answer of poem cold within ICSE board 9th class treasure trove
Answers
Answer:
.1. Which figure of speech is used in the line ‘In bleak and bitter cold’? What special significance do the adjectives bleak and bitter have?
Alliteration, close repetition of consonant sound.
2.The adjectives bleak and bitter define the word cold. The coldness outside is comparable to the coldness within the hearts of these six characters as they are not warm or friendly with each other.
Who are the people referred to in the above extract? Why do they need logs?
The people referred to are six indifferent people, who are trapped together by chance in biting cold. They need logs so that they can renew the dying fire to prevent themselves from cold.
3. State how the following theme is connected with the theme of the poem:
Their dying fire in need of logs
Literally, it refers to the fire that is dying and needs to be kept alive with the use of a log. Metaphorically, it can be understood as the fire of compassion in their hearts that is dying. To keep it burning what they need is a log of wood, but they do not use it. Thus, by the end, each one of them dies from ‘the cold within’.
4. What does the first one hold back and why?
The first person holds back her log because she was guided by her racist attitude towards the black man. So she does not use log to prevent the black man from getting its warmth.
5. What character traits would you associate with ‘the first one’ and ‘the next man’? Why?
The first one can be said to be holding a racist attitude as she does not want to benefit the black man. The next man can be said to be a bigot who on seeing that one of the men in the group does not belong to his religion, prevents himself from using his log to renew the fire.