Question

I go in the rain, and, more than needs,

A rope cuts both my wrists behind;

And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds,

For they fling, whoever has a mind,

Stones at me for my year’s misdeeds.

a) What is the scene among the public as the patriot heads for the gallows?

b) Highlight the contrast in the reaction of the public to the patriot when he had arrived a year back.

c) What were the patriot’s physical and mental condition when going to the gallows?

d) Explain the line: Thus, I entered, and thus I go.

e) How are the patriot’s religious beliefs reflected at the end of the poem​

Answer 1

a) As the patriot is being led to the gallows, there is no one on the roofs except a palsied few at the windows.

b) A year ago the people were crowded on the house-roofs to welcome him.

c) The poet was in excruciating physical and mental pain; a rope cut his wrists; his forehead bled; his mind was filled with sad and depressed thoughts of regret.

d) 'Thus, I entered, and thus I go' means the poet was born in this world, and after completing a few years of his life, he was going to die at the gallows.

e) Poet's religious belief was that God would judge his deeds and give him justice in His Kingdom.