- Rabindranath Tagore'poem- “GIVE ME THE STRENGTH”

POEM

“GIVE ME THE STRENGTH”

This is my prayer to thee, my lord -
strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart.
Give me the strength lightly to bear
my joys and sorrows.
Give me the strength to make my love
fruitful in service.
Give me the strength never to disown the poor or
bend my knees before insolent might.
Give me the strength to raise my mind
high above daily trifles.
And give me the strength to surrender
my strength to thy will with love.

                              - by Rabindranath Tagore

Answer the following questions.

1. What does the poet pray for?
2. What does ‘penury in my heart’ mean?
3. How should love be expressed?
4. What should be our attitude towards the poor?
5. Give some examples of daily trifles.
6. How should we face insolent might?
7. How should we react to the minor irritants of daily life?
8. Is surrender to the Lord made out of fear?

English poem,Eliza Cook's poem-THE MOUSE AND THE CAKE

THE MOUSE AND THE CAKE

A mouse found a beautiful piece of plum cake,
The richest and sweetest that mortal could make;
‘There’s a noise,1 cried the mouse, ‘ ’tis my brothers at play;
So I’ll hide with the cake, lest they wander this way.’


He nibbled, and nibbled, and panted, but still
He kept gulping it down till he made himself ill;
Yet he swallowed it all, and ’tis easy to guess,
He was soon so unwell that he groaned with distress.


His family heard him, and as he grew worse,
They sent for the doctor, who made him rehearse
How he’d eaten the cake to the very last crumb,
Without giving his playmates and relatives some.


‘Ah me!’ cried the doctor, ‘advice is too late;
You must die before long, so prepare for your fate.
If you had but divided the cake with your brothers,
’Twould have done you no harm, and been good for the others.



                                                                                     - Eliza Cook




I. Answer each of the following questions in a sentence or two.

1. What kind of cake did the mouse find?
2. Why did the mouse want to hide with the cake?
3. How did the mouse eat the cake?
4. Why did the mouse become unwell?
5. What did the doctor tell the mouse?
6. What is the lesson you learn from the poem?

II. 1. Pick out the pairs of rhyming words in the poem.

e.g. cake - make

2. The ‘b’ in crumb is silent. Can you think of some other words?

III. Fill in the blanks appropriately,  (slice, grain, bar, piece)

A............................. of cake.
A............................. of bread.
A............................. of chocolate.
A............................. of rice.

Children poem,Robert Browning's poem-PIPPA’S SONG

PIPPA’S SONG

The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn:
God’s in His heaven -
All’s right with the world!

                                        - Robert Browning


I. Answer each of the following questions in a sentence or two:

1. How do you know it is day time?

2. What is the season of the year?

3. What is the dew compared to?

4. Why does the poet think that all is right with the world?


5. What is your view of the world?


II. Answer the following:-

1. The word ‘at’ in the sentence ‘Morning’s at seven’ means a specific time.
What is the meaning of ‘at’ in the following sentences?

The year’s at the spring.

And day’s at the morn;


2. The word ‘on’ in the phrase ‘on the thorn’ means just above the thorn.
Does it mean the same in the phrase ‘on the wing’?

3. What examples does Browning give to show that God is in heaven?

4. Write the words from the second stanza that rhyme with the following words.
Spring             moon           seven             dew-pearled

English poem-EIGHT BALLOONS

EIGHT BALLOONS

Eight balloons no one was buyin’
All broke loose one afternoon.
Eight balloons with strings a flyin’,
Free to do what they wanted to.
One flew up to touch the sun - POP!
One thought highways might be fun - POP!
One took a nap in a cactus pile - POP!
One stayed to play with a careless child POP!
One tried to taste some bacon fryin’ - POP!
One fell in love with a porcupine - POP!
One looked close in a crocodile’s mouth - POP!
One sat around till his air ran out - WHOOSH!
Eight balloons no one was buyin’
They broke loose and away they flew,
Free to float and free to fly
And free to pop where they wanted to.


Answer each of the following questions in a sentence or two:

1. How did the balloons become free?
2. How many balloons got burst?
3. Why did one balloon go on the highways?
4. What were the thorny surfaces?
5. How many balloons fell on thorny surfaces.
6. How many balloons burst due to heat?

Children poem ,William Wordsworth;s poem- A NIGHT IN JUNE*

                         A NIGHT IN JUNE*

  

The sun has long been set,

The stars are out by twos and threes,

The little birds are piping yet

Among the bushes and trees;

There’s a cuckoo, and one or two thrushes,

And a far-off wind that rushes,

And a sound of water that gushes,

And the cuckoo’s sovereign cry

Fills all the hollow of the sky.

                                       - William Wordsworth

Answer each of the following questions in a sentence or two.

1. Why are there only two or three stars in the sky?

2. Where are the little birds seen?

3. Is the sky empty? How do you know?

4. Describe the night in June in your place.

II. a. The poet describes objects in nature with the use of action words. Look at the table below and fill in the missing words.

Objects                           Action

Sun                                  Set

Stars

Birds

Wind

                                         Gushes

Cuckoo

b. Write the words from the poem that rhyme with the following words:

set

three

thrushes

cry

children poem- COLORS*

                     
                           COLORS*
















My skin is kind of sort of brownish
Pinkish yellowish white.
My eyes are greyish blueish green,
But I’m told they look orange in the night.
My hair is reddish blondish brown,
But it’s silver when it’s wet.
And all the colors I am inside
Have not been invented yet.

                                Shel Silverstein


Answer each of the following questions in a sentence or two:

1. Name the parts of the body given in the poem.

2. How do the eyes look during the day?

3. What is the colour of the dry hair?

4. Does the poet know the colours inside him?

5. What is the colour of your skin, eyes and hair?

6. The word ‘colors’ in the 7th line has a different meaning. Can you guess what it is?

7. Do you know your true colours?



Match the following:

Parts                                              Colours

skin                                                orange

eyes-day time                             blondish brown

eyes-night                                           silver

dry hair                                     brownish, pinkish, yellowish white

wet hair                                            true nature

inside                                          greyish, blueish green

Children poem-LONE DOG

                       POEM


                LONE DOG















I am a lean dog, a keen dog,
A wild dog, and lone;
I’m a rough dog, a tough dog,
Hunting on my own;
I’m a bad dog, a mad dog,
Teasing silly sheep;
I love to sit and bay the moon
To keep fat souls from sleep.


                                    - Irene R. McLeod



EXERCISES

I. Answer each of the following questions n a sentence or two:

1. What is the poem about?
2. What does the dog look like?
3. What are the qualities of the dog?
4. What is the connection between the dog barking at the moon and fat dogs keeping awake?

II. 1. Fill in the blanks with suitable words or phrases from the poem.

Qualities                                     Actions

Rough and tough

                                                   Teasing

Likes most 


2. Write down the words from the poem in the respective columns which have the same sound as underlined in the word given.

Lean              Rough                     Bad                Lone

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.