts, he is assumed to be grown up. A grown up can discriminate between reality and fantasy and between reality and hypocrisy.
Question 3.
What is the poet’s feeling towards childhood?
Answer:
The poet grows nostalgic about his childhood. He feels that childhood is full of innocence. A child is neither a hypocrite nor manipulative. He is free from all these wrong habits found in adults.
Dining childhood, he is not able to distinguish between truth and imagination or reality and fiction. The poet seems to suffer from a sense of loss in losing his childhood.
Question 4.
What do you think are the most poetic lines? Why?
Answer:
The most poetic lines in the poem are
Where did my childhood go?
It went to some forgotten place,
That’s hidden in an infant’s face,
These poignant lines explain beautifully what most adults feel. These lines take us back to the innocent world of an infant where the poet thinks his childhood seems to be lying hidden. Naturally, the pure and unadulterated childhood will never come back to us, though we can find it in an infant’s face.
Childhood Extract based Questions and Answers (2 Marks)
I. Read the extract given below and answer any two of the questions that follow.
When did my childhood go?
Was it the day I ceased to be eleven,
Was it the time I realised that Hell and Heaven,
Could not be found in Geography,
And therefore could not be,
Was that the day!
Question 1.
At what age does the poet think he lost his childhood ?
(a) After he crossed the age of eleven
(b) After he crossed the age of twelve
(c) After he crossed the age of ten
(d) After he crossed the age of nine
Answer:
(a) After he crossed the age of eleven
Question 2.
What did the poet realise?
(a) That hell and heaven are geographical places
(b) That hell and heaven are one and the same thing
(c) That hell and heaven are not any geographical places
(d) That hell and heaven are located on the Earth itself
Answer:
(c) That hell and heaven are not any geographical places
Question 3.
………. in the extract means the same as discontinued
(a) Realised
(b) Therefore
(c) Ceased
(d) Stopped
Answer:
(c) Ceased
II. Read the extract given below and answer any two of the questions that follow.
When did my childhood go?
Was it the time I realised that adults were not all they seemed to be,
They talked of love and preached of love,
But did not act so lovingly,
Was that the day!
Question 1.
Who is ‘my’ in the above lines?
(a) ‘my’ refers to the poet, Markus Natten
(b) ‘my’ refers to the poet’s childhood
(c) ‘my’ refers to the poet’s friend
(d) ‘my’ refers to the poet’s father
Answer:
(a) ‘my’ refers to the poet, Markus Natten
Question 2.
Why is ‘I’ confused?
(a) Because ‘I’ do not seem to understand when he lost his childhood
(b) Because ‘I’ could not search heaven and hell in geography .
(c) Because T is getting a lot of negative thoughts
(d) Because T has lost his mind
Answer:
(a) Because ‘I’ do not seem to understand when he lost his childhood
Question 3.
Explain “But did not act so lovingly”.
(a) It means that children talk about love but their actions are not loving
(b) It means that adults talk about love but their actions are not loving
(c) It means that adults talk about love and their actions reflect the same
(d) It means that children talk about love and their actions reflect the same
Answer:
(b) It means that adults talk about love but their actions are not loving
III. Read the extract given below and answer any two of the questions that follow.
When did my childhood go?
Was it when I found my mind was really mine, To use whichever way I choose,
Producing thoughts that were not those of . other people, But my own, and mine alone Was that the day!”