1.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow:
He should be snarling around houses
At the jungle’s edge,
Baring his white fangs, his claws,
Terrorising the village!
(a) Who is He here? 1
Answer: A tiger.
(b) What does he snarl around? 1
Answer: He snarls around the houses.
(c) Pick out the word from the stanza that is similar in meaning to move. 1
Answer: Snarling.
(d) What terrorises the village? 1
Answer: The presence of the tiger terrorises
the village.
2.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow:
The few steps of his cage,
On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.
(a) What are the two qualities of the animal under
reference? 1
Answer: He has stripes and velvet pads.
(b) Why does he move only a few steps?
1
Answer: He is in the cage and is not able to
show his anger.
(c) Which word in the stanza stands for ‘to follow/to move’? 1
Answer: Stalks.
3.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow:
He should be lurking in shadow,
Sliding through long grass
Near the water hole.
Where plump
deer pass.
(a) Who is the poet? 1
Answer: Leslie Norris.
(b) Pick out the word from the stanza that means the same as healthy. 1
Answer: Plump.
(c) Why does he want to be near the water hole? 1
Answer: He wants to have a nice meal of plump
deer.
(d) Where do we find the deer? 1
Answer: The deer pass near the water hole.
(d) What is the state of mind of the animal?
1
Answer: He is in anger.
4.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow:
But he’s locked in a concrete cell,
His strength behind bars,
Stalking
the length of his cage,
Ignoring visitors.
(a) Why is he locked in a concrete cell? 1
Answer: He is in the zoo.
(b) Pick out the word from the stanza that means opposite of recognising. 1
Answer: Ignoring.
(c) Who are the visitors? 1
Answer: The visitors are the people who visit
the zoo.
(d) What does the animal do? 1
Answer: The animal is inside a cell and moves
inside the cell.
5.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow:
Stop that sulking at once, Amanda!
You’re always so moody, Amanda!
Anyone would think that I nagged at you,
Amanda!
(a) Who is speaking here? 1
Answer: Amanda’s parents are speaking here.
(b) What is Amanda being asked to do here?
1
Answer: She is being asked to stop sulking.
(c) Pick out the word from the stanza that means the same as resentful or
unsociable. 1
Answer: Sulking.
(d) How do her parents find her? 1
Answer: They always find her moody.
6.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow:
Don’t eat that chocolate, Amanda!
Remember your acne, Amanda!
Will you please look at me when I’m speaking to you, Amanda.
(a) Pick out the word from the stanza that stands
for pimples. 1
Answer: Acne.
(b) Why should Amanda not eat chocolate? 1
Answer: Chocolates are harmful to her acne.
(c) Why is Amanda being reminded of acne? 1
Answer: She was not ready to leave the habit of
eating chocolates.
(d) What shows that Amanda does not give importance
to her parent's advice?
Answer: She does not look at them when they speak.
7.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow:
Don’t bite your nails, Amanda!
Don’t hunch your shoulders, Amanda!
Stop that slouching and sit up straight,
Amanda!
(a) Who is the speaker here? 1
Answer: Amanda’s mother.
(b) Why is the speaker angry with Amanda?
1
Answer: She is biting her nails and slouching.
(c) Pick out the word from the stanza that means the same as bend. 1
Answer: Hunch.
(d) What does the first line tell about Amanda? 1
Answer: It shows that she is nervous all the time.
8.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow:
(I am an orphan, roaming the street.
I pattern soft dust with my hushed, bare feet.
The silence is golden, the freedom is sweet.)
(a) Why does the child dream to be an orphan? 1
Answer: She would then be able to roam the streets.
(b) Why does she say, The silence is golden
here? 1
Answer: She wants peace for some time.
(c) Which words depict peace? 1
Answer: Silence and freedom.
(d) What does the speaker want? 1
Answer: The speaker wants freedom.
9.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow.
... Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind
that
lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy
over the whole Earth.
(a) Whom does one refer to? 1
Answer: ‘One’ refers to animals.
(b) What qualities does the poet admire in them? 1
Answer: The poet admires that they always remain
happy and content.
(c) Which word in the stanza stands for ‘entire’? 1
Answer: ‘Whole’.
(d) Name the poem and the poet. 1
Answer: The poem is ‘Animals’ and the poet is Walt
Whitman.
10.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow:
They do not sweat and whine about their
condition,
They do not lie awake
in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
(a) Who are ‘they’ here? 1
Answer: ‘They’ here stands for the animals.
(b) Why do they not weep for their sins?
1
Answer: They do not weep for their sins because they
are happy and content. They live in the lap of nature.
(c) How are animals different from humans?
1
Answer: The animals don’t sweat and whine about
their condition.
(d) How do human beings make the poet sick?
1
Answer: Human beings always sweat and whine about
their condition. They always discuss their duty to God. It makes the poet sick.
11.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow.
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition.
(a) Who does ‘they’ refer to here? 1
Answer: ‘They’ here stands for the animals.
(b) Why does the author keep looking at them for long? 1
Answer: The author keeps on looking at them
for long because they are always happy and content. They never weep for their sins.
(c) Which word in the stanza stands for ‘complain’? 1
Answer: Whine.
(d) Why does the poet find animals better than humans? 1
Answer: Animals are content and never whine
about their condition.
12.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow.
It sits looking
over harbour
and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
(a) Whom does ‘it’ refer to? 1
Answer: ‘It’ refers to ‘fog’.
(b) What does the poet think it is like?
1
Answer: It is like a cat.
(c) Which word in the stanza is the same in the meaning as ‘port’? 1
Answer: Harbour.
(d) Name the poem and the poet. 1
Answer: This stanza has been taken from the poem
‘Fog’ written by Carl Sandburg.
13.
Read the stanza given below and answer
the questions that follow.
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
(a) Name the poet.
1
Answer: Carl Sandburg.
(b) What has the fog been compared to?
1
Answer: Fog has been compared to cat’s feet.
(c) What is the significance of ‘cat’s feet’ here? 1
Answer: Cat’s feet here refers to the softness of
movement.
(d) Which figure of speech is used here?
1
Answer: Personification.
14.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow.
Now the name of the little black kitten was
Ink,
And the little grey
mouse, she called him Blink,
And the little yellow dog was sharp
as Mustard,
But the dragon
was a coward, and she called him Custard.
(a) Who are the characters in the stanza? 1
Answer: A young dog, a black kitten, a grey mouse
and a dragon are the characters in the stanza.
(b) Why was the little dog called Mustard?
1
Answer: The little dog was called Mustard because it
was sharp.
(c) Who was a coward? 1
Answer: Custard, the dragon.
(d) Who was Blink? 1
Answer: Blink was a little grey mouse.
15.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow.
Belinda paled, and she cried Help! Help!
But Mustard fled with a terrified yelp,
Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household,
And little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed.
(a) Why did Belinda cry for help? 1
Answer: Belinda cried for help because she was
attacked by a pirate with a pistol.
(b) Pick out a word from the stanza which means the same as ‘whiter than
usual’. 1
Answer: Pale.
(c) How did Mustard react to Belinda’s call?
1
Answer: Mustard fled with a terrified yelp.
(d) How did Ink respond to Belinda’s call?
1
Answer: Ink trickled down to the bottom of the
household.
16.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow.
Pistol in his left hand, pistol in his right,
And he held in his teeth a cutlass bright, ...
(a) Pick out a word from the stanza which means the
same as ‘a weapon’. 1
Answer: Pistol.
(b) What was the intention of the pirate? 1
Answer: The pirate intended to kill Belinda and
others.
(c) Who had a pistol with him? 1
Answer: The pirate, who attacked Belinda had a
pistol in his hands.
(d) Who attacked Belinda? 1
Answer: A pirate attacked Belinda.
17.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow.
Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of
bears,
And Ink and Blink chased lions
down the stairs,
Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage,
But Custard cried for a nice safe cage.
(a) What has the Mustard been compared to? 1
Answer: Mustard has been compared to a furious
tiger.
(b) Pick out a word from the stanza which means same as ‘to follow’. 1
Answer: Chase.
(c) “Custard cried.............” What quality of Custard does this line show? 1
Answer: It shows his cowardice.
(d) What has Belinda been compared to?
1
Answer: Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of
bears.
18.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow.
Belinda tickled him, she tickled him
unmerciful,
Ink, Blink and Mustard, they rudely called him Percival,
They all sat laughing in the little red wagon
At the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon.
(a) With whom was Belinda unkind? 1
Answer: Belinda was unkind to Custard.
(b) Why did they all make fun of the little dragon? 1
Answer: They all made fun of the little dragon
because he asked for a safe cage.
(c) How was the dragon treated by other characters? 1
Answer: They treated him as a cowardice. They made
fun of him. Belind was unkind to him.
(d) Who lived in the red wagon? 1
Answer: Custard, the dragon lived in the red wagon.
19.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow.
The pirate gaped at Belinda’s dragon,
And gulped some grog from his pocket flagon,
He fired two bullets, but they didn’t hit,
And Custard gobbled him, every bit.
(a) Why did the pirate gape at the dragon? 1
Answer: The pirate gaped at the dragon because he
was scared.
(b) How did he try to face the danger?
1
Answer: He tried to face the danger by gulping some
grog.
(c) What did the pirate do? 1
Answer: The Pirate fired two shots from his pistol.
(d) Did it hurt anyone? 1
Answer: No, the shot did not hit anyone.
20.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow.
Belinda embraced him, Mustard licked him,
No one mourned for his pirate victim.
Ink and Blink in glee did gyrate
Around the dragon that ate the pirate.
(a) Pick out a word from the stanza which means the
same as ‘to put arms around somebody’.
1
Answer: Embrace.
(b) Why were they all happy? 1
Answer: They were all happy because the pirate was
gobbled up by the dragon.
(c) Why did everyone embrace the dragon?
1
Answer: Because he had eliminated the pirate.
(d) How did custard prove that he was not a coward? 1
Answer: He faced the pirate and eliminated him.
21.
Read the stanzas given below and answer
the questions that follow.
Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth,
And spikes on top of him and scales underneath,
Mouth like a fireplace, chimney
for a noes.
And realio, trulio daggers
on his toes.
(a) What do the above lines tell us? 1
Answer: The above lines tell us about the fight between
Custard and the pirate.
(b) What do these lines describe? 1
Answer: These lines describe the appearance of the
dragon.
(c) Who was custard? 1
Answer: Custard was a dragon.
(d) What did Belinda think about him? 1
Answer: Belinda thought that he was a coward.
