Question

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
1. You come to me like heaven's caring arms.
I remember the war days when life was challenge and toil-
Miles to walk, hours before sunrise,

(a) Who are you' and 'me' in the above lines?

(b) Identify the figure of speech used in the first line and explain it.
(c) Mention two things that made the poet's life difficult.
(d) Why did the poet have to walk so much early in the morning?
2. All this pain of a young boy,
My Mother you transformed into pious strength
With kneeling and bowing five times
(a) Who is the young boy?
(b) What pain is he talking about?
(c) What was this pain transformed into? How did this transformation take
place?
(d) What do you understand by 'kneeling and bowing five times?


poem below


sea waves,golden sand, pilgrims' faith.
Rameswaram Mosque Street, all merge into one,
My Mother

You come to me like heaven's caring arms.
I remember the war days when life was challenge and toil
Miles to walk, hours before sunrise
Walking to take lessons from the saintly teacher near the temple.
Again miles to the Arab teaching school,

Climb sandy hills to Railway Station Road.
Collect. distribute newspapers to temple city citizens,
Few hours after sunrise, going to school
Evening, business times before study at night.
All this pain of a young boy,

My Mother you transformed into pious strength
With kneeling and bowing five times
For the Grace of the Almighty only. My Mother.

Your strong piety is your children's strength
You always shared your best with whoever needed the most
You always gave, and gave with faith in Him.
I still remember the day when I was ten
Sleeping on your lap to the envy of my elder brothers and sisters
It was full moon night, my world only you knew

Mother! My Mother!

When at midnight I woke with tears falling on my knee
You knew the pain of your child, My Mother
Your caring hands, tenderly removing the pain
Your love your care, your faith gave me strength
To face the world without fear and with His strength
We will meet again on the great Judgement Day. My Mother

Answer 1

Answer:

1. (a)'You' is the poet's mother and 'me' is the poet himself in the given lines.(b)The figure of speech used in the line 'You come to me like heaven's caring arms' is a simile.(c)Two things that made the poet's life difficult were walking long distances to take lessons and distributing newspapers early morning.(d)The poet had to walk long distances to take lessons from the saintly teacher near the temple. He had to walk miles to the Arab teaching school. He also had to collect and distribute newspapers to the people in the city
2. (a)The young boy is the poet, he is describing his mother.(b)The pain he is talking about refers to the struggles and hard times he faced while walking miles to get an education, getting up early to collect and distribute newspapers to earn, and then doing business again in the evenings before his study time.(c)The pain of suffering was transformed into pious strength through their own hard work and the pure strength of their mother's faith in the Almighty.(d)Kneeling and bowing five times' refers to the ritual of offering prayers five times a day that is followed in Islam. they kneel and bow as they pray.

Answer 2

you come to me like heavens caring arms.