Q.8 Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow: When the humid shadows hover
Over all the starry spheres
And the melancholy darkness
Gently weeps in rainy tears, What a bliss to press the pillow.
What do the humid shadows refer to? What do the covered the stars?
Write the synonyms of What did the pillow touch?
melancholy
Answers
Answer:
Humid shadows: It refers to the dark clouds that produce rain, characterised by
a great deal of water vapour; “humid air; “humid weather.
(ii) Starry spheres: Since it was believed that the fixed stars did not change their
positions relative to one another, they must be on the surface of a single starry sphere.
(iii) What a bliss: It refers to the immense happiness that the poet feels of getting into
his cottage and enjoying the pitter patter of raindrops falling on the roof.
(iv) A thousand dreamy fancies into busy being start: This refers to the imaginary
thoughts and fantasies that are aroused in the poet’s mind.
(v) A thousand recollections weave their air-threads into woof: The poet is stringing
together all his memories into one single unit by entwining it with a single thread.
2. What does the poet like to do when it rains?
Ans: The poet feels delighted to lie with his head pressed against the pillow of his bed
in the cottage and listens to the patter of the soft rain on the rectangular tiles of the
cottage roof.
3. What is the single major memory that comes to the poet? Who are the “darling
dreamers he refers to?
Ans: The single major memory that comes to the poet is that of his mother and her fond
look.
The ‘darling dreamers’ are the poet and his brothers and sisters, when they were
lovingly put to sleep by their mother in their childhood.
4. Is the poet now a child? Is his mother still alive?
Ans: At this point, the poet is not a child. He is a grown man. As he sees the clouds
gather up in the sky, he is taken back in time, and he is reflecting about the wonderful
memories associated with “rain. He is recalling his past in which his mother is alive. But
perhaps, he misses his mother too, as she seems to be a vital part of his memory.
Additional Questions
Extract Based Questions
Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow: (4