Gujarat Board Solutions Class 10 English First Flight Poem 7 Animals

Gujarat Board Solutions Class 10 English First Flight Poem 7 Animals

Gujarat Board Textbook Solutions Class 10 English First Flight Poem 7 Animals

Animals Introduction:
Walter ‘Walt’ Whitman (May 31, 1819 -March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. Being a humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.

Animals Summary:
Walt Whitman thinks that he can turn and live with animals comfortably because they are calm and self-contained. He says that he can stand and look at them for a long time. The poet says that the animals do not labour unnecessarily and complain about their condition. They do not repent for their sins. They do not trouble their companies discussing their duties to GCd. They are not dissatisfied with their conditions. The animals don’t have mania of owning things.

Walt Whitman says that no animal kneels to another, not even to an unknown ancestor who lived in the mortal world thousands of years ago. Neither of them is respectable nor is unhappy. The animals show their relations with the poet and he accepts them. They bring him tokens of himself which they have in their possessions. The poet is surprised to see those tokens. He thinks how they have got them. At last he concludes that he had dropped them somewhere unknowingly.

GSEB Class 10 English Animals Additional Important Questions and Answers

Read the following stanzas carefully and answer the questions given below them:

Question 1.
I think I could turn and live with animals, they are
so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
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,

Questions:
(1) Why does the poet wish to live with animals ?
(2) Give another expression for ‘They do not sweat and whine about their condition’.
(3) What is the poet annoyed of?
Answer:
(1) The poet says that animals are calm and quiet and they do not depend on others (like man) for their needs, therefore the poet wishes to live with animals.

(2) Another expression is: ‘They do not keep complaining about their condition’.

(3) The poet compares man with animals in this poem. Men usually keep on talking and preaching about their duty to God and it makes the poet greatly annoyed. On the other hand, animals never talk about their duty to God and the poet appreciates this.

Question 2.
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with
the mania of owning things,
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.
So they show their relations to me and b I accept them,
They bring me tokens of myself, they evince
them plainly in their possession
I wonder where they get those tokens,
Did I pass that way huge times ago
and negligently drop them?

Questions:
(1) What are animals not crazy about ?
(2) Which lines show that animals do not believe in people,worship ?
(3) Explain the lines:
‘I wonder where they get those tokens,
Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?’…………. ,
Answer:
(1) Animals are not crazy about owning material wealth.

(2) The lines are: ‘Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind s that lived thousands of years ago’,

(3) The ‘tokens’ are of mutual love and understanding that the ancestors of the poet used to share with the animals thousands of years ago. The poet says that they dropped them and the animals kept them.

Question 3.
They do not sweat and whine about s their Condition,
I They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with
the mania of owning things,
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. (August 20)

Questions:
(1) In this verse, whom does ‘They’ refer to ?
(2) Mention any two characteristics of animals which are different from humans in this verse.
Answer:
(1) In this verse, ‘They’ refers to animals.
(2) These are the two characteristics of animals which are different from humans in this verse:
(i) They do not stay disturbed or weep for their sins.
(ii) They do not discuss their duty to God.
(iii) They do not have mania of owning things.

Choose the correct figures of speech used in the following lines:

Question 1.
‘I stand and look at them long and long’.
A. Alliteration
B. Repetition
C. Metaphor
D. Both ‘A’ and ‘B’
Answer:
D. Both ‘A’ and ‘B’

Question 2.
-‘They do not lie awake in the dark ……………..’
A. Litotes
B. Oxymoron
C. Anastrophe
D. Both ‘A’ and ‘B’
Answer:
D. Both ‘A’ and ‘B’

Question 3.
‘Not one is dissatisfied. Not one is demented with……………’
A. Repetition
B. Litotes
C. Metaphor
D.Both ‘A’ and ‘B’
Answer:
D.Both ‘A’ and ‘B’

Question 4.
‘They bring me tokens of myself……………….’
A. Metaphor
B. Simile
C. Euphemism
D. Personification
Answer:
A. Metaphor

Answer the following questions in three to four sentences each:

Question 1.
Why does the poet like animals?
Answer:
The poet likes animcils for their self-contained and quiet nature. The fact that animeds are not like human beings and satisfied with their lives appeals to the poet a lot.

Question 2.
Explain the satisfaction that animals have and humans don’t.
Answer:
Animals do not have the desire to possess worldly things. Whereas, the more humans own, the more their desire to own grows, leaving them dissatisfied forever. The absence of this greed in animals keeps them satisfied and its presence keeps humans dissatisfied.

Question 3.
Why do animals not weep for their sins ?
Answer:
Animals do not weep for their sins because they do not need to do so. They are innocent creatures that commit no sins. It is humans, who weep yet commit sins.

Question 4.
What makes the poet sick ?
Answer:
The fact, that humans commit all kinds of sins and still discuss their duty to God, makes the poet sick. This shows the hypocrisy of humans, who on one hand do wrong and on the other pray to God.

Question 5.
Differentiate between humans and animals in terms of desire.
Answer:
Animals are very different from humans as they have no desire to own things. They are happy, without an unending greed while humans become maniacs in their greed for possessing valuables.

Question 6.
What does the poet mean by “Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth” ?
Answer:
The poet means that animals do not pray to God or to ancestors and all of them are equal, hence no one is more respectable than the other. The good values of animals and the lack of social conventions make them happy.

Answer the following questions in five to six sentences each:

Question 1.
Why, do you think, the poet has called the desire to own things ‘a mania’? Is the poet right in doing so ? Write your own views.
Answer:
The poet uses words such as ‘demented’ and ‘mania’ for never ending desire of human beings to own things. These words show that poet is comparing this desire to madness. The poet stands right in doing so as this desire makes us so greedy and traps us in a vicious s circle of aspiring more and more. Animals that are free from any possession are also free from sins, worries and complaints. In order to gain s more wealth, all the important values such as morality and kindness are left behind.

Question 2.
How are animals superior to human ? beings ?
Answer:
The animals are placid, self-sufficient, complacent and simple. Unlike humans, they do not worry about their condition and sins, nor do they make others sick discussing their duty to God. They are not demented with the mania of owning things. So they are superior to human beings.

Question 3.
Why does Walt Whitman, feel more at home with animals ?
OR
Why does Walt Whitman want to live with animals ? (March 20)
Answer:
Animals are placid and self-contained. They worry neither about their condition nor s about their sins. They are not dissatisfied, respectable, unhappy or demented with the mania of owning things. They show their relations with the poet. So the poet Walt Whitman feels more at home with them.

Question 4.
What is the central idea of the poem ‘Animals’ ?
Answer:
Walt Whitman wants to tell us that humans have become complicated and false. They have forgotten their true nature. They want to earn more and more, so that they can own more and more luxurious commodities. They do sins in order to earn then they repent. Their S sins have made them restless. Humans trouble their companions discussing their duties to God. On the other hand, animals are free from all S types of trivial anxieties, so they are still living ( their natural life.

GSEB Class 10 English Animals Text Book Questions and Answers

Thinking about the Poem

Question 1.
Notice the use of the word ‘turn’ in the first line, “I think I could turn and live with animals ..What is the poet turning from ?
Answer:
The poet is turning away from living with other humans as he finds them complicated and false. He would rather live with animals that are self-contained and non-complaining.

Question 2.
Mention three things that humans do and animals don’t.
Answer:
The poet has drawn three comparisons between humans and animals.

Humans sweat and work to make a living and later whine and sulk about the amount of work they have to do to survive. Animals, on the other hand, do not whine about their condition.

Humans lie awake at night and cry for the wrongs they have done. Animals do not weep for anything they do and sleep peacefully.

Finally, humans make each other sick by discussing their duties to God. However, animals do not have any god and they live and survive without any prayers or fasts.

Question 3.
Do humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago ? Discuss this in groups.
Answer:
Yes, humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago. They worship their ancestors and pray by kneeling in front of their portraits. They hold religious sermons and ceremonies in their memory.

Question 4.
What are the ‘tokens’ that the poet says he may have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him ? Discuss this in class. (Hint: Whitman belongs to the Romantic tradition that includes Rousseau and Wordsworth, which holds that civilisation has made humans false to their own true nature. What could be the basic aspects of our nature as living beings that humans choose to ignore or deny ?
Answer:
The tokens that the poet says he might have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him, is his true nature as a human. While humans came close to civilisation, they gradually moved away from their true nature. The natural instincts that humans had and the innocence with which they lived and helped each other have been left behind somewhere.

As they got near civilisation, they chose to leave behind the virtues of kindness, sincerity, unselfishness, joy, satisfaction, respectability, and sharing. They took to vices such as greed, selfishness, desire to capture everything, and other such inhuman characteristics. Animals have carried forward the real instincts and characteristics, which the poet looks at and tries to remember where he had negligently lost his true nature.

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