COMPULSORY ENGLISH: XI

THE MAGIC OF WORDS

6. My Heart Leaps up When I Behold

-

William Wordsworth

My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold is a beautiful poem composed by a

famous English romantic poet William Wordsworth. The poet is a great
lover of nature as well as true worshiper of God. In this poem, the poet
recollects (remembers) the experiences of his childhood days and gives
his emotion and feeling a meaning that the poet wants continuity of life
and nature.
The poet says that his heart jumps with joy up when he sees a rainbow in
the sky. It was the beginning of his life, and now hes well grown up. He
knows that he will grow old and finally die one day. As the child (past) is
father (future) of the man (present), the poet wishes his days to be bound
to each period (past, present and future) by natural piety, that is, natural
blessing of divinely power.
The seventh line is basically the main theme of the poem. The widely
accepted proverb, The Child is Father of the Man has to tell us a lot. He
says that present is the outcome of the past and future will be the
outcome of the present. In this way the poet shows that time and nature
are the ongoing phenomena of the universe. If there is any break in this
continuation the poet wants to die.
The poet presents his main idea of the poem through the paradoxical line
The Child (past) is father (present) of the man (future). The poet means
to say that human life begins from childhood. A man cant be a father
without being a child. According to the poet, father means from whom the
creation of new generation takes place. It is the child from whom the
manhood begins. Thus the child is really the father of man. Yesterdays
child is todays man (father) and todays child is tomorrows father.

Checking Up
Explain the paradox in The Child is Father of the Man.
The statement The child is father of the man is a paradox. A paradox is a
statement that seems to be absurd or contradictory but is or may be true.
Generally we think the man is father of the child because father is the
source from which something originates. We know that the role of a man
is instrumental behind the birth of the child. A child can never produce a
man, therefore the statement; the child is the father of the man is
paradoxical.
The poet says the child is father of the man. A child passes through
adulthood and old age. He gets married and gives birth to his own
children. So the child is called father of the man. To look from the time
frame, present is the outcome of past and consequently, future is the
outcome of present. Similarly, yesterdays child is todays man and
todays child is tomorrows man. Here the word father means one from
whom something originates.
In another sense, William Wordsworth, in this statement wants to say that
even the child can give birth to something. The child is closely associated
with nature who can be the source of inspiration to give birth to literature,
philosophy, etc.
Write in one sentence what the poem is about.
The poem is about the joy the poet feels at the sight of a rainbow which
has been source of his ecstasy since his childhood and will continue to be
so till his old age.
Why does the heart of the poet leap up when he sees a rainbow in
the sky?
The poet is identified as a nature loving poet. He enjoys the nature and
natural things. In true sense, the poet is the worshipper of the nature. He
enjoys the scenic beauty of nature. He saw the same rainbow when he
was a child. It is the same at present as in the past. It will remain the
same but the poet will die soon. The rainbow has been the source of his
ecstasy since his childhood and will continue to be so till his old age. So,
his heart leaps up with joy when he sees a rainbow in the sky.
What does the poet mean by natural piety?
Piety here means deep respect for nature. Nature is his God and religion.
So, for him, nature is of great importance. He says that nature has a great

power to attract somebody. He cannot imagine life without nature. His

wish of the devotion to the god is the devotion to the nature because he is
really inspired and delighted by the beautiful scenes of the nature. So
there is a never-ending relationship between life and nature.

11. The Poplar Field

- William Cowper
The Poplar Field written by William Cowper is a profound
contemplation over the transition of human life and the things in nature
that serve as remarkable source of pleasure to humans. Through this
poem, he wants to give message that it is not good to chop down trees.
The poem urges us to protect nature. In the poem the poet express
his personal emotion and feeling with nostalgic tone. The poet used to
enjoy among the poplar trees in the past but now as the tree has been cut
down the poet doesnt get any cool shade and melodious song of the
wind. The wind no longer plays and sing in the leaves of poplar trees
because the tree is no longer exist also the poet could no longer see the
reflection of poplar trees in the water of Oise river .Here, the tone of the
poet is nostalgic.
His nostalgic tone continuous even in the second and third stanzas.
Twelve year before the poet used to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the
poplar field. He used to sit under the cool shade of the trees but now as
the trees are laid down on the grass he sits on their logs. Once he used to
hear the sweet song of the blackbirds but now they have flown away for
another shelter.
The poet years are passing very quickly and one day he will have to
die and lie in his grave but by then other poplar trees will not have grown
in the place of the dead trees because it takes a longtime for the new
trees to grow .Here the poet images himself dying and lying on his grave.
He means that he has to die before another such groove of poplar trees
grow in the place of the dead ones.
The bitter fact makes the poet contemplate on the temporary nature
of human pleasure. The poet used to feel tremendous pleasure in the
company of the poplar trees but now when the trees have been destroyed
his pleasure too has perished and his pleasure cannot be restored in his
lifetime, because it takes long time for the new poplar trees to grow in the
place of the old ones. So the poet concludes that human enjoyment has
shorter death than their short lives. The poet means that human pleasure
dies sooner than human themselves.
Checking Up
Write a single sentence summary of this poem.
The poem is the lamentation of the poet over the destruction of the poplar
field that once provided shade, whispering sound, cool wind and melody of
birds.
What changes did the poet see in the poplar field when he came
back after twelve years?

After twelve years, he saw many changes in the poplar field. The poplar
field was no more there. The poplars that used to grow along the river
Ouse had been cut down. They were lying down on the ground. There
were no reflections of trees in the Ouse river. The poet couldnt sit under
the shadow of the trees. The blackbird had left the poplar field. The poet
could not hear birds songs. Cowper used to be as strong and alive as the
poplars. Now he thinks he will die soon. The wind was not blowing in the
leaves of trees as in the past.
Consider the poem The Poplar Field as a defense of nature
conservation.
This poem is a defense of nature conservation. The poet powerfully
presents the threats to our environment from all around and sternly
suggests the need to conserve it for the sake of the earth and its
inhabitants.
The poets message is that trees shouldnt be cut down recklessly
because they are very necessary for human beings. They are important
natural resources. They shouldnt be misused. The poet also says that
though we can plant trees, but they dont grow as fast as the trees are
being cut down in the present time. So, he says that he cant see such a
jungle being replanted and grown up before his death.
If we keep our unwise act of chopping down trees indiscriminately, the
whole environment will be badly affected threatening the life on earth.
Showing the link between human prosperity and happiness with the
nature and the consequences of unwise activities, the poet appeals to us
to conserve the nature for the sake of our own existence.

14. Keeping Things Whole

- Mark Strand
The poem Keeping Things Whole is composed by Mark Strand. In this
poem, the poet pleads for wholeness against the usual fragmentation that
goes on in life. He tries to show the value of each and every small and
small constituents of nature to continue the wholeness of nature.
The poem deals with two separate entities: part and whole. The nature
has small parts. He has lost himself in the field. He is losing himself
everywhere. He thinks he divides the air when he walks but it becomes
whole behind him. He only makes the air whole, not a part since
everything becomes whole itself. It illustrates the fact that parts are
essential to make the unifying nature of whole. The nature has smaller
parts which can be divided into the separate elements. It is very hard to

dissect the nature because they cannot remain being isolated from the
whole.
The poet has presented himself in the field missing and parting in the air
and he is whole not part in the backdrop. He wants to be whole, not part.
He becomes careful not to disturb the wholeness of things in the
environment. This shows his concern to the protection of environment.
Even if man tries to challenge the existence of the nature, he cant get
victory over it. So, the poet becomes very much sensitive for the delicate
balance of the nature.
The last stanza suggests that we all move to make a whole, not part. The
poet moves forward and he parts the air but it becomes whole again. So,
what we think of being parted i.e. that is wrong. Everything in the world is
whole. Movement is thus necessary to keep things whole. The poet has a
distinguished (remarkable, eminent, notable) notion regarding the term
wholeness and it is essential, according to the poet, to think about the
perception of wholeness.
Checking Up
Write a single sentence summary of this poem.
In spite of the fate that the presence of one thing in the absence of other
is an unavoidable situation, the poet is determined to move for keeping
things whole.
Interpret the poem Keeping Things Whole.
The poet is in favor of wholeness or completion against fragmentation or
imperfection. We human beings move from one place to another to fulfill
our purpose. We all have our own purposes for moving. When we move
from one place to another place, we divide the air but the air moves in to
fulfill the place from where we have gone through. Similarly we become
absent in the place which we leave. According to the poet this happiness
all the time in our life, we try to do wholeness/completeness but
everything remains incomplete. Therefore, we should not judge things
parts by parts. When we solve one problem, other problems move in like
air moves in. In the same way we find something missing in the first place
when we go to another place.

15. Concrete Cat

-

Dorthi Charles

Concrete Cat is an example of a concrete poem, a poem composed for

the eye. The chief concern of such a poem is with the physical appearance
of poetry not primarily with ideas or emotions, not with language as we
ordinarily use it, but with the reduced language of the word itself as it

appears on the page. This is an implied poem that indicates the concrete
ideas about something. This type of poem is meant to see rather than to
read. This kind of poetry is sometimes referred to as visual poetry.
The poet tells us about a cat by showing its catness in action by
capitalizing the letters (moUth) or by writing together (stripestripestripe)
or keeping the space between letters (t a i l t a i l). U in mouth shows
the action of keeping its red-blood tongue to lap its dish. The Y in eye
suggests rolling eyeballs of the cat at the pleasure of killing its prey. The
A in ear indicates that its ears get alert. When the letters tail indicates
that it is expanding and contracting its tail for further activities. The word
mouse is written upside down which shows that the mouse has been
killed. The overlapping of the two words stripes and tripes shows the
beauty and cruelty of the cat. The white backdrop and black letters here
show the real stripe of the cat. The selections of words such as stripe,
whisker, paw, tail etc characterize the real cat like a picture but if the poet
would use sentences instead of words, his concrete poem would never
come to a form of cat. In this way, this poem is nothing more than a word
picture of a cat artfully drawn using words and letters.
Checking Up
Present the summary of this poem in one sentence.
Using reduced language, the poet Dorthi Charles in the poem Concrete
Cat presents a picture of a striped cat in victorious mood that has
recently killed a mouse.
Concrete cat is an example of concrete poem why?
Concrete Catis a concrete poem that is made for the eye. The chief
concern of such a poem is with the physical appearance of poetry not
primarily with ideas or emotions, not with the language as we ordinarily
use it, but with the reduced language of the word itself as it appears on
the page or elsewhere. When we read the poem the picture comes to our
eyes. Observing this poem, we can visualize the word picture of a striped
cat with raised tail, upside-down mouse by rear feet and whisker around
the mouth showing its catness in action. The pun is used to make the
poem figurative. So, the concrete cat is an example of concrete poem.
Do you consider this work of art a poem?
Although Concrete Cat doesnt look like a poem as no meaningful
sentences are there to make it a poem, it is a different type of poem
known as concrete poem. Such poems are meant for our eyes and not for
our ears. The main motive of such poems is to create physical image of
intended theme by placing the words appropriately. It is not concerned
with ideas and emotion. Such poems use reduced language unlike we

ordinarily use. The arrangement of words to create intended image itself is

the main objective of a concrete poem. Thus we can say that it is a
different kind of poem an arts-based poem or a concrete poem.

19. On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness

- Arthur Guiterman
The poem is about the defeating power of time and vanity of human
greatness. The poem says that time does not leave anyone. It sweeps
away all great things as well as small things of history. Death comes to
everybody and it turns all things into dust.
The tusks of mastodons fought powerful fights in the past, but now
they have become the playthings (billiard balls). The sword of
Charlemagne the Just (King of Franks and Roman emperor) has rusted
with the tide of time. The grizzly bear (large brown bear found in North
America and North Russia) is dead. No one fears it any more. Its skin and
fur is used in making rugs and people now sit comfortably on it. The bust
of Great Julius Cesar who won most of the world is kept on the shelf. But
the poet does not care all because however a great a man may be now,
his greatness will be valueless in the future.
Checking Up
Summarize the poem in one sentence.
The value of any great thing or person in history is no longer as equal as
they were in their times.
What changes to people and objects are described in the poem,
"On the
Vanity of Earthly Greatness?"
The poet shows greatness of time in the poem On the Vanity of Earthly
Greatness. According to the poet time is powerful. It brings the changes
to people or objects. The tusks of mastodons that fought powerful fights in
the past have now become playthings (i.e. billiard balls). The brave
emperor Charlemagne's sword has now rusted. People were afraid of
grizzly bear in the past but now its skin has changed into rug. In the same
way, the bust of Great Julius Caesar, a powerful Roman general who won
most of the world with his sword, is kept on the shelf. This shows that
every powerful person or things become powerless with the passage of
time. So the poet makes the fun of transitory greatness of human beings
and things. Every greatness becomes the subject of decay, death and
worthless with the passage of time.
Bring out the vanity involved in the last couplet.
Vanity is the arrogance in appearance or achievements. The poet says
that its vain or useless to think that we are powerful because we shall
have nothing after our death. Similarly, in the last couplet, we find it only
to be vanities of the poet because he is putting himself in the same level
of great rulers like, Charlemagne and Caesar. Since every act of greatness

becomes worthless with the passage of time, we need not be proud on

earthly greatness.
What is ironical about the poem?
Irony is a subtle form of humour which involves saying things that we do
not mean. It is a figure of speech in which words are used to show the
opposite of what they appear to mean. In other words, irony is the gap
between what the reality is and what it appears to be. This poem is
ironical in the sense that it is not about greatness but it is about
weakness. Mastodons are not mighty or powerful, bear is not potent but,
in fact, their power is short lived. Charlemagne's sword has now rusted,
and the bust of Caesar is now kept on the shelf. In this way, this poem is
ironical.

COMPULSORY ENGLISH: XII

THE HERITAGE OF WORDS

1. The Grandmother
-

Ray Young Bear (1950)

The poem The Grandmother, is composed by a modern American Indian

poet Ray Young Bear. He was born in the Mesquaki tribe. The poem can be
read both literally and metaphorically. Literally, he draws a picture of his
all-loving and all-inspiring grandmother, and metaphorically, he tries to
reflect upon the vanished communities of Native American tribes in
general and the Mesquaki tribe in particular.
Ray Young Bear, draws a realistic picture of his grandmother, all-loving,
all-inspiring, and remembers the remarkable shape, movement, voice and
activities of his grandmother. He shows deep love towards her. Though his
grandmother is no longer in this world, the images of her wearing a
purple scarf round her head and holding a plastic shopping bag in her
hand often comes to his mind.
According to the poet, if he saw his grandmothers shape from a distance,
he would recognize her wearing a purple scarf round her head and
carrying a plastic shopping bag in her hand. If he felt her hands on his
head, he would easily identify her warm and damp hands. Moreover, he
could smell the roots coming from her laborious and lovely hands. He
would also recognize her voice coming from her grave because the voice
would be the source of inspiration for him. The voice would flow inside him
just like the flickers at night.
Here, the poet says that the memory of his grandmother takes him back
to his childhood when they shivered (trembled) with cold at night and his
grandmother would move the fire from the thick ashes to create warmth.
Though the poets grandmother left him many years before, her images,
voice, love, inspiration and memory are still fresh in the mind and heart of
the poet.
Checking Up
What are the four things that Ray Young Bear remembers about
his grandmother?

The four things that Ray Young Bear remembers about his grandmother
are her shape, her purple scarf, warm and damp hands and her inspiring
voice.
What images do you find in this poem written by a member of the
Sauk and Fox (Mesquaki) Indian tribe of North America? To what
senses do these images appeal?
The imagery used in the poem has created a visual picture of a
grandmother. It sketches a picture of a laborious old woman who goes to
market herself. The poet has used many images to discover two
intertwined themes - recollection of his grandmother at one level and
search for identity at another level. In this poem, different images appeal
to different senses. The images like 'purple scarf', 'plastic shopping bag',
'sleeping fire ' appeal to the readers sense of sight. Similarly, the images
like 'smell of root' appeal to the readers sense of smell. Warm and damp
hands appeal to our sense of touch. The voice coming from the rock
and her words appeal to our sense of sound/hearing. All of these images
found in the poem present a real and clear picture of his grandmother and
symbolically link the lost and changed culture of the Indian American
tribe.
How does the speaker feel towards his grandmother? In what
words or lines does he make his feelings clear?
The speaker has a positive feeling towards his grandmother. He finds his
grandmother all-loving, and all-inspiring. He deeply loves and respects
her. The lines that make his feelings clear to her are: Id know so quickly
that it would be her, Id know that those were her hands and Id know
her words would flow inside me like the light. The speaker wants to follow
every activity of her because it gives him the right path of true love.

5. Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies

-

William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)

Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies is a beautiful poem written by William
Shakespeare. This poem is taken from his famous play The Tempest, Act
I, Scene II. In this poem, the spirit Ariel sings this song to Ferdinand, the
prince of Naples, who mistakenly thinks that his father is drowned.
The spirit Ariel says that Ferdinands father is lying down 30 feet below in
the sea. Ferdinand is very worried about the death of his father. Giving
him sympathy Ariel says that his father has got quite a meaningful death.

His bones have been completely transformed into coral and his eyes into
pearls. No part of his body has been wasted. In fact, everything of his
body has been changed into something valuable, beautiful and strange.
The sea nymphs are ringing his death bell making ding-dong sound hourly.
He says he is listening to the bell ring.
Checking Up
Is death meaningful in this poem?
The death in this poem is quite meaningful because every part of the
dead body has been changed into something valuable, beautiful and
strange. The bones are changed into coral, and eyes are changed into
pearls. Nothing is damaged. It means the man has achieved immortality.
So in this sense, we find death meaningful.

10. Gods Grandeur

-

Gerard Manley Hopkins

(1844-1889)

"God's Grandeur" is a religious poem by G.M. Hopkins. In this poem, the

poet praises the greatness of God in the world stating that the world is full
of Gods magnificence.
The poet says that the world is filled with the greatness of God and his
glory expresses itself in many ways. But, human being are not paying any
attention to his power. Instead, they are following the same worldly path
to success without any thought of God's will. They are destroying the
nature by doing different bad activities. The earth is now bare as it has
lost its beauty. The prioritization of the economic over the spiritual
activities have transformed the landscape and robbed humans of their
sensitivity to those few beauties of nature still left. In this sense, the
human beings are insensitive to nature. They even don't know whether
the soil is soft or hard because they have shoes on their feet.
Hopkins says that though the human beings are trying to destroy the
nature, it is never finished. It is because freshness lies at the bottom of
things and this freshness never ends. God is there to protect the world just
as the bird broods its young babies with its wings. So, according to the
poet, man's commercial activities cannot destroy the power of God.
Checking Up
Give reasons why men are unaware of the greatness of God.
Men are unaware of the greatness of God because they are concerned
only with their work. They don't pay any attention to his command. They
have spent their time to become rich. They are being too much
materialistic thereby forgetting the magnificence of God.
What is the central idea of the poem?
G.M. Hopkins sonnet Gods Grandeur puts forth the idea that god is
responsible for all the splendid things that happen on earth. Human
beings do not use the earth properly. Their activities are being destructive.

Because of the fact that god is never angry with his creatures he keeps on
providing them with necessary things. Similarly, he provides protection to
all the beings just like a bird does to its eggs.