8th English For a Five Year Old Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

KSEEB 8th English For a Five Year Old Poem Notes Summary Questions and Answers

Textbook Questions and Answers

I. Answer the following questions and share your responses with your partner.

Question 1.
Name the creature mentioned in the poem.
Answer:
Snail is mentioned in the poem.

Question 2.
Who do you think is the speaker?
Answer:
Mother of the five year old is the speaker.

Question 3.
Who is the speaker addressing?
Answer:
Speaker is addressing her child.

Question 4.
What does the child want his mother to see?
Answer:
The child wants his mother to see the snail.

Question 5.
What does the mother tell the child?
Answer:
Mother tells the child that it would be unkind to leave it there.

II. Read and discuss your responses with your partner. Then write.

Question 1.
Why does the mother say ‘a kind of faith prevails’?
Answer:
Mother says to her son to show kindness to snail. They must take care of snail so that no one would squash it. She asks him to carry the snail outside carefully and to leave it on a daffodil to eat. She moulds in her son the character of gentleness only by words but not by practice. So she says “a kind of faith prevails”.

Question 2.
How has the mother treated other animals?
Answer:
Mother says to her son to show kindness to snail. But she had not practiced it in her life. She had trapped mice and shot wild birds. She had drowned her son’s kittens too.

Question 3.
Do you observe any difference between the mother’s treatment of the snail and her treatment of other animals and her own relatives?
Answer:
Yes, we can observe a lot of difference between the mother’s treatment of the snail and her treatment of other animals and her own relatives.

She shows kindness to the snail. She asks her son to take care of snail so that no one would squash it. Then she asks him to carry the snail outside carefully and leave it on daffodil to eat. But in practice, she had treated other animals in a heartless and cruel manner. She had trapped mice, shot wild birds and drowned his kittens.

She betrayed the closest relatives and purveyed the harshest kind of truth to so many other people.

Question 4.
How does the mother console herself? Read the last two lines and comment.
Answer:
Mother had treated other animals in a cruel way. She had even betrayed her closest relatives and carried on the harshest kind of truth to others.

It is commonly believed that character is built rather by words of advice, than by imitation of what other actually do. Of course, this is not true, it is only a prevailing belief and not based on truth.

Here also, the son does not imitate his mother’s cruel practice. He is very innocent. Mother is everything for him. He follows her words. His character is moulded with gentleness by her kind advice.

Mother repents for her cruel behaviour and consoles herself by being a kind to creatures and to others. Children are innocent. We can mould their character in any form.

Additional Questions with Answers

I. Four alternatives are given for each of the following questions/incomplete statements. Choose the correct alternative:

Question 1.
The Snail is climbing up :
a. wall
b. threshold
c. window sill
d. roof.
Answer:
c. window sill

Question 2.
The Snail is carried out carefully and left to feed on:
a. rose
b. daffodil
c. fruits
d. olive
Answer:
b. daffodil

Question 3.
Child’s gentleness is moulded still by:
a. snail character
b. mother’s words
c. mother’s practice
d. himself
Answer:
b. mother’s words

Question 4.
“It might crawl to the floor.” Here craWl means:
a. move slowly
b. move fast
c. creature
d. fall
Answer:
a. move slowly

II. Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow

Question 1.
“You understand,
And carry it outside, with careful hand
To eat a daffodil.”
a. Who says this?
Answer:
Mother says this.

b. Who is the “you”?
Answer:
You refers to her son.

c. What does ‘it’ refer?
Answer:
‘It’ refers to the snail.

Question 2.
I see, then, that a kind of faith prevails your gentleness it is moulded still by words.
a. Who does ‘I’ refer?
Answer:
I refers to mother.

b. Whose gentleness is moulded?
Answer:
Child’s gentleness is moulded.

c. What is the meaning of “a kind of faith prevails”.
Answer:
It is commonly believed that character is built rather by words of advice, than by imitation of what other actually do. Of course, this is not true, it is only a prevailing belief, not based on truth.

Question 3.
But that is how things are : I am your mother
And we are kind to snails.
a. Who says this?
Answer:
Mother says this.

b. Why does she say so?
Answer:
She wants to forget, and regrets for her past cruel behavior. She consoles herself by being good and showing kindness to the snail.

c. Who does ‘we refer’
Answer:
‘We’ refer to the mother and her son In general ‘we’ refers to the people.

III. Rhyming words:

Question 1.
rain – ______________
Answer:
explain

Question 2.
there – ______________
Answer:
care

Question 3.
understand – ______________
Answer:
hand

Question 4.
windowsill – ______________
Answer:
daffodill

Question 5.
prevails – ______________
Answer:
snails

Question 6.
words – ______________
Answer:
birds

Question 7.
betrayed – ______________
Answer:
purveyed

Question 8.
another – ______________
Answer:
mother

For a Five Year Old Poem Summary in English

The poem ‘For a Five year old’, tells us about the contradictions in our dealings. There is a difference between what we preach and what we really practice.

The five year old child calls in his mother, one rainy night to show a snail climbing up the window sill. The mother explains to him that it is unkind to leave the snail there because it may crawl on to the floor. So they decide to take care of it so that no one squashes it. She asks him to carry the snail outside carefully and leave it on a daffodil, for it to eat.

Child learns gentleness. His character is moulded by his mother’s kind words. He does not oppose his mother advice. He does not imitate his mother behaviour in treating others and other animals.

She had trapped mice, shot wild birds and drowned his kitten. She had betrayed his closest relatives and purveyed the harshest kind of truth to others. But she asks her son to show kindness to snail. She regrets her actions. As a mother, she wanted to teach him kindness. She consoled herself by showing kindness to the snail.

Children are innocent. For them, there is none equal to their mother. They follow their mother’s words. We can mould the character of children by proper guidance.

For a Five Year Old Poem Summary in Kannada

For a Five Year Old Poem Word in English

• windowsill = lower wooden frame of the window, usually flat and broad
• squash = press, crush
• daffodil = a kind of yellow flower with a tall stem
• faith = belief, confidence
• prevails = exists or happens generally
• still = even now
• purveyed = carried on, delivered
• snail = slimy slow – creeping insect with a spiral shell
• climb = creep up
• crawl = creep
• gentleness = mild, quite, noble
• trapped = caught an animal by trick
• drown = submerge in water
• kitten = young cat
• betray = breach of trust
• harsh = rough, serve
• contradiction = inconsistency; at variance to something

 8th Standard English Notes