In the poem 'Television' by roald dahl, what does the speaker say to compare books and television
Answers
Answer:
Television by Roald Dahl: About the poem
Roald Dahl is one of the most prolific modern writers in English and is well known as a children’s author. The poem ‘Television’ is a famous poem of Dahl that advises and inspires to read books instead of watching the television. This is one of the most relevant poems of our time. The poem takes a comic look at a serious problem among young children today. It warns us about the dangers of watching television excessively. TV robs our minds of the power of imagination and creativity.
He advises us to read books as it will enable us to discover deeper levels of joy, find fulfillment in life and open a whole new and exciting world for us.
Form & language
The poem is a long one but very simple in language and form. It follows rhymed Iambic tetrameter lines throughout the poem with no stanza division. The poet has capitalized the important portions – especially where he talks about the undesired consequences of watching television.
Paraphrase & Explanation of the poemLine 1-16
The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set —
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
Dahl advises from his experience that people should never ever allow their children to go near the television set. It is even better not to install ‘the idiotic thing’ called television. But why is a television an idiotic thing according to the poet? Throughout the entire poem, Dahl attempts to answer it.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
The poet shares his experience here. In almost every house he has visited, he has watched children gaping at the screen. They were staring with their eyes wide open and with absolute concentration of mind. For sitting a long time before the television set, they become tired. Sometimes they sit or lie in a lazy and casual manner (loll and slop and lounge about) and get sloppy. But still, they stare at the television until their eyes are too tired to watch any more (their eyes pop out).
All these are not Dahl’s imagination. He indeed saw a dozen eyeballs, i.e., half a dozen children sitting on the floor at someone’s house very recently, say last week.
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotised by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
When the children are before a television set, they ‘sit and stare and stare and sit’ for long hours. They don’t seem to be moving from there, as they probably forget everything around them in the real world. Rather, the one they watch on the television becomes real for the time being.
They are almost hypnotized by this idiotic box. They are ‘absolutely drunk’, their minds are filled with those ‘shocking ghastly junk’ which are mostly unreal and inappropriate for the age. Those TV shows kill their valuable time and make them lazy with no room for their physical play and exercise. They have no scope of spending time with books and nature, and interacting with others. Their minds, filled with the images and stories of a virtual world, are compared to a drunk man’s imaginary world in an apt metaphor here.
Line 17-21
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink –
The poet now says that he knows that the television keeps the naughty children calm. When they are in front of a TV set, they no more do mischievous things like climbing out the window sill, fighting, kicking and punching. They let the mother free to cook the lunch and wash the dishes in the sink without any disturbance. But that can’t be an excuse to let them sit before a TV, because the poet thinks that the idiotic device does more harm than good.
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Answer:
Roald Dahl is one of the most prolific modern writers in English and is well known as a children’s author. The poem ‘Television’ is a famous poem of Dahl that advises and inspires to read books instead of watching the television. This is one of the most relevant poems of our time. The poem takes a comic look at a serious problem among young children today. It warns us about the dangers of watching television excessively. TV robs our minds of the power of imagination and creativity