Question

POEM
BAT
Human beings have often associated human qualities with those of animals and there mayor may not be truth in it. Is a fox really cunning? Is an owl always wise and old? Is a jackal sly? And ....
Are all bats" "vampires?
In Preparation:
• Have you seen a bat?
• Have you seen it doubling?
• These fascinating creatures are good mothers, too!
• Here is a beautiful, bat - friendly poem by the modem poet Randall Jarrell.

A bat is born
Naked and blind and pale
His mother makes a pocket of her tail
And catches him. He clings to her long fur
By his thumbs and toes and teeth
And then the mother dances through the night
Doubling and looping, soaring, somersaulting-
Her baby hangs on underneath.
All night, in happiness, she hunts and flies
Her high sharp cries
Like shining needlepoints of sound
Go out into the night and, echoing back,
Tell her what they have touched.
She hears how far it is, how big it is,
She lives by hearing.
The mother eats the moths and gnats she catches
In full flight; in full flight

The mother drinks the water of the pond
She skims across. Her baby hangs on tight
Her baby drinks the milk she makes him
In moonlight or starlight, in mid-air.
Their single shadow, printed on the moon
Or fluttering across the stars,
Whirls on all night; at daybreak
The tired mother flaps home to her rafter.
The others all are there
They hang themselves up by their toes,
They wrap themselves in their brown wings.
Bunched upside down, they sleep in air.
Their sharp ears, their sharp teeth, their quick sharp faces
Are dull and slow and mild.
All the bright day, as the mother sleeps,
She folds her wings about her sleeping child.

vampire: a night-wandering and blood-sucking bat
soaring: flying high
somersault: to tum head over heels
echo: sound that comes back to youmoths: insects
gnats: a blue fly like mosquito
skims: to have a quick run
rafter: a beam used for a roof

ABOUT THE POEM:
This poem portrays the nocturnal [living as if night was the day] life of a mother bat, revealing her similarity with some other mammals in mothering a child. The poet describes the little bars life right from the time of its birth observing its habits, its abilities and its limitations. The poet brings in a vivid imagination along with great and careful observation.

LET US REMEMBER - ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. Which are the words or phrases that speak about the time when the bat moves around? Fill in. Example: The motherdancas through the night.
2. The bat makes high sharp cries. What are those sounds compared to? What helps the bat to hear?
3. What are the things that the mother bat does, after her son is born? For example, she makes a pocket of her tail and catches him. Fill in.
Chapter1 BAT
TNSCERT Class 7 Term 1

Answer 1

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