WBBSE 10th Class English Solutions Chapter 4 My Own True Family
WBBSE 10th Class English Solutions Chapter 4 My Own True Family
West Bengal Board 10th Class English Solutions Chapter 4 My Own True Family
WBBSE 10th Class English Solutions
Introduction
About the Poet: Edward James Ted Hughes (19301998) was a noted English poet and had been the Poet Laureate of Great Britain from 1984 till his death. His famous works include ‘Birthday Letters’, ‘The Hawk in the Rain’ and ‘Tales from Ovid’.
Ted Hughes was born on August 17, 1930. After doing his national service at a remote RAF Station, Hughes went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, study English literature. Throughout his life, he wrote some of the most famous English poems. The first collection of poems of Hughes was ‘The Hawk in the Rain’. His most renowned translation ‘Tales from Ovid’. was Hughes got the Whitbread Book of the Year prize for it. He passed away on October 28, 1998.
SUBSTANCE AND CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE POEM
The poem describes the magical experience of the poet in an oakwood. It indicates that human beings and the trees should grow and thrive as members of a single family. It focuses strongly on the need to protect our natural environment for the welfare of mankind.
The poet, as a child, in search of a stag in an oakwood meets an old woman who puts him under a spell. In his trance he dreams that he is tied to a stake and surrounded by a ‘staring tribe’ of oak trees, his own true family’. They make him promise to plant two trees instead of the one felled.
Acknowledging that the dream has altered him, the chastened poet confirms that outwardly he remained a human but inwardly he felt empathy for the trees.
The moral message of the poem is that only by acknowledging his affinity with the natural world one can become a fully-conscious, harmoniously-individuated human being.
If such ideas are related to ‘My Own True Family’, the poet’s search for the stag symbolises the quest for the ideal place of living; the old woman, all knobbly stick and rag’, becomes the despised and neglected Mother Nature; and the dream-secret that makes him ‘twice awake’, is the knowledge of the way of communication between the inner and outer worlds, between nature and human beings.
In ‘My Own True Family’, the oak becomes the symbol for Hughes’s awareness of nature.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TITLE
The poem deals with the relationship between human beings and trees. Trees are the best friends of human beings. In fact, they are the real family of human beings. But men rarely show any fellow feeling for trees, their own family members. They chop down the trees mercilessly for their short-term benefit. Here in the poem Ted Hughes expresses the same idea in the form of an interaction between a child and the oak trees. In a dream they tell the poet to promise that he will plant two oak trees whenever one is cut down. When the dream is over the child finds his heart filled with empathy for the trees. The title of the poem is apt as it unveils the theme of the poem in a very direct manner.
PARAPHRASE OF THE POEM
One day the poet entered an oakwood while looking for a stag. There he met an old woman having a knobbly stick and dressed in rags. The woman declared that she had the poet’s secret in her little bag. Then she made some strange sounds and the poet trembled. When the woman opened her little bag, the poet woke up and found himself tied to a stake and surrounded by a tribe looking at him. The members of the tribe were the oak trees who claimed to be the true family of the poet. They expressed their grievance that the poet and others remained indifferent when oak trees are cut down. They told the poet that he must make promise to plant two oak trees whenever one is chopped down. Otherwise the black oak bark would wrinkle over him. When the poet’s dream was over and he came back to human company, he remained a human being outwardly, though his heart had become that of a tree.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Choose the correct alternative to complete the following sentences:
1. Creeping in an oakwood, the poet was looking for a —
A. goat
B. rhinoceros
C. stag
D. buffalo
2. Whenever an oak tree is felled, the number of trees the poet must plant is –
A. two
B. three
C. four
D. five
3. When the poet came out of the oakwood, his heart was that of a —
A stag
B. tree
C. human child
D. old woman
4. The experience of the poet presented in the poem is —
A. a reality
B. a dream
C. falsehood
D. none of the above
5. The poet crept in —
A. a tunnel
B. an oakwood
C. a hole
D. a trench
6. The poet was looking for a —
A. dog
B. cat
C. woman
D. stag
7. The poet came across –
A. a stag
B. a child
C. an old woman
D. an old man
8. The young child met—
A. a forester
B. an old man
C. an old woman
D. a stag
9. The old woman was –
A. very smart
B. looking nervous
C. richly dressed
D. unsteady and poorly dressed
10. The poet began to quake when the old woman –
A. laughed
B. cackled
C. shouted
D. smiled
11. Here ‘cackle’ means –
A. to babble
B. to remain silent
C. telling lies
D. none of the above
12. The poet was tied to a –
A. post
B. pillar
C. peg
D. tree
13. The oak tree complained that —
A. the old woman cackled
B. they are chopped down, torn up but the humans remain indifferent
C. they are not watered every day
D. they are tied to a stake
14. A’staring tribe’ refers to-
A. local inhabitants
B. the primitive people
C. homeless people
D. the oak trees
15. “Surrounded by a staring tribe…” –Here, the word ‘tribe’ refers to —
A. oak trees
B. pine trees
C. teak trees
D. cherry trees
16. The oak trees are his —
A. true family
B. true friends
C. enemies
D. well-wishers
17. Unless he made a promise, the poet was going to —
A. live
B. be free
C. die
D. be happy
18. Coming out of the wood the poet returned to-
A. human world
B. tree world
C. Disney world
D. his own family
19. The theme of the poem ‘My Own True Family’ is —
A. importance of family
B. importance of man
C. importance of trees
D. importance of wildlife
20. “You do not blink an eye” — By this, the trees mean –
A. human beings are caring
B. human beings have weak eyesight
C. human beings are indifferent
D. human beings are cruel
True or False
1. The old woman held the poet’s secrets in her little bag.
Ans. True
2. The tree tribe said that the poet is bothered to see the chopping down of oak trees.
Ans. False
3. The poet never came out of the oakwood.
Ans. False
4. The poet was looking for an old woman.
Ans. False
5. The old woman held the poet’s secrets in her little bag.
Ans. True
6. The poet began to cackle.
Ans. False
7. The old woman opened her little bag.
Ans. True
8. The poet was surrounded by a staring tribe.
Ans. True
9. Man cares little with the felling of trees.
Ans. False
10. The oak trees told the child in his dream that whenever an oak tree is cut down he should plant two oak saplings.
Ans. True
11. The poet was threatened to be rooted in his house.
Ans. False
12. Nature is determined to teach human beings a lesson for their misdeed.
Ans. True
13. When the child woke up from his dream he forgot all about the oak trees.
Ans. False
14. The poet walked out of the oakwood as a tree.
Ans. False
Complete the following sentences with information from the text:
1. Whenever an oak tree is felled ……………….
Ans. Whenever an oak tree is felled the poet will plant two.
2. The poet dreamt a dream lying ……………….
Ans. The poet dreamt a dream lying beneath the boughs.
3. The poet feels that his dream ………………
Ans. The poet feels that his dream altered him.
4. If the poet does not swear …………………
Ans. If the poet does not swear the black oak bark will wrinkle over him.
Answer the following questions:
1. When did the poet come twice awake?
Ans. When the old woman opened her bag the poet awoke twice.
2. What would happen to the poet if he failed to make the promise?
Ans. The poet would die if he failed to make the promise.
3. What was it that altered the poet?
Ans. The dream of his own true family altered the poet.
4. What is the name of the poem? What is the name of the poet?
Ans. The name of the poem is ‘My Own True Family! .
The name of the poet is Ted Hughes
5. Why did the poet creep in an oakwood?
Ans. The poet crept in an oakwood in search of a stag. [কবি নিঃশব্দে ওক গাছের বনে ঢুকেছিলেন একটি পুরুষ হরিণের খোঁজে।]
6. How did the old woman look?
Ans. The old woman was dressed in rags and had with her a knobbly stick and a little bag.
7. Why did the poet begin to quake?
Ans. The poet began to quake because the old woman began to cackle.
8. Who was staring at the poet?
Ans. The tribe of the oak trees was staring at the poet. [ওক গাছের উপজাতি কবির দিকে একদৃষ্টে তাকিয়েছিল।]
9. Who are mentioned as the ‘staring tribe’?
Ans. The oak trees in the wood are mentioned as the ‘staring tribe:
10. What would the narrator have to promise?
Or, What kind of promise was the poet asked to make?
Ans. Whenever an oak tree was felled the poet would plant two.
11. How was the walk of the poet described at the end of the poem?
Ans. The walk of the poet was described as the walk of a human child.
12. What kind of a poem is ‘My Own True Family’?
Ans. ‘My Own True Family’ is a symbolic poem. It describes the magical experiences of the poet in an oakwood. It tells us strongly that we should try to protect our natural environment for the welfare of mankind.
13. What did the trees complain?
Ans. The trees complained to the poet that they were cut ruthlessly but the poet showed no interest to save them.
14. What was the demand of the oak tree?
Ans. The oak tree demanded that whenever the poet would see an oak felled, he would plant two to replace that. In other words, man should try to protect his natural environment.
15. Describe the old woman in your own words.
Ans. In the oakwood the poet in his dream met an old woman having a knobbly stick and dressed in rags. She had a strange little bag with her. She was also making strange sounds.
16. What happened when the old woman opened her little bag?
Ans. When the old woman opened her little bag, the poet became twice aware about the presence of the tribe of oak trees staring at him. They complained about the poet’s indifference to the cutting of oak trees.
17. What was the promise that the poet had to make?
Ans. The poet had to promise to plant two oak trees whenever one would be chopped down. It actually made the poet conscious about protecting nature for our own interest.
18. “… dream that altered me.”Who was altered and how?
Ans. The poet was altered by the dream and he could feel the importance of trees in human life. They are not our foes, but true friends. [স্বপ্নের দ্বারা কবির পরিবর্তন হয়েছিল এবং তিনি মানব জীবনে গাছেদের গুরুত্ব অনুভব করেন। তারা আমাদের শত্রু নয়, বরং সত্যিকারের বন্ধু।]
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