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an open door, in the garden of his castle
Questions :
(a) Why was the knight prisoned?
(b) How did the nighting
cheer him up 7(e) What did the knight do in rehim? (d) What
say to the nightingale? (e) What did the nightingale do for the knee
(1) How did the knight escape from the prison ?($) How did the
show his gratitude to the nightingale (h) Give the opposites of
native. (i) Pick out a word which means "chains.) Pick out a w
which means 'gratefulness
Answers
Answer:
Class 8
English
Book: Oxford New Pathways (Literature Reader)
The Nightingale and the Glow-worm
By: William Cowper
General Instruction:
1. Read the lesson carefully. Underline the difficult words, find out their meanings
from the dictionary and use them in your own sentences.
Introduction
About the poet
William Cowper, (born November 26, 1731, Great Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England—
died April 25, 1800, East Dereham, Norfolk), one of the most widely read English poets of his
day, whose most characteristic work, as in The Task or the melodious short lyric “The Poplar
Trees,” brought a new directness to 18th-century nature poetry. Cowper wrote of the joys and
sorrows of everyday life and was content to describe the minutiae of the countryside. In his
sympathy with rural life, his concern for the poor and downtrodden, and his comparative
simplicity of language, he may be seen as one in revolt against much 18th-century verse and as
a forerunner of Robert Burns, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. While he is
often gently humorous in his verse, the sense of desolation that was never far below the surface
of his mind is revealed in many of his poems, notably “The Castaway.”
“The Nightingale and the Glow-worm” by William Cowper is said to have been published on
31st March 1832 in the Penny Magazine.
The setting of The Nightingale and the Glow-worm:
The poem is set in a village in the English countryside. That village is in the very lap of nature
and many hawthorn trees go there. A Nightingale cheers the villagers with its song. A glow-
worm is also to be found nearby. Although the Nightingale wants to eat the glow-worm at first,
later it is convinced that creatures of the earth should not harm each other. The poet wants the
readers to learn to live in harmony and respect each other.
Explanation
The Nightingale and the Glow-worm is essentially a fable written in verse form. Just like in
fables, we have animals behaving like humans and delivering a strong message, similarly, in
this poem, we have a nightingale and a glow-worm encountering each other with human
attributes. Through their encounter, the readers learn the powerful message of living in peace
and harmony. The nightingale first views the glow-worm as its evening supper. However, the
glow-worm manages to save his life by reminding the bird that they have both been sent on
earth to beautify the world with their unique gifts, created by the same creator. Hence, instead
of destroying each other, they must respect each other’s existence and live in harmony so that
the world can be a better place. This rationale of the worm strikes a chord with the nightingale,