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Karnataka 2nd PUC English Workbook Answers Streams Poems for Comprehension

1. Ozymandias

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1. I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown.

(i) Who is the 7′ in the passage?
The poet or the speaker.

(ii) Who did the speaker meet?
A traveller.

(iii) Where had the traveller come from?
An antique land.

(iv) Whom does the word ‘who’ in the second line refer to?
The traveller.

(v) What did he see standing in the desert?
He saw two vast and trunkless legs of stone.

(vi) What was lying half sunk in the sand?
A shattered visage (face).

(vii) What was the expression on the shattered visage?
There was a frown on the visage.

(viii) ‘Trunkless legs of stone’ here means
(a) two pillars of stone
(b) a man who has no trunk
(c) a statue of a man with only the legs.
Answer:
(c) a statue of a man with only the legs.

2) And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on those lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;

(i) What adjective is used to describe the lip?
Wrinkled.

(ii) What did the sculptor read well?
OR
The one who read the passions well is the
(a) speaker
(b) traveller
(c) sculptor.
The sculptor read passions well.

(iii) What have still survived, stamped on those lifeless things?
The passions – emotions and expressions – which the sculptor stamped on the lifeless things.

(iv) What are i eferred to as ‘those lifeless things’?
The stone statue in general and the vast and trunkless legs of stone, and the shattered visage in particular are referred to as ‘those lifeless things’.

(v) Whose hand and whose heart is the traveller talking about?
‘The hand’ refers to the hand of the sculptor with which he sculpted the scuplture and ‘the heart’ refers to the heart of the king that fed the sculptor with passions.

(vi) Who mocked at the king’s passions?
The sculptor.

vii) What does ‘mocked’ mean?
‘Mocked’ here means ‘imitated’.

viii) What does the word ‘them’in the last line refer to?
‘Them’ in the last line refers to the passions.

3. And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works,ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

i) Where do the words appear?
Upon the pedestal.

ii) Who wrote those words?
Ozymandias.

(iii) Who are those words addressed to?
The mighty.

iv) What does the word ‘works’ refer to?
The word ‘works’ refers to the achievements of Ozymandias.

v) Who are ‘ye mighty’?
‘Ye mighty’ are other kings who imagine that their power and glory would last for ever and be greater than that of Ozymandias.

vi) Why should others despair?
Others should despair because no one can rival him.

vii) What does the word ‘wreck’ refer to?
‘Wreck’ refers to the ruins of the statue of the king.

viii) What was to be seen around the colossal wreck?
Nothing but sand.

2. Prayer of a Black Boy

– Guy Tirolien

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.
1. Lord, l am so tired.
Tired I entered this world.
Far have I wandered since the cock crew,
And the road to school is steep.
Lord, I do not wan t to go into their school,
Please help me that I need not go again.
i) Who is addressed by the speaker?/Who is the speaker addressing? Lord (God).

ii) The speaker prays to
a) the school teacher. b) God. c) the white man.
Answer:
(b) God.

iii) The road to school is
Answer:
steep.

iv) What time of day does ‘since the cock crew’ suggest?
Daybreak; early morning.

v) How is the road to school, according to the speaker?
The road is steep.

vi) What is it that the speaker does not want to do?
The speaker does not want to go to the white man’s school.

vii) What does the speaker ask of the Almighty?
He asks the Almighty to help him so that he never has to go to their school again.

2) I want to follow father into the cool gorges
When the night is hovering over magic forests
Where spirits play before dawn.
Barefoot, I want to tread the red-hot paths,
That boil in midday sun.
And then lie down to sleep beneath a Mango tree.
And I want to wake up only
When down there the white man’s siren starts to howl,
And the factory.

i) Who does the speaker want to follow?
His father.

ii) Where do the spirits play before dawn?
In the magic forests.

(iii) Where does the speaker intend to walk barefoot?
On the red-hot paths.

iv) Where do the sirens howl and why?
At the factories. The sirens are reminders for the workers to go to the factory and start working.

3) A ship on the sugar fields,
Lands and spits its crew,
Of black workers into the landscape…
Lord, I do not want to go into their school,
Please help me that I need not go again.

i) Where does the ship land?
On the sugar fields.

ii) What does it spit out?
Its crew.

iii) Who are the passengers on the ship?
Black workers.

iv) What are the passengers made to do?
They are made to toil in the sugar fields.

4) It’s true, they say a little negro ought to go,
So that he might become
Just like the gentlemen of the city,
So that he might become a real gentleman.
But 1,1 do not want to become
A gentleman of the city, or as they call it
A real gentleman.
I’d rather stroll along the sugar stores
Where the tight sacks are piled With brown sugar, brown like my skin.

i) What do the people say about little negroes?
The people say that little negroes ought to go to school.

ii) What do the people hope that a little negro will grow up into?
They hope that the little negro will grow up to be a real gentleman.

iii) What does the little negro not wish to be?
He does not wish to be a real gentleman.

iv) What would he want to do?
He wishes to walk along the sugar stores.

v) What do the sacks piled in the sugar stores contain?
The sacks contain brown sugar.

5) I’d rather listen – when the moon is whispering
Tenderly into the ear of coco palms,
To what the old man who always smokes,
Recites with breaking voice during the night,
The stories of Samba and Master Hare
And many others more that are not found in any book

i) Where is the moon whispering?
Into the ear of coco palms.

ii) Who wants to listen to the old man?
The little negro.

(iii) What does the old man say?
The old man recites stories during the night with his breaking voice.

iv) What is not found in any book?
The stories of Samba and Master Hare and others which the old man recites, are not found in any book.

6) Lord, the negroes have had too much work already.
Why should we learn again from foreign books,
About all kinds of things, we’ve never seen?
And then, their school is far too sad,
Just as sad as these gentlemen of the city.
These real gentlemen
Who do not even know how to dance by the light of the moon,
Who do not even know how to walk on the flesh of their feet,
Who do not even know how to tell the tales of their fathers
By the light of their nightly fires.

O Lord, I do not want to go into their school again.

i) Why does the speaker feel that negroes have no use for foreign books?
Because the foreign books only teach them about things which they have never seen and which they will probably never see.

ii) What does the speaker say about the school?
He says that the school is sad.

iii) What do the ‘real gentlemen’ not know to do?
The real gentlemen do not know how to dance in the moonlight, or to walk on their feet, or to tell stories like their fathers by the fire at night.

iv) What does the boy wish for?
He wishes to never have to go to the school of the whites again.

3. Playthings

– Rabindranath Tagore

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) Child,
Child, how happy you are sitting in the dust, playing with a broken twig all morning!
I smile atyour play with that little bit of a broken twig.
I am busy with my accounts, adding up figures by the hour,

i) Where is the child sitting?
In the dust.

ii) The child is playing with
A broken twig.

iii) How does the poet react to the child’s play?
By smiling at the child.

iv) What is the speaker doing?/What is the speaker busy with?
The speaker is busy with his accounts and adding up figures.

v) When the speaker says, 7 smile atyour play with that little bit of a broken twig”, it indicates that
a) he is happy to see the child playing happily
b) he laughs at the child for being content with having a broken twig for a toy
c) he thinks twigs are useless things with no value
d) he feels superior because he knows what is useless and what is worth possessing.
Answer:
(b) he laughs at the child for being content with having a broken twig for a toy.

2) Perhaps you glance at me and think
“What a stupid game to spoil your morning with!”
Child, I have forgotten the art of being absorbed in sticks and mud-pies.
I seek out costly playthings and gather lumps of gold and silver.
With whatever you find you create your glad games.
I Spend both my time and my strength over things I can never obtain.
In my frail canoe 1 struggle to cross the sea of desire, and forget that I too am playing a game.

i) What does the poet feel he has forgotten?
The poet says that he has forgotten the art of being absorbed in sticks and mud-pies.

ii) What does the poet play with?
The poet plays with costly playthings, like gold and silver.

iii) What is referred to as ‘a stupid game to spoil your morning with’?
Adding up the accounts is being referred to here.

iv) Why does the poet feel that his time and strength is wasted?
Because the poet spends his time and strength over things which he can never obtain.

v) What wealth does the speaker gather?
The speaker gathers lumps of gold and silver.

vi) Who does ‘you’ in the 4th line refer to?
The child.

4.1 Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

– Maya Angelou

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

i) Where does the free bird leap?
On the back of a wind.

ii) Who floats downstream?
The free bird.

(iii) What does ‘current’ refer to?
It refers to the wind.

iv) What does the free bird lay claim to?
The sky.

2) But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

i) What kind of bird is referred to here?
A captive bird that lives in a cage.

ii) What can this bird not see-through?
The bars of the cage, or perhaps, due to anger at being held captive, the poet suggests, bars of rage.

iii) Why are the bird’s wings clipped?
So that it cannot fly.

iv) What does the captive bird resort to, since it cannot fly?
It resorts to singing.

3) The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

i) How does the caged bird sing?
With a fearful trill.

ii) What does ‘tune’ refer to?
It refers to the song of the caged bird.

iii) Where is the bird’s tune heard?
The bird’s tune is heard on the distant hill.

iv) What does the bird sing about?
The bird sings about things unknown and yet longed for. It sings about freedom.

4) The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own

i) Who names the sky his own?
The free bird.

ii) What does the free bird think of
It thinks of a breeze.

iii) What causes the trees to sigh?
The trade winds which blow through the trees cause them to sigh.

iv) The worms wait on
A dawn bright lawn.

5) But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

i) Where does the caged bird stand?
The caged bird stands on the grave of dreams.

ii) What is done to the feet of the caged bird?
They have been tied.

iii) What does the caged bird’s shadow do?
The shadow shouts in a nightmare.

iv) Why does the caged bird sing?
The caged bird sings because it can do nothing else. It is denied freedom; its wings are clipped and its feet are tied. Hence, the caged bird sings of freedom.

5. The Indian Upon God

– W.B. Yeats

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) I passed along the waters’ edge below the humid trees.
My spirit rocked in evening light, the rushes round my knees,
My spirit rocked in sleep and sighs; and saw the moorfowl pace
All dripping on a grassy slope, and saw them cease to chase
Each other round in circles, and heard the eldest speak;

i) What did the speaker walk along?
Where was the speaker walking?
The speaker was walking along the waters’ edge.

ii) What was around the speaker’s knees?
The rushes were around the speaker’s knees.

iii) Who were pacing on a grassy slope?/Name the bird mentioned in the above lines.
The moorfowl.

iv) Who spoke?
The eldest spoke.

v) What rocked in the evening light?
The poet’s spirit.

2) Who holds the world between
His bill and made us strong or weak
Is an undying moorfowl, and He lives beyond the sky.
The rains are from His dripping wing, the moonbeams from His eye.

i) Who made the moorfowl strong or weak?
The undying moorfowl or God.

ii) Where does the undying moorfowl live?
Beyond the sky.

(iii) Who does the undying moorfowl represent?
God.

iv) Where do the rains come from?
From the dripping wing of the undying moorfowl.

v) What comes from the eye of the undying moorfowl?
Moonbeams.

3) I passed a little further on and heard a lotus talk:
Who made the world and ruleth it, He hangeth on a stalk,
For I am in His image made, and all this tinkling tide,
Is but a sliding drop of rain between His petals wide.

i) Who did the speaker hear speaking?
A lotus.

ii) According to the lotus, who made the world?
A lotus.

iii) Who, according to the lotus, hangs on a stalk?
The maker and ruler of the world.

iv) What is the tide compared to?
It is compared to a drop of rain, sliding between the wide petals of the Lotus (God).

4) A little way within the gloom a roebuck raised his eyes
Brimful of starlight, and he said:
The Stamper of the Skies,
He is a gentle roebuck; for how else, I pray, could He
Conceive a thing so sad and soft, a gentle thing like me?

i) Who did the speaker encounter in the gloom?
A roebuck.

ii) What were his eyes full of?
Starlight.

iii) Who is referred to as the ‘Stamper of the Skies’?
God.

iv) Why does the roebuck say that God is a roebuck?
The roebuck feels that only if God is a roebuck, could He create a thing so gentle and soft as a roebuck.

5) I passed a little further on and heard a peacock say:
Who made the grass and made the worms and made my feathers gay,
He is a monstrous peacock, and He waveth all the night
His languid tail above us, lit with myriad spots of light,

i) Who did the speaker encounter a little further?
A peacock.

ii) According to the peacock, who made the grass and the worms?
A monstrous peacock.

iii) Where does the monstrous peacock wave his tail?
The monstrous peacock waves his tail all night above us.

iv) What do the myriad spots of light represent?
The stars in the sky.

v) Whose tail is ‘lit with myriad spots of light’?
The peacock’s.

6. Sonnet 5.5

– William Shakespeare

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) Not marble nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this pow’rful rhyme:
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.

i) What shall marble or gilded monuments not outlive?
This powerful rhyme (poem).

ii) Who does’you’refer to?
It refers to this particular poem.

iii) Who shall shine bright?
The rhyme shall shine bright in its contents.

iv) What is the brightness of the rhyme compared to?
It is compared to unswept stone.

v) What is the unswept stone smeared with?
The passage of time.

2) When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.

i) What is the effect of war?
War overturns statues.

ii) What roots out the work of masons?
Broils root out the work of masons.

iii) What things cannot affect the living record referred to here?
War, broils, and Mars’ sword cannot destroy the living record.

iv) What is beyond burning by war?
The living record of the poem’s memory.

3) Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room,
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgement that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.

i) What shall the rhyme pace forth against?
Against death and all-oblivious enmity.

ii) Where shall its praise still find room?
In the eyes of all posterity.

iii) Where will posterity wear this world out to?
It will wear the world out to the ending doom.

iv) Until the judgement, where does the poem dwell? In lovers’ eyes.

7. The Reverie of Poor Susan

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears,
Hangs a thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years:
Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard
In the silence of morning the song of the bird.

i) Where does Susan come across the thrush?
At the corner of Wood Street.

ii) When does the thrush sing loud?
When daylight appears.

iii) How long has the thrush been singing?
For three years.

iv) When has Susan heard the song of the bird?
In the silence of the morning.

2) “It is a note of enchantment; what ails her?
She sees A mountain ascending, a vision of trees;
Bright volumes of vapour through Lothbury glide,
And a river flows on through the vale of Cheapside.

i) How are the notes of the bird’s song described as?
Enchanting.

ii) What does she see?
A mountain ascending and a vision of trees.

iii) Where do the bright volumes of vapour glide through?
Lothbury.

iv) Where does a river flow through?
The vale of Cheapside.

v) A mountain ascending’means
a) Susan is climbing the mountain
b) she is on the plains and the mountain rises over it
c) the mountain gradually takes shape before her vision.
Answer:
(c) the mountain gradually takes shape before her vision.

3) Green pastures she views in the midst of the dale,
Down which she so often has tripped with her pail;
And a single small cottage, a nest like a dove’s
The one only dwelling on earth that she loves.

i) What does she see in the midst of the dale?
Green pastures.

ii) What has happened to her often in the midst of the dale?
She has tripped with her pail.

iii) What is compared to a dove’s nest?
A single small cottage.

iv) The only dwelling on earth that she loves is a single small
a) dove b) cottage c) nest.
Answer:
(b) cottage.

4) She looks, and her heart is in heaven: but they fade,
The mist and the river, the hill and the shade:
The stream will not flow, and the hill will not rise,
And the colours have all passed away from her eyes!

i) Where is her heart?
Her heart is in heaven.

ii) What fades away?
The mist, the river, the hill and the shade.

iii) What happens to the stream and the hill?
The stream stops flowing and the hill stops rising.

iv) What has passed away from her eyes?
The colours have all passed away from her eyes.

8. The Road Not Taken

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry 1 could not travel both
And be one traveler, long 1 stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

i) Where did the two roads diverge?
In a wood.

ii) Why was the poet sorry?
The poet was sorry because he could not travel on both roads. He had to choose.

iii) The word ‘both’in the second line refers to two
a) travellers b) woods c) roads
Answer:
(c) roads.

iv) What did the traveler do when he came across the two diverged roads?
He stood there for a long time and looked down one road as far as he could.

v) “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”… The word ‘yellow’ indicates that
a) there were many yellow flowers in the forest
b) the poet was viewing the scene wearing yellow glasses
c) it was the autumn season
d) he was looking at the forest against the background of the evening sky.
Answer:
c) it was the autumn season.

2) Then took the other as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

i) What does the ’other’ refer to?
The second road.

ii) Why did the second road have a better claim?
The poet felt that it was grassier and looked like it wanted someone to walk on it. Hence, he felt that it had the better claim.

(iii) ‘It was grassy and wanted wear’ suggests that
a) the road needed clearing b) it was less travelled by c) the road was trodden by many
Answer:
(b) it was less travelled by.

iv) What had been worn out about the same?
Both the roads had been worn out about the same.

v) The traveller took the second road because
a) it took him to his town b) it led to his destination c) it looked pleasant d) it was less frequented and grassy.
Answer:
(d) it was less frequented and grassy.

3) And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black,
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
doubted if I should ever come back.

i) What lay equally that morning?
The two roads that diverged in a wood.

ii) What had not been trodden black?
The leaves that lay on the road.

iii) What did the poet keep for another day?
The poet kept the first road for another day.

iv) Why did the poet doubt that he would ever come back?
The poet knew that one way leads to another and so on, and it would be unlikely that he would come back to the same spot.

4) I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

i) What would the poet be telling with a sigh?
The poet would be telling with a sigh how he had to choose between two roads and that he chose the less trodden one.

ii) What was the poet confronted with in the woods?
Two roads that diverged.

iii) What did the poet do?
The poet chose the road which had been less frequented.

iv) What made all the difference?
Choosing the road less travelled made all the difference.

9. The Crutches

– Bertolt Brecht

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1 ) Seven years I could not walk a step.
When I to the great physician came
He demanded: Why the crutches?
And I told him: I am lame.

i) Why does the poet go to the physician?
The poet goes to the physician to get his lameness cured.

ii) How long could the speaker not walk a step?
For how many years could the speaker not walk? Seven years.

iii) Who does ‘He’ in the third line refer to?/Whom does the speaker meet?
The great physician.

iv) Why does the speaker use crutches?
The speaker uses crutches because he is lame.

v) What did the physician ask the speaker?
The physician asked the speaker why he used crutches.

2) He replied: That’s not surprising
Be so good and try once more.
If you’re lame, it’s these contraptions.
Fall then! Crawl across the floor!

i) Who does ‘He’ refer to?
The great physician.

ii) The physician’s remark, ‘that is not surprising’, could mean
a) the poet is lame because he is using crutches
b) the poet is using crutches because he is lame
c) there is nothing surprising about anyone being lame
Answer:
(a) the poet is lame because he is using crutches.

iii) What did the physician ask the speaker to try once more?
The physician asked the speaker to try walking without crutches once more.

iv) According to the physician, what was making the speaker lame?
The contraptions.

3) And he took my lovely crutches
Laughing with a fiend’s grimace
Broke them both across my back and
Threw them in the fireplace.

i) Who took the crutches?
The great physician.

ii) How is the physician’s laugh described?
He laughed with a fiend’s grimace.

iii) What does ‘both ’ refer to?
It refers to the pair of crutches that belonged to the speaker.

iv) Where did the physician throw the crutches?
After breaking them, the physician threw the crutches in the fireplace.

v) The crutches are thrown into the fireplace because
a) he no longer needs them
b) the crutches did not help him in any way
c) he may be tempted to use them again.
Answer:
(c) he may be tempted to use them again.

4) Well, I’m cured now: I can walk.
Cured by nothing more than laughter.
Sometimes, though, when / see sticks
I walk worse for some hours after.

i) What was the speaker able to do after he was cured?
He was able to walk.

ii) What was the speaker cured by?
Laughter.

iii) What happens to the speaker when he sees sticks?
He walks worse for a few hours.

iv) Why does the speaker walk worse for some hours?
Because he is reminded of his crutches.

10. This Above all is Precious and Remarkable

-John Wain

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) This above all is precious and remarkable,
How we put ourselves in one another’s care,
How in spite of everything we trust each other.
Fishermen at whatever point they are dipping and lifting
On the dark green swell they partly think of as home
Hear the gale warnings that fly to them like gulls.

i) What does the speaker find precious and remarkable?
The speaker feels that it is a precious and remarkable thing that we still put ourselves in each other’s care and that we trust others.

ii) Where are the fishermen dipping and lifting?
On the dark green swell (the sea).

iii) What do the fishermen partly think of as home?
The sea.

iv) What flies to the fishermen like gulls?
Warnings of storms fly to them like gulls.

v) What does ‘the dark green swell’ refer to?
The dark green swell’ refers to the sea in high tide when there is a storm.

2) The scientists study the weather for love of studying it,
And not specially for love of the fishermen,
And the wireless engineers do the transmission for love of wireless,
But how it adds up is that when the terrible white malice
Of the waves high as cliffs is let loose to seek a victim,
The fishermen are somewhere else and so not drowned.

i) Why do scientists study the weather, according to the speaker?
They study the weather because they love studying it.

ii) What do wireless engineers do?
Wireless engineers do the transmission of information.

iii) What is described as the ‘terrible white malice’?
A storm at sea is described as a terrible white malice.

iv) Who, according to the poet, help the fishermen directly?
The scientists who study the weather for its own sake indirectly help the fishermen.

v) ‘The terrible white malice of the waves’ describes
a) the white foam on the rising sea
b) the fury of the sea during the storm
c) the blind hatred of the sea towards fishermen.
Answer:
(b) the fury of the sea during the storm.

3) And why should this chain of miracles be easier to believe
Than that my darling should come to me as naturally
As she trusts a restaurant not to poison her?
They are simply examples of well-known types of miracle,
The two of them,
That can happen at any time of the day or night.

i) What chain of miracles does the speaker refer to?
The speaker refers to the chain of miracles that saves a fisherman from being at sea during a storm.

ii) What is the trust of the speaker’s darling in coming to him naturally, compared to?
It is compared to the trust she places in a restaurant not to poison her.

iii) What are the two examples of miracles?
The two examples are those of the fishermen and the speaker’s darling.

iv) What can happen at any time of day or night?
The miracles (such as the ones described in the poem) can happen at any time of day or night.

11. The Bangle Sellers

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) Bangle sellers are we who bear
Our shining loads to the temple fair…
Who will buy these delicate, bright
Rainbow-tinted circles of light?
Lustrous tokens of radiant lives.
For happy daughters and happy wives.

i) What do the bangle sellers bear?
They bear their shining loads of bangles.

ii) Where do the bangle sellers sell their bangles?
At the temple fair.

iii) How are the bangles described by the bangle sellers?
They are described as delicate, bright, rainbow-tinted circles of light.

iv) Who are the bangles for?/Whom are they urging to buy bangles for?
For daughters and wives.

v) Where are the bangle sellers taking their shining loads to?
The temple fair.

2) Some are meet for a maiden’s wrist,
Silver and blue as the mountain mist,
Some are flushed like the buds that dream
On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,
Some are aglow with the bloom that cleaves
To the limpid glory of new born leaves.

i) What are meet (suitable) for a maiden’s wrist?
Bangles.

ii) What are the silver and blue banfles compared to?
The silver and blue bangles are compared to the mountain mist.

iii) What are the buds described here doing?
The buds are dreaming on the tranquil brow of a woodland stream.

iv) What are some bangles aglow with?
Some bangles are aglow with the bloom that gives life to new leaves.

3) Some are like fields of sunlit corn,
Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart’s desire,
Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear,
Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.

i) What are the bangles made for a bride’s bridal morn compared to?
They are compared to fields of sunlit corn.

ii) Which flame are some bangles like?
Some bangles are like the flame of a marriage fire.

iii) What adjectives are used to describe the bangles?
Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear.

iv) What is like a bride’s laughter and tear?
Bangles.

4) Some are purple and gold-flecked grey
For she who has journeyed through life midway,
Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest,
And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,
And serves her household in fruitful pride,
And worships the gods at her husband’s side.

i) Who are the purple and gold-flecked grey bangles for?
A woman who is midway in her journey of life; a middle-aged woman.

ii) What have her hands cherished?
Her hands have cherished her fair sons.

iii) How does she serve her household?
She serves her household with pride.

iv) Who does she worship?
She worships the Gods, standing beside her husband.

12. On His Blindness

– John Milton

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask.

i) When did Milton become blind?
Milton became blind before half his life in the world was over.

ii) What does the poet mean by ‘light’?
By ‘light’ the poet means his eyesight.

iii) How does the speaker describe the world?
The speaker describes the world as wide and dark.

iv) Why does he call the world dark?
He calls the world dark because he has lost his sight.

v) Which is that ‘one talent which is death to hide’?
The talent is the God-given gift of writing poetry.

vi) How has the speaker’s blindness affected his soul?
The speaker’s blindness has made his soul more eager to serve his Maker.

vii) What does the speaker ask himself?
The speaker asks himself if He still expects labour (work) from him since he is blind.

viii) What does the word fondly’ mean?
The word ‘fondly’ means ‘foolishly’.

2) But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies:
“God doth not need Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best
His state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”

i) Who replies to the speaker’s question?
Patience.

ii) What does God not need?
God does not need man’s labour or his gifts.

iii) Who serves God the best, according to Milton?
The person who bears patiently the burden God has placed on him.

iv) What do the thousands at God’s bidding do?
Thousands at God’s bidding travel over land and sea without rest, in order to carry out his commands.

v) Which of the following are served by the thousands at God’s bidding?
a) Those who bear God’s mild yoke b) Those who bear God ill-will
c) Those who are sleeping d) Those who stand and wait
Answer:
(d) Those who stand and wait.

vi) Who does ’they’ in the last line refer to?
‘They’ in the last line refers to people like Milton who suffer from some affliction.

13. Home they brought her Warrior Dead

– Alfred Tennyson

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.
1) Home they brought her warrior dead:
She nor swoon’d nor utter’d cry:
All her maidens, watching, said,
“She must weep or she will die.”

i) What did they bring home?
They brought home the body of the dead warrior.

ii) What was the reaction of the warrior’s wife?
She neither swooned nor cried.

iii) Why was the woman unresponsive?
She was in shock.

iv) What did all the maidens say?
They said that the woman had to weep or she would die.

2) Then they praised him, soft and low,
Call’d him worthy to be loved.
Truest friend and noblest foe;
Yet she neither spoke nor moved.

i) Why did they praise the dead warrior?
They praised the dead warrior in the hope that it might bring his wife to tears.

ii) What attempts were made to remember the dead warrior?
He was praised and called a true friend and a noble foe.

iii) What was the dead warrior considered to have been worthy of?
He was considered to have been worthy of love.

iv) What was the response of the dead warrior’s wife?
She neither spoke nor moved.

3) Stole a maiden from her place,
Lightly to the warrior stepped.
Took the face-cloth from the face;
Yet she neither moved nor wept.

i) Who moved from her place?
A maiden.

ii) Where did she go?
She went to the side of the dead warrior.

iii) Why did she take the face-cloth off?
She wanted the wife to see the face of her dead husband. She hoped that this would make her cry.

iv) What was the reaction of the dead warrior’s wife?
She neither moved nor wept.

4) Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set his child upon her knee
Like summer tempest came her tears-
“Sweet my child, I live for thee.”

i) Who rose from her place?
A nurse.

ii) How old was she?
Ninety years old.

iii) Who was set upon her knee?
Her child was set upon her knee.

iv) What came like summer tempest?/Her tears are compared to
Tears came like summer tempest.

v) What finally made the dead warrior’s wife cry?
The sight of her little child made her cry.

vi) Who does the mother want to live for?
For her child.

14. The English Language

– Harry Hemsley

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) Some words have different meanings,
and yet they’re spelt the same.
A cricket is an insect, to play it – it’s a game.
On every hand, in every land, it’s thoroughly agreed, the
English language to explain is very hard indeed.

i) What makes words with different meanings confusing?
Words with different meanings become confusing when they have the same spelling.

ii) What are the two interpretations of the word ’cricket’?
The word ‘cricket’ can mean either an insect, or a game.

iii) What is agreed on every hand and in every land?
That the English language is very hard to explain.

iv) What is the ‘game’ referred to/mentioned here?
Cricket.

v) What have different meanings yet spelt the same?
Some words in the English language.

vi) What is very hard to explain?
The English language.

2) Some people say that you ‘re a dear, yet dear is far from cheap.
A jumper is a thing you wear, yet a jumper has to leap.
It’s very clear, it’s very queer, and pray who is to blame for
different meanings to some words, pronounced and spelt, the same?

i) What are the two meanings of’dear’as used here?
‘Dear’ can either be used as an affectionate term, or as a synonym of ‘expensive’.

ii) What article of clothing is referred to here?
A jumper.

iii) What is very queer and very clear?
That words with the same spelling and pronunciation sometimes have different meanings. iv) What words referred to here are pronounced and spelt the same, yet have different meanings? Jumper and dear.

3) A little journey is a trip, a trip is when you fall.
It doesn’t mean you have to dance whene’er you hold a ball.
Now here’s a thing that puzzles me: musicians of good taste
will very often form a band – I’ve one around my waist!

i) What are the two meanings of ‘trip’ referred to here?
The two meanings referred to here are, a short journey, and a fall.

ii) What does a ‘ball’ have to do with dancing?
A ball is an event where people gather to dance.

iii) What do musicians of good taste do?
They often form a band.

iv) What does the speaker have around his waist?
A band.

4) You spin a top, go for a spin, or spin a yarn may be –
yet every spin’s a different spin, as you can plainly see.
Now here’s a most peculiar thing – ’twas told me as a joke –
a dumb man wouldn’t speak a word, yet seized a wheel and spoke.

i) The two words with the same spelling but different meanings mentioned here are
spin and spoke.

ii) How many spins are mentioned above and what do they mean?
Three. Spin can refer to a spinning action (which we make when we spin a top), a small round trip (going for a spin), and spinning cloth (using a spinning machine).

iii) What was the most peculiar thing?
That a dumb man grabbed a wheel and spoke.

iv) Did the dumb man actually speak?
No. He grabbed a wheel which had spokes.

5) A door may often be ajar, but give the door a slam,
and then your nerves receive a jar – and then there’s jars of jam.
You’ve heard, of course, of traffic jams, and jams you give your thumbs.
And adders, too, one is a snake, and the other adds up sums.

i) What does the word‘ajar’mean?
Ajar’ means slightly open.

ii) When do our nerves receive a jar?
When we slam the door.

iii) Which of the following cannot be associated with jars:
a) jams b) Nerves c) Snakes?
Answer:
(c) Snakes.

iv) What snake is mentioned here?
An Adder.

6) A policeman is a copper, it’s a nickname (impolite!)
yet a copper in the kitchen is an article you light.
On every hand, in every land, it’s thoroughly agreed
the English language to explain is very hard indeed!

i) What nickname is referred to here?
Copper.

ii) Who is the nickname for?
A policeman.

iii) What is’an article you light’?
A copper.

iv) What conclusion does the speaker come to, about the English language?
That it is very hard to explain the English language.

15. The Human Seasons

– John Keats

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1) Four seasons Jill the measure of a year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:

i) How many seasons are in a year?
Four.

ii) According to the poet, a man’s mind has
four seasons.

iii) What adjective is used to describe Spring?
Lusty.

iv) What happens in Spring?
During Spring, fancy takes in all beauty with an easy span.

v) What does Spring represent in the stanza?
Here Spring represent childhood.

2) He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring’s honied cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves

i) What season is being described here?
Summer.

ii) What aspect of Spring is referred to here?
‘Spring’s honied cud of youthful thought is referred to here.

iii) What does he love to do in Summer?
He loves to ruminate on the sweet memories of his childhood days.

iv) What makes him feel nearest to heaven?
The joy which the sweet memories of his childhood days give him make him feel nearest to heaven.

v) What does summer represent in the stanza?
Here summer represent youth.

3) Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness – to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.

i) What does his soul have in it’s Autumn?
His soul has its quiet coves.

ii) What is he contented to do in Autumn?
He is contented to look on mists in idleness.

iii) What does autumn represent in the stanza?
Here autumn represents middle age.

iv) How is the Winter described?
The Winter is described as a pale misfeature.

v) If not for winter, what would happen?
He would forgo his mortal nature, if he had no Winter.

vi) What does winter represent in the stanza?
Here winter represents old age.

Exercise

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

1. I passed along the waters’ edge below the humid trees.
My spirit rocked in evening light, the rushes round my knees,
My spirit rocked in sleep and sighs; and saw the moorfowl pace
All dripping on a grassy slope, and saw them cease to chase
Each other round in circles, and heard the eldest speak;

i) Where was the speaker walking?
The speaker was walking along the waters’ edge below the humid trees.

ii) What rocked in the evening light?
His spirit rocked in the evening light.

iii) Who were chasing each other in circles?
The moorfowls were chasing each other in circles.

iv) What did the speaker see along the waters’ edge?
The speaker saw the moorfowl along the waters’ edge.

v) The word ‘eldest’ in the last line refers to the a) speaker. b) moorfowl. c)God.
Answer:
b) moorfowl.

2. Green pastures she views in the midst of the dale,
Down which she so often has tripped with her pail;
And a single small cottage, a nest like a dove’s
The one only dwelling on earth that she loves.

i) Where, according to the speaker, does she view pastures?
According to the speaker, she views pastures in the midst of the dale.

ii) In the second line ‘which refers to the a) dale. b) pastures, c) cottage.
Answer:
(a) dale.

(iii) What is the cottage compared to?
The cottage is compared to the nest of a dove.

iv) Which is the only dwelling on earth that she loves?
A single small cottage is the only dwelling on earth that she loves.

3. And he took my lovely crutches
Laughing with a fiend’s grimace
Broke them both across my back and
Threw them in the fireplace.

i) How did he laugh when taking the speaker’s crutches?
He laughed with a fiend’s grimace.

ii) What did he do with the speaker’s crutches?
He broke them and threw them in the fireplace.

iii) In the third line ‘them’refers to
a) friends, b) fireplaces, c) crutches.
Answer:
(c) crutches.

iv) Where were the crutches thrown?
The crutches were thrown in the fireplace.

4. But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

i) Where, according to the speaker, does the caged bird stand?
The caged bird stands on the grave of dreams.

ii) What does the caged bird’s shout on?
The caged bird shouts as if it were in a nightmare.

iii) Whose wings are clipped and feet are tied?
The caged bird’s wings are clipped and feet are tied.

iv) In the last line ‘he’ refers to the
a) speaker. b) poet, c) caged bird.
Answer:
c) caged bird.

5. Barefoot, I want to tread the red-hot paths,
That boil in midday sun,
And then lie down to sleep beneath a Mango tree.

i) How does the speaker want to tread the red-hot paths?
Bare foot.

ii) What boil in midday sun?
The paths boil in midday sun.

iii) Where does the speaker want to lie down?
The speaker wants to lie down beneath a mango tree.

6. Not marble nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this pow’rful rhyme:
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.

i) What cannot outlive this powerful rhyme?
Neither marble nor gilded monuments of princes can outlive this powerful rhyme.

ii) These monuments are erected by
a) common people b) princes c) the locals. princes

iii) How is time personified?
Time has been personified as a sluttish person.

7. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

i) What colour is the wood?
Yellow.

ii) The speaker sees before him
a) a dense forest b) two roads diverging in a forest c) a crossing.
Two roads diverging in a forest

(iii) How many travellers are there?
Only the speaker.

8. This above all is precious and remarkable,
How we put ourselves in one another’s care,
How in spite of everything we trust each other.

i) Where do we put ourselves?
We put ourselves in one another’s care.

ii) The above lines talk about
a) human goodness b) sea of life c) miracles.
Answer:
human goodness.

iii) Mention the word from the third line that keeps everyone united.
OR
In spite of everything, what do we do with each other?
Trust.

9. That murmur, soon replies:
“God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best

i) What does God not need?
God does not need man’s labour or his gifts.

ii) In ‘Bear His mild yoke’, His refers to.
God’s.

iii) How do they serve God?
They serve God by bearing patiently the burden God has placed on them.

10. Four Seasons fill the measure of the year,
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty wih an easy span:

i) How many seasons are in the mind of man?
Four.

ii) The season mentioned in the above lines is .
Spring.

iii) Here spring is described as being
a) very short and happy b) sad and dreaming c) idle,
Answer:
a)very short and happy.

The main aim is to share the knowledge and help the students of 2nd PUC to secure the best score in their final exams. Use the concepts of Karnataka 2nd PUC English Answers Workbook Answers Streams Poems for Comprehension in Real time to enhance your skills. If you have any doubts you can post your comments in the comment section, We will clarify your doubts as soon as possible without any delay.

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