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A Collection of
ICSE Poems and Short Stories
Volume I — Poems

Teachers’ Handbook
ICSE

Edited by:

P
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40
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Ltd
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studentsmorningstar
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A Collection of ICSE
Poems and Short Stories
Volume I — Poems

 1
...


The Inchcape Rock

7 — 11

Robert Southey
3
...


Small Pain in My Chest

14 — 17

Michael Mack
5
...


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

20 — 23

Robert Frost
7
...


If Thou Must Love Me

26 — 29

Elizabeth Barrett Browning
9
...


A Psalm of Life

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

31 — 34

WHERE THE MIND IS WITHOUT FEAR

5

I
...
The poet is talking about
the minds of the people of his country
...

(ii) The words ‘the head is held high’ mean to have self respect
...
It needs to be held high with pride
and dignity which characterised the Indians before India was
reduced to the status of a subjugated nation
...
The restrictions imposed on
the spread of knowledge include the prejudices based on wealth,
caste and religion
...

They curbed the freedom of speech and expression by putting
restrictions on the Press
...

(v) A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines divided into an octave (the
first eight lines) and a sestet (the last six lines)
...

The poem ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’ comprises an octave, in
which the poet talks about the wonderful qualities his countrymen
must achieve to make their country free and heaven-like
...

II
...

(ii) The narrow domestic walls refer to narrow local divisions created

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS)

6

by prejudices like caste, colour, creed, region and religion
...


(iii) The narrow domestic walls can harm the nation by creating
divisions among people and thereby, undermining the unity and
integrity of the nation
...
He feels so
because his countrymen at that time did not have freedom of
expression as various restrictions were imposed on the freedom
of speech and the Press by the British
...

III
...
The poet wants his countrymen to achieve
the highest goals, i
...
, freedom at all levels — political, religious,
spiritual, moral and intellectual
...
That is why it has been
compared to a clear stream which is free of all impurities
...
Through this
metaphor the poet wants to say that his countrymen should
work for perfection in everything and should not be led astray
from their goal in the dry desert of dead habits, i
...
, in a place
where outdated customs and traditions are followed
...

(v) The figure of speech in the third line of the given extract is a
‘metaphor’
...

(vi) This poem by Rabindranath Tagore is taken from his original
volume called Naibedya, which bears the title ‘Prarthana’, i
...
,
prayer
...
e
...

Thus, the poem is a song of prayer
...
(i) ‘Thee’ refers to God
...
e
...

(iii) The phrase ‘Heaven of freedom’ means an ideal state, where the
poet wants the Almighty to lead his countrymen to
...

(b) there are no prejudices based on caste, colour, creed, religion,
region and superstitions
...

(iv) ‘Father’ in the above extract is a reference for God
...

(v) The poet prays for his country to attain all kinds of freedom —
political, religious, spiritual, moral and intellectual
...


I
...
The rock lay
hidden in the sea off the east coast of Scotland
...

(ii) The words ‘surge’s swell’ mean the sea-waves moved up and
down and rose high due to the influence of tides
...
The warning bell was placed on a buoy and during
high tides the movement of waves made the buoy to float and
in turn rang the bell and warned the sailors
...
Sir Ralph’s ship struck against the Inchcape Rock
and drowned in the sea
...
The mariners blessed the Abbot Aberbrothok because
he placed a bell on the Inchcape Rock, which gave a warning
to the mariners about the perilous rock and thus, saved them
and their ships from drowning
...
It is a
heightened narration that uses narrative technique like rhyme
and figures of speech
...

(b) There is a repetition of consonant sound at the beginning
of words (alliteration) to facilitate narration:


1
...
then they

II
...
He was a wicked and
jealous man
...
But
the real reason was that in a such calm atmosphere he would
be able to carry out his wicked plan of defaming the Abbot of
Aberbrothok by cutting off the bell from the Inchcape Rock and
thereby, loot the wealth from the shipwrecks
...

(iii) The Rover saw the buoy of the Inchcape Rock like a dark speck
on the green ocean
...

(iv) The Rover wanted to go near the Inchcape Rock to cut off the
warning bell to spoil the fame and reputation of the Abbot of
Aberbrothok, who has placed the bell there and to loot the
wealth from the shipwrecks
...
His joyful mood
is reflected in the extract by his act of whistling and singing
...


THE INCHCAPE ROCK

9

III
...

(ii) The Rover cut off the bell from the Inchcape Rock
...
He wanted to spoil the fame
and reputation of the Abbot of Aberbrothok, who has placed
the bell there
...

(iii) The Rover’s act of cutting the bell from the Inchcape Rock led to
the collision of his ship with the rock and finally, the drowning
of the ship with the Rover
...

(v) The Abbot of Aberbrothok had kept the bell there
...

(vi) The sailors, passing by earlier, blessed the Abbot of Aberbrothok
for placing the warning bell on the Inchcape Rock and thereby,
saving them from the perilous rock
...
(i) The Rover sailed away from the Inchcape Rock
...

(ii) After amassing wealth, the Rover was sailing towards the shore
of Scotland
...
There were strong winds
and darkness all around
...

(iv) The Rover was a wicked man who was jealous of the fame and
reputation of the Abbot of Aberbrothok
...
He was a robber who became
rich by looting the wealth from the shipwrecks
...
The Rover, on
the other hand, was a jealous and wicked man, who cut off the
warning bell on the Inchcape Rock to defame the Abbot and to
loot the wealth from the shipwrecks
...
(i) When the Rover and his sailors were going towards the shore
of Scotland, the weather was bad, with a thick haze over the
atmosphere, no Sun in the sky and strong winds
...
e
...
The breakers roar normally signify a high tide when the
sea waves surge up and down with a great force
...
The
ringing of the bell would have indicated the presence of the
perilous rock and thus saved the ship from colliding with it
...
There was a thick haze in the
atmosphere and total darkness in the absence of the Sun in the
sky
...

(v) In the absence of the Inchcape Bell, no warning sound was  heard
by the sailors and the vessel struck against the Inchcape Rock
...
(i) They could not hear any sound due to the absence of the warning
bell on the Inchcape Rock, which the Rover had cut off
...

(ii) (a) the swell is strong: there are strong waves in the sea
...

(iii) The vessel struck against the Inchcape Rock
...

(iv) Sir Ralph was in a state of despair and shock when he realised
that his ship had struck against the Inchcape Rock
...
Sir Ralph’s
ship struck the very rock from which he had removed the warning
bell and sank in the sea
...
He was a wicked and jealous man
...
But when the Abbot of Aberbrothok placed
a warning bell, he cut off the bell to defame the good Abbot
and put the other helpless sailors into trouble
...

(vi) The moral conveyed through this poem is—As you sow, so shall
you reap
...


IN THE BAZAARS OF HYDERABAD

11

VII
...
The
sound was dreadful because there was no chance of surviving
the shipwreck
...

The dreadful sound, on the other hand was that of the sinking
ship that signalled the end of Sir Ralph
...

(iii) The Devil below was ringing his knell mean that the sound  which
Sir Ralph was hearing appeared to him like the sound of the
Inchcape bell
...

(iv) Sir Ralph, the Rover cut off the warning bell, which the Abbot of
Aberbrothok had planted on the Inchcape Rock as a forewarning
to the sailors
...
Thus, the evil that Sir Ralph plotted
for the Abbot and the other sailors, recoiled on him
...
Sir Ralph, the pirate, went on an adventure trip on
the sea with his sailors
...
He did this
wicked act out of jealousy as he could not accept the popularity
of the good Abbot and wanted to defame him
...


I
...
They are selling
their goods in the market
...

(ii) The goods on sale in this market included crimson and silver
turbans, purple brocade tunics, mirrors framed in brownish
yellow colour and daggers with handles of jade
...
This pattern

12

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS)
of question-answer is used to bring out the splendour of the
traditional bazaars of Hyderabad
...


(iv) (a) Mirrors with panels of amber mean the mirrors having frames
of brownish and yellow colour
...

(v) The King and his nobles are the likely customers of tunics of
purple brocade and daggers with handles of jade
...

II
...
Ivory dice refers to small cubes made of ivory,
having six sides numbered by dots from one to six
...

(ii) Saffron, lentil, rice, sandalwood, henna and spices are sold by
weight, whereas chessmen and ivory dice are sold by numbers
...
The sellers, who go about from
place to place with their goods for sale are called the pedlars
...
Cosmetic items
included sandalwood and henna and the recreational items
included chessmen and ivory dice
...
The sense of taste is produced by the mention
of staple Indian food like lentil and rice and spices
...
(i) The jeweller’s shop is referred to in the extract
...
‘Scabbards of gold’ refer to the sheaths of gold for
the king to keep his swords in
...
The gold jewellery reveals that both
the owners and the buyers belonged to the wealthy sections of
the society
...
Sheaths of gold were used by the kings,
girdles (belts) were used by dancers and wristlets, anklets and
rings were used by other people
...
Frail is an apt description for describing the
delicateness of the bells tied to the feet of blue pigeons
...

(b) to extoll the Indians to buy Swadeshi goods and boycott
foreign goods
...
(i) The fruits included lemons, pomegranates and plums, whereas
the musical instruments included sitar, sarangi and drum
...

(iii) Spells for aeons to come mean the magical spells used by the
magicians to charm everyone till eternity with their chanting
...

The landscape, the characters, the images and the background
is typically Indian — such as:
(a) the mention of dresses worn by Indians such as turbans
and tunics
...

(c) the musical instruments played by Indians like sitar, sarangi
and drums
...

(e) the use of fresh flowers on both happy and sad occasions
...

(vi) The panoramic view of the Indian bazaars presented in the poem
with its hues of colour, sounds, smells and sights has appealed
to me the most because it gives a glimpse of the Indian culture,
society and prosperity
...
(i) The poet has highlighted the occupation of simple folks in India
like the merchants, pedlars, vendors, fruit sellers, goldsmiths,
musicians, magicians and flower girls
...

The flowers are used on sad occasions such as death to pay
the last respects by placing flowers on the dead bodies or the
graves
...

(iv) ‘Tassels of azure and red’ mean ornamental threads of sky-blue
and red colour tied at one end to make garlands and nuptial
beds for the bridegroom
...


I
...

(ii) The soldier was sitting calmly because he was fatally injured
during the war, was thirsty and could not get any help from
anybody around
...

(iv) The battle had been long and hard can be discerned from the
deep craters in the earth and the number of dead bodies of the
soldiers, which the narrator could see lying all around
...

II
...
He was
on the battlefield at that time
...
It shows the spirit of
a soldier, who gives up his life for his country, with a smile on
his face
...

(iv) The soldier could not take any rest because he had been fighting
continuously day and night against the enemy
...

(v) The soldier was having a pain in his chest because of the wound
he had sustained during the fight on the battlefield
...
Further,
in comparison to the soldiers, who had received larger wounds
and had succumbed to their injuries on the battlefield, his was
a small pain
...
(i) The large stain on the soldier’s shirt was caused by a wound
he received while fighting on the battlefield
...

(iii) By saying “Not much”, the soldier wanted to say that his wound
was nothing in comparison to the wounds suffered by his fellow
soldiers, who succumbed to their injuries
...

(iv) The soldier considered himself more lucky than his fellow soldiers
because they died of the injuries sustained during the war, while
he was still alive
...
(i) The soldier was feeling weak and said that his weakness must
be due to fatigue
...

(ii) The soldier smiled weakly because he had sustained fatal wounds
and was in pain
...

(iii) The soldier felt that he was getting old because he found himself
weak and fatigued after battling it out on the warfront
...
e
...

(v) ‘The night exploded’ means that an explosion took place at night
...


V
...

(ii) The soldier was suffering from fatal physical injuries sustained
during the explosion at night on the battle field
...

(iii) The soldier considered it silly to be defeated by a small pain in
his chest because he was a young, healthy man, full of energy
and enthusiasm, who could have defeated even death
...
He felt that his mother would never have
imagined during his childhood that one day his son would be
sitting on the battlefield, defeated by a small pain in his  chest
...
The soldier was undergoing a
mental pain at the thought of the reaction his wife and mother
would have on seeing him sitting defeated on the battlefield
...
(i) The soldier felt that it was getting dark earlier than it used to
be because the light of his life was fading, as he was slowly
losing consciousness because of the fatal injuries sustained on
the battlefield and seeing the darkness all around him
...
He winced up at the sun with an
expression of pain on his face to find out why was it getting
dark so early despite the shining sun
...
It signifies the soldier’s spirit to continue his
duty after taking little rest
...
e
...

(b) The narrator said “I think I must have cried”
...
It signifies that
the narrator was petrified on seeing the horrifying death of
the soldier
...


THE PROFESSOR

17

(v) The narrator said that he had a large wound in his heart
compared to the small one in the soldier’s heart because he
was hurt by the suffering of the dead soldier, and felt the guilt
on the part of humanity at not being able to give up war and
thereby, end the suffering of the soldiers
...
(i) The expression ‘Asian dirt’ means Asian soil and this indicates
that the war was fought in Asia
...

(b) The emotional agony at being lonely and surrounded by dead
bodies and the thought of his family’s reaction on seeing
him defeated
...


(iii) The phrase “a small pain in my chest” is a refrain which is
repeated throughout the poem to emphasise the pain and suffering
a soldier undergoes on the battlefield
...
It makes the
readers—(i) feel the agony a soldier endures on the battlefield;
and (ii) realise the horrors of war and the need to give up wars
for the sake of humanity
...


I
...
e
...

(ii) By saying, “Both have cars”, the speaker wants to convey that
both his sons are well off and have a status in society
...

(iii) The “other” is a reference for the speaker’s third son
...


(iv) By saying, “Every family must have black sheep”, the speaker
intends to say that in every family there is a person, who is
different from the rest of the family and is an embarrassment
to the family
...

(v) The extract shows that Indians value economic success more
than academic success through the speaker’s attitude, who
measures the success of his two sons by their managerial jobs
and the cars they owned
...
(i) Sarala and Tarala are the speaker’s daughters
...

(ii) The speaker says that his two daughters ‘Sarala and Tarala’ are
happily married to nice boys
...

(iii) By saying, “How many issues you have”, the speaker wants to
enquire from his student about the number of children he has
...

(iv) In reply to his former student’s remark that he has three
children, the speaker says “That is good”
...

(v) The speaker is not against family planning
...

(vi) The poem The Professor is a satire on the urban Indian way of
life as it satirises:
(a) the urban Indian society, which measures the success of
a man by his economic success rather than his academic
excellence
...

(c) the pretence of the urban Indians, who consider it as a
prestige to speak in a foreign language rather than their
mother tongue
...
(i) The speaker says that “we have to change with times” because
he feels that since the whole world is changing, so we should
also change with the changing times
...

(ii) India is “keeping up” with the changes and development going
on in the world
...

He feels so because of the rapid changes taking place in society
...

(v) Examples of the use of Indian English in the extract are:
(a) We are keeping up
...

(b) Old values are going, new values are coming
IV
...

The “price of old age” which the speaker has to pay is that he
rarely goes out
...

(iii) The speaker ascribes his good health to sound habits practised
by him in his youth
...

(v) The main theme of the poem is the hypocrisy and pretence of
the urban Indian middle class, which measures the success of
an individual in terms of wealth and status rather than academic
excellence
...
(i) By saying “hope to score a century”, the speaker wants to say
that he hopes to live upto the age of hundred
...
The
speaker says these words to his former student because he
finds him physically healthier than what he was earlier and also
because of his status in society
...

(iv) Example of Indian English used by the speaker in the given
lines is:
(a) You were so thin, like stick
...
(Use of Present
Continuous Tense instead of Simple Present Tense)
(c) I am living just on opposite house’s backside
...

(b) through the character of the Professor, the poet has ridiculed
the urban, educated, middle class of India, its hypocrisy and
pretence
...
(i) The woods belonged to a man, who lived in the village
...

(ii) The owner of the woods will not see the speaker stopping by
the woods because he lives in the village
...

Though he owns the woods, he cannot appreciate and enjoy
the beauty of nature
...


(iii) Woods, being “lovely, dark and deep”, symbolise sensuous
enjoyment, the darkness of ignorance, as well as the dark inner
self of man
...

(iv) The poet is standing just by the woods and looking at them
...

(v) Yes, the poet is happy with his lonely state in the woods because:
(a) he finds solace in the thoughts that nobody is watching him;
and
(b) he is enchanted with the natural beauty of the woods, snow
and the frozen lake
...
Unlike, William
Wordsworth, another nature poet, who considers nature as a
benevolent mother, Frost considers nature as hostile and alien
...
He finds himself being seduced by the natural
beauty of the woods
...
He remembers that he has to
move away from nature to fulfill his worldly obligations
...
(i) The horse has stopped between the woods and the frozen lake
...

(ii) The horse considers it strange to stop between the woods and
the frozen lake because there is no farmhouse, i
...
, civilisation,
nearby and that too on the darkest evening of the year
...
The word ‘darkness’
in the poem is suggestive of the mystery of nature — the source
of nature’s beauty lies in its mystery, not in its familiarity
...

(v) The main theme of the poem is the basic conflict between an
attraction towards nature and the pull of responsibilities
...
The shaking of the harness bells of his horse
(symbolising society) and the sound of the wind (symbolising his
inner voice) remind him that he cannot give in to irresponsible
indulgence by enjoying the sensual pleasures of nature
...

III
...
He shakes his harness bells
to ask the speaker if he has made a mistake in stopping by the
woods
...
e
...


(iii) The given lines mean that besides the sound made by the
shaking of the harness bells of his horse, the only other sound

22

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS)
heard was that of the moving wind and flakes of snow falling
softly like feathers
...
He is reminded of
his responsibilities, which he must fulfill before he takes rest
...
Further, the depiction of nature like
freezing cold, frozen lake, falling snow, darkness and complete
silence with the only sounds such as those of the shaking of the
harness bells and the sweeping wind has been used to create
an atmosphere of isolation and mystery
...
(i) The speaker considers the woods as “lovely, dark and deep”
because he finds them beautiful, mysterious and seductive
...

(ii) The ‘promises’ referred to by the speaker in the poem include
the duties he has to perform and the responsibilities, he has to
fulfill
...

(iii) The woods act as an obstacle for keeping the speaker’s promises
because the beauty of the woods make the speaker forget about
the civilisation, his responsibilities, which lie outside of the woods
and his purpose in life
...

(v) Robert Frost’s poetry is universally recognised as comprising
rural themes and dealing with the life of the humble dwellers
of the country side
...
It
is away from human civilisation and enchants the speaker with
its beauty and makes him forget his responsibilities
...
(i) The poet sees the “lovely, dark and deep” woods, the frozen lake
and the soft, silent whiteness of the frost
...

(ii) The inner conflict in man expressed in the poem is that between
an attraction towards nature and the pull of responsibilities, i
...
,
the conflict between desire and duty
...

(iv) The poet interprets the shaking of the harness bells of the
horse as the horse questioning him if he has made a mistake
in stopping by the woods, away from human habitation
...

(v) The extract depicts the theme of isolation by portraying the
speaker’s act of stopping by the woods, away from men or human
habitation on a snowy and dark evening
...

(vi) The contrasting images of the natural world and the man-made
world in the poem are the following:
(a) the woods and the farm house
...

(c) solitude and society
...

(e) desire and duty
...
(i) The morning was calm, beautiful and warm
...

(ii) The narrator was startled on seeing two sudden flashes of light
...

(iii) Due to the impact of the explosion, the roof and the wall of
the building collapsed and the debris got scattered all over
...
The explosion
caused fatal injuries to the human beings, burnt their skin and
made it drip off their bodies
...

(v) (a) It means that as the day dawned, it was a peaceful morning,
with the warmth of the shinning Sun
...

II
...
The narrator was panic-stricken to see the
blood gushing out from his body
...

(iii) The narrator told his wife consoling her that they would be fine
...
The narrator was scared and horrified
...

(b) While walking on the street, they stumbled against the head
of a man, who was crushed to death under a gate
...
(i) The man against whose head the narrator had stumbled was
dead
...

(ii) The strange things that happened in the extract are:
(a) The narrator saw a house standing before him suddenly tilt,
sway, topple and finally crash
...

(iii) The two decisions made by the narrator included the following:
(a) To rush immediately to the hospital
...


A DOCTOR’S JOURNAL ENTRY FOR AUGUST 6, 1945

25

(iv) The narrator could not take his injured staff to the hospital
because he was himself badly injured and needed somebody’s
help to go to the hospital
...

(b) Inability to move forward due to stiffness in his legs caused
by drying of blood, oozing out from his wounds
...
(i) The breath of the speaker was short because he was badly
wounded due to the bomb explosion and was thirsty
...

(ii) The narrator was helped by a soldier
...

(iii) The narrator sent his wife, Yecko-san to go alone to the hospital
because he was badly injured and could not move forward
because of stiffness in his legs
...

(iv) The narrator felt lonely when his wife left for the hospital
...
Still others
were walking with arms stretched out with either a shoulder or
a hand dangling loose from their body
...

V
...
The narrator doubted whether
they had come straight from the bath because they had no
clothes on their bodies
...

(iii) It means that all those who suffered the destruction caused by
the bomb explosion, could not utter a word of anguish against
those who perpetrated such a brutal act on them
...

(b) The face and the bodies of the people had become disfigured
...

(b) Although they were in great pain, they could not cry
...

(a) The fear, panic, horror and great devastation suffered by
the victims caused by the collapse of the buildings, spread
of the debris and fire
...


I
...
The
speakers wants to tell her lover not to love her for any particular
reason
...

(ii) She does not want to be loved for her smile, her looks or for
her gentle voice
...

(iv) (a) a trick of thought means a particular way of thinking, which
may mislead her lover
...

(v)
Cumulative listing is a technique of listing similar ideas to

IF THOU MUST LOVE ME

27

explain or add examples to a particular statement
...

II
...

(ii) By the statement, “may/Be changed, or change for thee”, the
speaker wants to tell her lover not to love her for the traits like
her smile, her looks or her way of speaking as these traits may
change with the passage of time or his appreciation of these
traits would fade in their appeal for him
...
She
wants to be loved for true love and not her superficial qualities
that would change with the passage of time
...
In the poem, the
speaker asks her lover not to love her for the qualities like her
beautiful smile, her looks or her gentle voice
...
However,
true love is unconditional and not dependent on such changeable
physical traits
...

(v) The statement “love, so wrought/May be unwrought so” means
that love that is based on changeable traits may change or
diminish with the changes in these traits with the passage of
time
...

III
...

The words “wiping my cheeks dry” means the act of wiping off
tears from my cheeks
...
She says that
she might not cry and since there would be no tears to be wiped
off from her cheeks, she may not be able to produce pity for
her in her lover
...
It is so called to
compare here position with something similar like a whimpering
dog or a flopping bird, which instantly invokes pity in human
beings
...
This is because she won’t have any tears to be wiped
off from her cheeks and so would not be able to induce any
pity for herself in her lover
...

(v) The poet does not want to be loved out of pity because she
believes that pity on her tears will be lost once she is consoled
...
(i) The poet wants to be loved for love’s sake only because in that
way she will always be loved no matter what qualities of her
fade away with time
...
The speaker wants that her lover’s love for her
should be eternal
...

(iv) The speaker of the poem, a woman, demands equal status
with a man by asking her lover not to love her for her physical
attributes or out of pity but for what she is — a living, thinking
human being
...

(b) The speaker’s demand for equal status with men
...

(vi) The poem, ‘If Thou Must Love Me’ is a sonnet because:
(a) it comprises fourteen lines with a formal rhyming scheme
in iambic pentameter, i
...
, abba/abba/cdc/dc [d/e]
...

In rhyming scheme, it is composed of a Petrarchan octet (eight
lines) with the rhyming scheme abba abba and sestet (six
lines) with the rhyming scheme cdcdcd or cdecde
...


I
...
She wants
to throw a pebble upwards to make a hole in the heavens to
see the angels at play there
...
Symbolically, the
act of ‘throwing the pebble upwards’ suggests the efforts made
to rise in life to achieve unachievable goals
...
It means to achieve unachievable goals with
right efforts and conviction
...

(iv) The phrase ‘I believe’ signifies the poet’s dreams and aspirations
whereas the phrase ‘I can’ signifies the determination and
confidence of the speaker at what she believes she can achieve
...

II
...

For her, sky is the limit for achievements
...
The poet wishes to convey the message that the
sky is the limit for human achievements
...

(iv) ‘Dive right into the depths’ mean to dive into the deepest ocean
...


30

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS)

(v) ‘Sharks’ in the last line of the stanza refer to the hurdles and
difficulties which come in life
...

III
...

(ii) The speaker wants to “claw into the earth’s belly” to get all the
priceless gems that lie within
...
These gems can
be obtained by toiling hard and digging deep into the earth
...

She believes so because there are many valuable resources on
the earth which she can utilise
...
The speaker has called them so because they are capable
of attaining the status of angels by following the righteous path
and doing their duty diligently
...
(i) The speaker says that she ‘firmly believe’ to emphasise the
duties she has to perform in this world before she can indulge
in persuing her dreams and aspirations
...
The word ‘here’ refers to
the planet earth where she lives and dreams to fulfill a number
of aspirations
...
e
...

(iv) Yes, the speaker seems to feel that the role assigned to her
because of being a woman, acts as a hindrance in achieving
her dreams
...

(v) It tells us that the speaker, like all the other women, has to
perform all the duties assigned to her, like that of a daughter, a
sister, a wife, a mother and so on, before she can fulfill her own
dreams and aspirations
...
’

A PSALM OF LIFE

31

I
...

(ii) It means that life is a meaningless dream and an illusion
...

(iii) By saying, “the soul is dead that slumbers”, the poet intends to
say that one, who spends his time aimlessly is really a dead
man
...
The speaker,
later in the poem, says that one should rely neither on the
future nor on the past, but should live in the present moment
with courage in oneself and trust in God
...
This does not
reflect the true nature of human life
...

The moral principle hinted in the extract is that life is not an
empty dream but has a serious mission
...

II
...

This gloomy aspect of life is misleading and not a reality, for it
does not reflect its true nature
...
The poet strongly
belives in life after death because he says that death marks the
end of the body and not the soul
...

The allusion in the statement is that God formed man out of
clay and breathed life into him
...
”

32

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE POEMS)

(iv) The human body, which is perishable, returns to the dust, from
which it appeared
...

(v) Two examples of lyrical quality in the poem are:
(a) Each stanza of the poem follows the rhyming scheme abab,
according to which, the first line rhymes with the third and
the second line rhymes with the fourth
...

III
...
It is referred to as the battlefield because here,
every human being has to work hard and struggle to live and
fight the battle of life, within the alloted time
...
One should
fight against all odds in this bivouac and emerge as a hero
...
Human beings
should fight against all odds and emerge as heroes
...
Similarly, one should
not trust the past because one cannot change the past
...

(v) (a) Let the dead Past bury its dead! means that we should not
be captivated by the past events and they should be put
away because we cannot change them and therefore, we
should live in the present moment
...

(vi) The moral principle underlying the extract is that the whole
world is a big battlefield and a temporary rest camp
...


A PSALM OF LIFE

33

IV
...

(ii) (a) We can make our life sublime in the life’s battlefield by
fighting against all odds, finding our own way and becoming
a success
...

(iii) “Footprints on the sands of time” mean the noble work done by
great men which act as milestones and show the way to others
to make their lives successful
...

(iv) The lines which appeal to me the most include the following:
Let us, then, be up and doing
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing
Learn to labour and to wait
...
These lines teach us that, we should never
give up, continue our work confidently, facing any situation in
life, favourable or unfavourable and without being preoccupied
with the outcome of our actions
...

(v) The gloomy picture of life shown by the speaker in the poem
includes the following:
(a) Life is a meaningless dream
...

But time passes quickly leaving us bewildered
...
(i) ‘Footprints’ of the noble deeds performed by us, which can
encourage an unhappy and ruined man, sailing over the sea of
life, are referred to in the extract
...

(b) A forlorn and shipwrecked brother mean an unhappy and
deserted man, who has gone astray from the right path
...

(iv) The poet wants to convey that we should begin our work
courageously facing any situation in life, favourable or
unfavourable
...

It inspires us to continue our work without being bogged
down by the circumstances
...




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