English Study Material +2 Second Year

A Psalm of Life
H.W.Longfellow
Questions and Answers:
1. Does the title suggest what the poem is about ?
Ans. Yes, the title suggests what the poem is about. The poem discusses how to live a better and purposeful life and the title means this.
2. What does the poet say about ‘life’ in the first stanza ?
Ans. In the first stanza the poet says ‘life’ is an empty dream for the souls (people) in slumber and have no goal.
3. What does the poet mean by ‘life is real ! Life is earnest ?
Ans. ‘Life is real ! Life is earnest !’ by this the poet means that life is not an empty dream but a real and it requires serious action.
4. What is the poet’s observation on ‘soul’ ?
Ans. The poet’s observation on soul is philosophical. According to him, the soul is eternal. It never dies. It only changes body.
5. Quote the line which means. ‘death is not the goal of life.’
Ans. The line which means. “Death is not the goal of life” is “And the grave is not its goal”.
6. What attitude does the poet challenge in the first two stanzas ? Is the attitude of the poet positive or negative?
Ans. In the first two stanzas, the poet challenges negative attitude of people. The poet’s attitude is positive.
7. ‘Dust thou art, to dust thou returnest’ – This expression alludes to the Bible. What are the other lines in the poem that make an
allusion to the Bible?
Ans. The other lines in the poem that make an allusion to the Bible are – ‘Not enjoyment, and not sorrow is our destined end or way’ and ‘Heart
within, and God o’er head!’.
8. What does the poet say about the goal of life in stanza-3?
Ans. In stanza 3, the poet tells only enjoyment or sorrow is not our goal in life but right action that will lead us to a better life.
9. What is the poet’s observation on ‘Art’?
Ans. The poet observes that Art is infinite. It’s a long process and not destroyable. Art - here refers to learning.
10. “Be a hero in the strife !” – is it an inspiring call of the poet? What other things does the poet urge us to do?
Ans. “Be a hero in the strife !” – yes, the line is inspiring call of the poet. The other things the poet urges us to do are to act, follow the life of the
great men to make our life sublime and to leave foot prints with great deeds.
11. Why does the poet prefer the ‘present’ to ‘past’ and ‘future’?
Ans. The poet prefers ‘present’ to ‘past’ and ‘future’ because future is uncertain / beyond reach and past is dead. They are not in our hand but
only present is with us and we can make something in present.
12. What do the lives of great men remind us ?
Ans. The lives of great men remind us that we can also make our life great and noble with some great work.
13. How do the examples of great men help a person in distress ?
Ans. The examples of great men help a person to find the right way in distress, to take heart with patience and face the challenges bravely.
14. How can we make our life sublime ?
Ans. We can make our life sublime by preparing ourselves for any fate, working hard for achieving and pursuing greater goals.
15. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem ?
Ans. The rhyme scheme of the poem is a, b, a, b.
16. What are the depressing words used in the poem ?
Ans. The depressing words used in the poem are – ‘mournful’, ‘empty’, ‘dead’, ‘slumber’, ‘sorrow’, ‘grave’, ‘funeral’, ‘dumb’, ‘driven’, ‘bury’, and ‘a
forlon and shipwrecked’.
17. What is the tone of the poem – inspiring or despairing ?
Ans. The tone of the poem is inspiring. It inspires us to live a meaningful and purposeful life with some noble deeds.
18. What example of simile do you find in the poem ?
Ans. The examples of simile in the poem are – ‘ Still, like muffled drums..’ and ‘ be not like dumb, driven cattle!’.
19. What examples of metaphor are used in the poem ?
Ans. The examples of metaphor used in the poem are – ‘Life is but an empty dream!’ and ‘the soul is dead that slumbers’.
Extra Questions and Answers
20. ‘Tell me not in mournful numbers’- What does the poet mean by this line ?
Ans. In this line the poet urges us not to have negative but have positive attitude. The life has its rewards as our mind.

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English Study Material +2 Second Year
21. How does the poet describe ‘Life’ ?
Ans. The poet has different meanings for the term ‘Life’. For some, it is an empty dream but for the poet it is real, earnest and a vast battle field.
22. What does the poet urge us to do in the final stanza ?
Ans. In the final stanza, the poet urges us to learn more, make our heart ready for any fate, to achieve and pursue more, to labour and to wait.
23. What else does he mean in the last stanza ?
Ans. He means that the learning process is long, we should not be satisfied with our knowledge. We should labour to pursue and achieve more
and to wait for the result.
24. What is our role in the broad field of life ?
Ans. In the broad field of life we are for a short period. In that time we should act like a hero but not behave like the dumb and driven cattle.

The Portrait Of a Lady

Khuswant Singh
Unit- I
Questions and Answers:
1. Why was it hard for the author to believe that his grandmother was once young and pretty?
Ans. The author had seen his grandmother being old and wrinkled but had never seen her to be young and pretty. So it was hard for him to
believe that his grandmother was once young and pretty.
2. How did the grandfather appear in his portrait ?
Ans. The grandfather appeared to be very old and at least of hundred years old with a big turban, loose-fitting clothes and long beard in his
portrait
3. What sort of a person did he look in his portrait ?
Ans. He looked as a person of hundred years who may have no wife and children but only a lot of grand children
4. How does the author portray his grandmother ?
Ans. His grandmother was short, fat and slightly bent. Her silver hair scattered over her pale and puckered face. She moved the house in
spotless white with one hand on her waist and other hand counting the beads of rosary.
5. Why does he say “the thought was almost revolting ?
Ans. He says “The thought that she had been young and pretty was almost revolting” because he had never seen her in that condition. The
picture of her old age only was imprinted in his mind.
6. The grandmother had a divine beauty. How does the author bring this out?
Ans. The grandmother had a divine beauty. The author explains it as winter landscape in the mountain, an expanse of pure white serenity
breathing peace and contentment
7. What were absurd and undignified? Why?
Ans. The games she used to play as a child were absurd and undignified. Perhaps, she used to play the games meant for boys which she was
not expected to play.
Unit-II
Questions and Answers:
1. What was the grandmother’s routine in the village?
Ans. Her routine was to wake up her grandson, get him ready to school while singing prayers, and accompany him to school where she read
scriptures. Feeding the village dogs was also a part of her routine.
2. How did the grandmother take care of the writer during his childhood?
Ans. The grandmother was the only care-taker of the writer in his childhood. She used to wake him up, bath, dress, feed and get him ready to
school where she would accompany him. She was a good companion of the writer in the village.
3. What lessons did the writer learn from the village priest?
Ans. The writer learned the alphabets and singing prayer in chorus from the priest.
4. How did the grandmother spend her time at the temple?
Ans. The grandmother spent her time at the temple by reading scriptures inside the temple while the narrator was studying.
5. Was she a religious person? How?
Ans. Yes, she was a religious person. She used to go to the temple, recite the prayers all the time and read scriptures.
6. Why did she go to the school?
Ans. She went to the school because the temple was attached to the school. Being a religious lady she preferred to spend her time in the
temple by reading scriptures.

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English Study Material +2 Second Year
7. Discuss the scene of feeding the dog?
Ans. On the way back from school, the grandmother would be feeding the dogs with bread crumbs. The street dogs were following her growling
and fighting with each other to get more bread.
Unit-III
Questions and Answers:
1. Why did not the grandmother accompany the writer to school in the city?
Ans. The child narrator was admitted to an English medium school went in a motor bus, so the grand mother did not accompany him to school
in
the city.
2. Why could not grandmother help the writer with his lessons at the city school?
Ans. The grand mother could not help the writer with his lessons at the city school, because the subjects taught there she failed to
understanding.
3. Why did the lessons at the English school distress the grandmother?
Ans. The lessons at the English school distressed the grandmother, because there was no teaching about God, the scriptures or any moral
value.
4. Why was she disturbed about music lessons at the English school?
Ans. See thought music had vulgar association and was the monopoly of harlots and beggars, but not for gentle folk. So she was disturbed
about music lessons at the English school.
5. What were the three ways in which the Grandmother spent her days when the author went to university?
Ans. When the author went to university, the grandmother became alone. She spent her days with spinning wheel, by reciting prayers and
feeding the sparrows in the court yard.
6. What was the happiest time of the day for her?
Ans. The happiest time of the day for her was the afternoon when she fed the sparrows and lost herself in the bedlam of chirruping of the
sparrows.
7 .How did she accept her seclusion ?
Ans. After the narrator joined university, his room was separated. She accepted this seclusion with resignation. She then turned to spinning
wheel, reciting prayer, feeding sparrows and never talked to anyone.

Unit-IV
Questions and Answers:
1. How did the grandmother see the author off at the railways station?
Ans. The grandmother came to the station to see off the narrator. There, she was very silent and did not show any emotion. She was busy
telling the beads and silently kissed the narrator’s forehead.
2. How did she receive him when he come back home from abroad?
Ans. After five years when he returned from abroad, she received the narrator in the same way as she had seen him off silently and with-out
showing any emotion.
3. What were her happiest moments on the first day of his arrival?
Ans. On the day of his arrival, her happiest moments were in the afternoon when she fed the sparrows with frivolous rebukes.
4. How did she celebrate his return in the evening? Does her behaviour appear odd to you?
Ans. In the evening, she collected the women of the neighbourhood, got an old drum and started singing as she thumped the sagging skins of
the dilapidated drum. Yes, her behaviour appears odd as she stopped her prayers for the first time.
5. How did she pass away ?
Ans. After suffering from mild fever, she realised that her end had approached. She laid herself silently in bed singing prayer and telling the
beads and passed away peacefully much before they had expected.
6. How did sparrows react when the author’s grandmother died?
Ans. The sparrows reacted silently and sorrowfully. There was no chirping they did not’ notice the crumbs of bread that mother had thrown and
finally they flew away silently when the dead body was taken to be cremated.
7. “Next morning the sweeper swept the bread crumbs into the dust bin” what does this time imply ?
Ans. The line suggests that the sparrows did not notice the bread crumbs as they were mourning the death of the grandmother.

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