JKBOSE 9th Class English Solutions chapter – 15 TO THE CUCKOO

The poet hears the sweet voice of a cuckoo. It has recently come from its winter quarters. The sweet music of the bird fills the poet’s heart with joy. He welcomes the bird with many sweet names. He calls it a happy newcomer. He calls it a wandering voice since the cuckoo’s voice is heard sometimes from far off and sometimes from very near. The song of the cuckoo brings to the poet the memories of his boyhood days. He used to look for the bird in bushes, in trees and in the sky. But he could never find the bird. He could only hear its voice. He says that even now the cuckoo is to him an invisible mysterious thing.

He calls it the darling of the spring and a blessed bird. It transforms this earth into a fairyland. In other words, on hearing the song of the cuckoo, the poet forgets all the sorrows and sufferings of the material world.

कवि कोयल की मधुर आवाज़ सुनता है। यह अभी-अभी अपने सर्दियों वाले निवास स्थान से आई है। पक्षी का मधुर संगीत कवि के हृदय को खुशी से भर देता है। वह कई मीठे-मीठे नामों से पक्षी का स्वागत करता है। वह उसे एक प्रसन्नचित्त नव आगन्तक कहता है। वह उसे एक भटकती हुई आवाज़ कहता है क्योंकि कोयल की आवाज़ कई बार दूर से और कई बार बहुत नज़दीक से सुनाई देती है। कोयल की आवाज़ से कवि की अपने बचपन की यादें ताजा हो जाती हैं। वह पक्षी को झाड़ियों में, पेड़ों में और आकाश में ढूंढा करता था । परन्तु वह कभी पक्षी को ढूंढ नहीं पाता था। वह केवल उसकी आवाज़ ही सुन पाता था। वह कहता है कि अब भी कोयल उसके लिए एक अदृश्य रहस्यमय चीज़ है। वह इसे बसन्त ऋतु की प्रिया और सौभाग्यशाली पक्षी कहता है । यह इस पृथ्वी को परीलोक में बदल देती है। दूसरे शब्दों में, कोयल की आवाज़ सुन कर कवि इस भौतिक संसार के सारे दुःख और कष्ट भूल जाता है।

This poem shows the poet’s love of nature. He hears the sweet music of a cuckoo and is filled with joy. He is reminded of his boyhood days. He would then try to locate the cuckoo in the trees and the bushes. But he could never find the bird t anywhere though he could hear its music all around. He calls the bird a wandering voice. He also calls it a mystery because he has never been able to see it.

O Blithe New-comer! I have heard,

I hear thee and rejoice.

O Cuckoo ! Shall I call thee Bird,

Or but a wandering Voice?

While I am lying on the grass

Thy twofold shout I hear,

From hill to hill it seems to pass,

At once far off, and near.

Explanation : The poet hears the sweet sound of a cuckoo. The bird has recently come from its winter quarters. The poet calls it a ‘happy newcomer’. The bird’s sweet warbling fills the poet with joy. The bird remains invisible to the poet. But its sweet voice can be heard from different places. The poet wonders if he should call the cuckoo a bird or a wandering voice. The poet is lying on the grass. The twofold voice of the bird comes to him, sometimes from far off and sometimes from very near. It seems to pass from hill to hill.

1. Name the poem and the poet.

2. What does the poet hear ?

3. How does he feel about it ?

4. What seems to pass from hill to hill ?

1. The name of the poem is To the Cuckoo’. The name of the poet is William Wordsworth.

2. He hears the sweet music of a cuckoo.

3. He feels very happy to hear the music.

4. The voice of the cuckoo seems to pass from hill to hill.

Though babbling only to th the Vale,

Of sunshine and of flowers,

Thou bringest unto me a tale

Of visionary hours.

Pool Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!

Even yet thou art to me

No bird, but an invisible thing,

A voice, a mystery.

Explanation : The poet says that the cuckoo is singing to entire valley. It is singing songs of sunshine and of flowers. But it brings to the poet the memories of his

boyhood. It was a time when he used to live in the world of imagination. The poet welcomes the cuckoo and calls it the darling of spring. He says that even now, the cuckoo is to him not a bird, but an invisible thing – an invisible mysterious voice.

(A) (i) What songs does the cuckoo appear to be singing ?

(ii) What does it bring to the poet ?

(iii) How does the poet welcome the bird?

(B) Choose the most appropriate options:

(i) The word ‘vale’ used in the extract means……….. .

(a) forest (b) valley (c) tree (d) mountain.

(ii) The word ‘visionary’ as used here is …… .

(a) a noun (b) an adjective (c) a compound word (d) a complex word,

(iii) The invisible thing in the extract is ……….. .

(a) a voice (b) a cloud (c) the cuckoo (d) the sky.

(C) List the names the poet gives to the cuckoo.

(A) (i) The poet says that the cuckoo is singing songs of sunshine and of flowers.

(ii) It brings to the poet his boyhood memories.

(iii) He welcomes the bird” with his heart full of joy.

(B) (i) (b) valley (ii) (b) an adjective (iii) (c) the cuckoo.

(C) He calls the bird ‘darling of the spring. He also calls it an invisible thing’, voice’ and ‘a mystery’.

The same whom in my schoolboy days

I listened to; that cry

Which made me look a thousand ways

In bush, and tree, and sky.

To seek thee did I often rove

Through woods and on the green;

And thou wert still a hope, a love;

Still longed for, never seen.

Explanation : The poet says that it is the same bird whom he used to listen to in the days when he was a schoolboy. On hearing its voice, he used to look for it in a thousand different places. He would look for it in bushes, trees and in the sky. In order to find it, he would wander through the woods and on the green plains. But he could never find or see it. It was always for him a hope and a love a thing always longed for, but never seen.

1. What would the poet listen to in his ‘schoolboy days’ ?

2. What would the poet look for and where ?

3. Why would the poet rove through woods and on the green ?

4. Did the poet succeed in his attempts ?

1. He would listen to the songs of the cuckoo.

2. He would look for the cuckoo in bushes, trees and in the sky.

3. To find the bird.

4. No, he never saw the bird. It remained for him an invisible mystery.

And I can listen to thee yet;

Can lie upon the plain

And listen, till I do beget

That golden time again.

O blessed Bird! the earth we pace

Again appears to be

An unsubstantial, faery place;

That is fit home for thee !

Explanation : The poet says that even now, when he has grown oldlisten to the sweet music of the bird. He can lie upon the plain, and keep the cuckoo’s music till he is transported back to the days of his boyhood. calls the cuckoo ‘a blessed bird’. The earth we live in, is full of pain and on hearing the sweet music of the cuckoo, it seems as if we are in a fairyland unsubstantial world of imagination. Now the earth seems to the poet to be a fit home for the bird.

(A) (i) How does the poet feel on hearing the cuckoo’s song ?

(ii) What name does the poet give to the cuckoo ?

(iii) What does the song of the cuckoo do for the world ?

(B) Choose the most appropriate options:

(i) The word ‘thee’ used in the extract means ……… .

(a) me (b) yours (c) him (d) you.

(ii) The word ‘blessed’ has been used as …….. .

(a) a symbol (b) an adverb (c) an adjective (d) an interjection.

(iii) The letters ‘-un’ in the word, ‘unsubstantial’, are called …………. .

(a) a suffix (b) adjectival letters (c) a qualifier (d) a prefix.

(C) What, according to the poet, is the fit place for the cuckoo ?

(A) (i) He feels that he has been transported to the golden days of his boyhood.

(ii) He calls it a blessed bird’.

(iii) It changes the world into a fairyland.

(B) (i) (d) you (ii) (c) an adjective (iii) (d) a prefix.

(C) According to him, only a fairyland can be a fit place for the cuckoo.

Ans.— It fills the poet’s heart with joy.

Ans.— The cuckoo keeps moving from place to place while it is singing. So the poet calls it a ‘wandering voice’. Its song is heard only in the spring season. So the poet calls it the ‘darling of the spring’.

Ans.— On hearing the sweet voice of the cuckoo, the poet would start looking for it everywhere. He would look for it in bushes, in trees and in the sky. He would look for it in the woods and on the green. But he was never able to find it. It always remained an invisible mysterious thing for him.

Ans.— It was the time of the poet’s boyhood when he was a schoolboy.

Ans.— The sweet voice of the cuckoo has been personified in the poem.

Ans.— The rhyme-scheme in each stanza is abab.

Ans.— Wordsworth uses the imagery of pictorial pictures to portray the beauty of nature. His descriptions create visual pictures of the cuckoo. We can see with our mind’s eye the cuckoo hopping and singing from tree to tree and from bush to bush.

Ans.— There is a mango grove near our house. I have often heard the bird singing there in the spring season. Its sweet music always charms my heart.

Ans.— Music Ans. Music relieves the tensions of our life. It calms and soothes our troubled spirit. It is a food of the soul.