English poem-ON HEARING A SYMPHONY OF BEETHOVEN

POEM

ON HEARING A SYMPHONY OF BEETHOVEN

Sweets sounds, Oh, beautiful music, do not cease!
Reject me not into the world again.
With you alone is excellence and peace,
Mankind made plausible, his purpose plain
Enchanted in your air benign and shrewd,
With limbs a-sprawl and empty faces pale,
The spiteful and the stingy and rude
Sleep like the scullions in the fairy - tale.
This moment is the best the world can give:
The tranquil blossom on the tortured stem.
Reject me not, sweet sounds; oh, let me live,
Till Doom espy my towers and scatter them,
A city spell-bound under the aging Sun.
Music my rampart, and my only one.
                                             
                                                          - Edna St. Vincent Millay


Comprehension

I. Answer the following questions in a sentence or two.
1. Why does the poet plead the music not to stop?
2. Which words describes the quality of the music?
3. What is the effect of the music on listeners?
4. Does the music guard one against the difficulties one faces in life?
5. What is the mood of the poem?


II. Pick out the pairs of rhyming words in the poem
e.g. cease - peace
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