Selected Poems // Book-6
The revised 'Selected Poems' series has been compiled with the express purpose of bringing to our young learners works of classical and contemporary poets from all over the world, projecting a variety of ideas, emotions and themes, and helping them to explore nature and the animal kingdom and reflect on friendship, family and the human condition.
Ornithology poem
by Eleanor Farjeon
What’s ornithology? Pray can you tell?
It’s hard to pronounce and it’s harder to spell—
Yet that’s what you’re learning whenever you care
To study the Birds of the Earth, Sea, and Air.
There’s a long word
To stand for a bird!
For a Lark or a Sparrow its length is absurd!
Eagles and Ostriches need no apology
If you should label them as ornithology!
But how can it fit
The tiny Tom-Tit?
The Finch.
Wants a word that’s no more than an inch!
Yet all the Birds of the East and the West,
Whatever they be, and wherever they nest—
The Vulture—the Hen—
The Flamingo—the Wren—
The Dove—the Canary—
The queer Cassowary
The Thrush on the bough, and the Duck in the pool—
They are all ornithology when you’re in School!
Eleanor Farjeon (1881 - 1965), born in London, was an author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. She won many literary awards and the prestigious Eleaner Farjeon Award for children's literature is presented annually in her memory by the Children's Book Circle, a society of publishers.
I think this is a short children's poem that explains what the word ornithology means. It explores small birds, and large ones such as an albatross. It ends by pointing out that regardless the size of the bird, the study of ornithology includes all birds.
Discussion Questions and Activities:
In this poem, the poet is having fun with a very big word. The word may not be too big for big birds like ostriches and flamingos, but it seems pretty silly for little birds like the finch.
1. Absurd means ridiculous or silly. This poem is about how strange or absurd it seems to use a long word like 'ornithology' to talk about small birds. Why is the word's length absurd for a lark or sparrow?
2. In this poem the word 'apology' means something like an excuse. We don't have to excuse ourselves or apologize if we use a big word like ornithology to talk about eagles and ostriches. Why don't we?
3. What size birds are the tom-tit and finch? What clues are given in the poem that tells us this?
4. List words and phrases from the poem which describe the small birds.
5. Do you think this is a humorous poem? Why or why not?
6. What does the speaker mean by the line "They are all Ornithology when you're in school?" Why should we study birds in school? How can the study of birds help us in other areas of life?
7. Conduct research into the birds mentioned in this poem. If the poet had been Bangladeshi, what birds might she have mentioned in the poem?
Research small and large birds that are native to Bangladesh and bring their pictures to show the students in your class.
8. What do you think about bird hunting? Do you think we should be allowed to hunt birds? Why or why not?
Word/Meaning:
absurd = stupid
finch = any of various types of small singing birds
ornithology = Scientific study of birds
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them.
Chapter- 2
The Ad-dressing of Cats
You've read of several kinds of Cat,
And my opinion now is that
You should need no interpreter
To understand their character.
You now have learned enough to see
That cats are much like you and me
And other people whom we find
Possessed of various types of mind.
For some are sane and some are mad
And some are better, some are worse -
But all may be described in verse.
You've seen them both at work and games,
And learnt about their proper names,
Their habbits and their habbit:
But
How would you ad-dress a Cat?
So first, your memory I'll jog,
And say: A CAT IS NOT A DOG
Now dogs pretend they like to fight;
They often bark, more seldom bite;
But yet a Dog is, on the Whole,
What you would call a simple soul.
Of course I'm not including Pekes,
And such fantastic canine freaks.
The usual Dog about the Town
Is much inclined to play the clown,
And far from showing too much pride
Is frequently undignified.
He's very easily taken in -
Just chuck him underneath the chin
Or slap his back or shake his paw,
And he will gambol and guffaw.
He's such an easy-going lout,
He'll answer any hail or shout.Again I must remind you that
A dog's a Dog - A CAT'S A CAT.
With Cats, some say, one rule is true:
Don't speak till you are spoken to.
Myself, I do not hold with that-
I say, you should ad-dress a Cat.
But always keep in mind that he
Resents familiarity.
I bow, and taking off my hat,
Ad-dress him in this form; O CAT!
But if he is the CAT next door,
Whom I have often met before
(He comes to see me in my flat)
I greet him with an OOPS-A CAT!
I think I've heard them call him James -
But we've not got so far as names.
Before a cat will condescend
To treat you as a trusted friend.
Some little token of esteem
Is needed, like a dish of cream,
And you might now and then supply
Some caviar, or Strassburg Pie,
Some potted grouse, or salmon paste -
He's sure to have his personal taste.
(I know a Cat, who makes a habbit
Of eating nothing else but rabbit,
And when he's finished, licks his pows
So's not to waste the onion sauce.)
A Cat's entitled to expect
These evidences of respect.
And so in time you reach your aim,
And finally call him by his NAME.
So this is this, and that is that:
And there's how you AD-DRESS A CAT.
By T.S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 - 1965) was a publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and one of the most important English-language poets of the 20th century. He is commonly known as T.S. Elliot. Although he was born an American, he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 (at age 25) and became a British subject in 1927. 'Old Pssum's Book of Practical Cats' (1939) is a collection of whimsical poems by T.S.Eliot, that he included in letters to his godchildren.
Chapter-4
Expect Nothing
Alice Walker
Expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.
Become a stranger
To need of pity
Or, if compassion be freely
Given out
Take only enough
Stop short of urge to plead
Then purge away the need.
Wish for nothing larger
Than your own small heart
Or greater than a star;
Tame wild disappointment
With caress unmoved and cold
Make of it a parka
For your soul.
Discover the reason why
So tiny human midget
Exists at all
So scared unwise
But expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.
Alice Walker (born in 1944 in Georgia, USA) is an author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender. She is best known for the critically acclaimed novel 'The Color Purple (1982) for which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Discussion Questions and Activities:
This poem "Expect Nothing" is a homily poem which means it conveys an inspirational saying or platitude. In this poem, Alice Walker wants us to learn from her message.
She gives us advice about how to lead a happy life.
1. What does frugally mean? What does the poet mean when she asks us to live "on surprise"?
2. What does the poet tell us about how to live in the first stanza? For what should we "purge away the need"? How can we do that?
3. A 'parka' is a kind of jacket or coat. What literary device is the poet using when she suggests taming "wild disappointment" by making a "parka" out of it for the soul? The poet tells us to wrap ourselves up in disappointment what does she mean by this? What does she want us to do when we are faced with disappointment?
4. In stanza 3, why does the speaker describe humans as midgets, unwise and having a small heart? What kind of effect do those descriptions create?
5. identify the refrain in this poem. Why do you think the poet has repeated the refrain in the last two lines of the poem?
6. What is the tone and mood of this poem? Why do you think so? How does the structure of the poem contribute to its mood?
7. How does this poem make you feel? Why?
8. In her poem 'Expect Nothing', the poet is asking us not to expect anything in life so that we can be surprised, and avoid disappointment. Do you agree with her? Do you agree with the speaker that one should live life without too many plans and expectations? Could you?
compassion = a strong feeling of sympathy.
urge = strong wish, especially one that is difficult
plead = to make an urgent, emotional statement or request for something.
purge = to get rid of people from an organization because you do not agree with them.
midget = very small person
inspirational = encouraged
platitude = statement that may be true
frugally = careful way
Chapter-6
Reasoning in Freedom
Robindranath Tagore
Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been
Broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason
Has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Into that heaven of freedom,
My Father, let my country awake.
Poet:
Robindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941) was born in Calcutta. He visited England in 1878 to study law, but returned to India, and instead became a writer, playwriter, songwriter, poet, philosopher, and educator. In 1912, he began translating his selections of poems, Gitanjali, into English. Almost all of his work prior to that time had been written in Bengali.
In 1913, Tagore received the Nobel Prize for literature. He was the first non-westerner to be so honored. In 1915, he was knighted by the British King George V, but renounced the title in 1919, following the Amritsar massacre. He wrote over one thousand poems; eight novels; eight volumes of short stories; plays and many books and essays on philosophy, religion, education, and social topics. He composed more than two thousand songs. Two of them became the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. In 1929, he began painting, too, and today his paintings hang in many museums.
Words:
domestic = relating to or used in the home or everyday life
dreary = gloomy; unexciting
fragments= pieces, usually broken off when something shatters
perfection = the quality of something that is as good or suitable as it possibly can be
striving = trying hard to achieve something
It represents Tagore's vision of a new and awakened India. It is an expression of the poet's reflective spirit and contains a simple prayer for his country, the India of pre-independence time.
Questions:
1. To whom is the poem addressed?
Ans: The poem is addressed to everyone.
2. What is the poet's request?
Ans: The poet has requested his countrymen to break free from sloth and struggle hard constantly to achieve perfection in whatever they choose to do to make their country a free nation.
According to the poet, knowledge should be free which means every person has knowledge about worldly matters. He says that if people living in the country possess knowledge then only it can develop. Knowledge keeps people united not dividing them on the basis of caste and creed.
3. What vision does the poet have of an ideal land?
Ans: The poet means India’s social, cultural, and psychological independence and unity. We should have a broad heart. And a broad mind.
They should enrich their thinking day by day. The poet has used the phrase tireless striving to urge his countrymen to break free from sloth and struggle
hard constantly to achieve perfection in whatever they choose to do to make their country a free nation.
4. Try to explain in your own words what you think the poet means by the following:
a) narrow domestic walls
Ans: The poet is talking about the barriers of class, caste, creed, colour, religion, and other elements that divide people from one another.
In most cases, those are baseless superstitious beliefs and good for nothing.
b) clear stream of reason
Ans: The poet has compared reason to a clear stream and dead habit to a dry desert.
c) dreary desert sand of dead habit
Ans: According to him, dead habit means a country which has not lost the right path in the dreary desert of old traditional rituals and customs that are harmful for the country and the society.
d) ever-widening thought and action
Ans: Ever-widening thought and action means we should not be narrow or shallow in our mentality. We should have a broad heart. And a broad mind. They should enrich their thinking day by day.
Chapter-12
Dream Deferred
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags—
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
James Mercer Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then -new literary art form, jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. His poetry and fiction portrayed the lives of the working -class African-Americans, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, joy, laughter, and music. His main concern was the uplift of his people, whose strengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record as part of the general American experience.
Word Meaning:
Explode = to break up into pieces violently, or to cause something to do this.
sag = to drop down to a lower level in the middle
rotten = decayed
strink = to smell very unpleasant
Sore = painful and uncomfortable because of injury
fester = If a cut or other in jury festers.
deferred = delayed until a later time
Discussion Questions and Activities:
In this poem, Hughes asks a very important question about dreams and about what happens when dreams are ignored or postponed.
1. What does the poet mean by "dream deferred"? List examples of dreams that may be deferred.
2. What kind of figurative language device is used in the line "like a raisin in the sun?"
3. Write down at least five words in the poem that appeal to the senses. Is this imagery positive or negative? Why do you think so?
4. Why do you think the poet is comparing dreams to such things as raisins, flesh, or meat? What tone does this imagery convey?
5. What do you think you would feel if you were prevented from realising one of your dreams?
6. How do you think you would feel if you were prevented from realising one of your dreams?
7. What do you think Hughes is telling us about the danger of not acting upon our dreams? Do you think this is true? Give examples from real life to explore this answer.
Chapter-13
Flood
Goldbrown upon the sated flood
The rockvine clusters lift and sway;
Vast wings above the lambent waters blood
Of sullen day.
A waste of waters ruthlessly
Sways and uplifts its weedy mane
Where brooding day stares down upon the sea
In dull disdain.
Uplift and sway, O golden vine,
Your clustered fruits to love's full flood,
Lambent and vast and ruthless as is thine
Incertitude!
By James Joyce
Poetry: A Magazine of Verse (1912 - 1922)
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce, (1882 - 1941) born in Dublin was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the early 20th century. Joyce is best known for 'Ulysses' (1922). Other major workers are the short-story cellection 'Dubliners' (1914), and the novels ' A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' (1916) and 'Finnegans Wake' (1939).
Discussion Questions and Activities:
This poem may seem at first like a poem about a flood, but perhaps has deeper allusions to human emotion.
1. The word 'sated' means satisfied to the full. What could the poet be saying about the state of the flood by calling it'sated?'
2. Lambent means glowing, gleaming, or flickering with a soft radiance. What does the "brood" mean? What poetic devices is the poet using in the line:
"Vast wings above the lambent waters brood?"
3. Try to guess the meaning of 'Rockvine clusters'. Imagine broken branches and plants swaying and dipping up and down on flood waters. Does the poem paint a positive or negative image in your mind? How does it do so?
4. Incertitude means a state of uncertainty or hesitation. Why do you think the poet chose to end the poem with this word?
5. What tone is conveyed in the poem through the use of words like sullen, ruthlessly, disdain, and incertitude?
6. What does the poet want, as conveyed in the last stanza?
7. Repetition is a literary device often used by poets. Make a list of the words that are repeated throughout this poem. Why do you think the poet is repeating the same words over and over again?
8. The poet has made use of poetic devices such as alliteration and personification is the poem. Identify and list examples of them from the text.
9. This poem is very subtle and ambiguous. Some say that the poet, although talking about a "flood", could be allegorically talking about human emotions in this poem.
If you were to make a guess, what kind of emotion is the poet alluding to?
10. In what way can our emotions feel like a flood?
October
I Hear America Singing
BY WALT WHITMAN
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
Summary:
Walt Whitman is a famous American poet who lived and wrote poetry in the 1800s. His poem "I Hear America Singing" was published in 1860 as part of his collection of poetry titled Leaves of Grass. This particular poem highlights the unique way that each individual contributes to American society. In this poem, Whitman explores the relationship between a person's daily work and how the country benefits from that industriousness. "I Hear America Singing" also shows Whitman's patriotism or appreciation for his country and its principles and ideals.
Walt Whitman's poem "I Hear America Singing" is a patriotic poem that shows great appreciation for the regular, everyday people of America. In this poem, Whitman links together different tradesmen that could be found in every community. These tradesmen are laborers or homemakers, and they are the backbone that American society depends on. Of course, some laborers are linked together by the nature of their tasks, such as the boatman and the deckhand- but other laborers Whitman includes do not have such an obvious connection. For instance, the mason and the shoemaker both provide essential services that society requires, but, at first glance, the similarity between these professions is not obvious. Whitman almost presents these laborers like a list, showing each one in quick succession. This list-like way of presenting different professions highlights the individuality and uniqueness of each person's work.
Even though the laborers are considered unique, Whitman explains that the laborers are all doing the same thing as they go about their tasks: they are singing. This common bond of song is present from the beginning to the end of the poem and is the key idea that Whitman structures the poem around. Music unites different instruments, voices, and sounds, just as America unites the different tasks of the individual laborer.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Acquainted with the Night
BY ROBERT FROST
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
‘Acquainted with the Night’ has been interpreted as a poem about loneliness, but this seems to be a reductive or even misguided analysis: the speaker appears to revel in his solitariness rather than feeling the lack of other human company, and notably, the one person he ‘meets’ in the poem, the watchman, he goes out of his way to avoid speaking to.
And thematically, too, there is something Dantean about ‘Acquainted with the Night’, with the dark city doubling up as a land of spiritual darkness, or ‘city of the dreadful night’.