KSEEB 8th English Palanquin Bearers Poem Lesson Notes Summary Questions and Answers

Pre-reading task:

a. In the present day, brides in India are taken in a decorated car. How were the royal brides in the ancient days taken around?
Answer:
The brides were carried in decorated palanquins either placed on decorated elephants or they were carried by palanquin bearers.

b. Who do you think took the privilege to escort the bride?
Answer:
The male members of the family along with the nobles took the privilege to escort the Bride.

8th English Palanquin Bearers Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

c. How are the deities in the temple taken in a procession during the festivals?
Answer:
During festivals, the deities are taken on decorated chariots, sometimes drawn by the devotees or in a motor vehicle, e g. a truck.

Text Book Questions and Answers

I. Answer the following in one or two sentences each:

Question 1.
Pick out the words from the poem which describes the movement of the bride.
Answer:
Sways, skims, floats, hangs and springs are some of the words which describe the movements of the bride.

Question 2.
How do the palanquin bearers carry the bride?
Answer:
The palanquin bearers carry her lightly, gaily and softly like a pearl on a string.

Question 3.
Why do you think the palanquin bearers are carrying the palanquin lightly?
Answer:
The palanquin bearers are carrying the palanquin lightly so that the princess inside it would feel no jerks and jolts, but would instead have a comfortable journey.

Question 4.
What are the emotions that the bearers feel as they carry the palanquin?
Answer:
The words ‘we glide’ and ‘we sing’ suggests that they are very happy to bear the palanquin of the princess.

8th English Palanquin Bearers Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

Question 5.
Why is the bride compared to a flower and a bird?
Answer:
She is probably compared to a flower because she is beautiful, delicate, fragile and tender as a flower.
The princess is compared to a bird that skims, floats, glides because the princess is so happy to go to her husband’s palace that she seems to be skimming like a bird.

Question 6.
Explain the image in “She sways like a flower”.
Answer:
Just as a flower sways in the breeze, so does the princess sway in the palanquin, to the rhythm of the march of the palanquin bearers as she is being carried.

Question 7.
Why is the bride referred to as‘a pearl on a string’?
Answer:
Pearl is a precious gem, similarly the princess is also precious to them. The pearl on a sting is very fragile and delicate and can break easily, so also is the princess who is very tender and delicate. Hence the comparison.

Question 8.
Why has she been compared to a star?
Answer:
She has been compared to a star for her beauty and charm, just as a star that appears in the night sky.

Question 9.
Why do you think the poetess has used two contradictory feelings of ‘laugh’ in the fourth line of the first stanza and ‘tear’ in the second line of the third stanza?
Answer:
The word ‘laugh’ in the fourth stanza refers to the happiness experienced by the princess as she is being led to her husband’s palace.

The word ‘tears’ in the second line of the third stanza refers to the sadness the princess experiences as she leaves her parents.

8th English Palanquin Bearers Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

Question 10.
Why do the palanquin bearers sing, while carrying the bride? What do you think this song is about?
Answer:
The palanquin bearers sing while carrying the bride to express their happiness as they lead the bride to her husband’s house. They could be singing about her beauty, about the happiness that she would experience and about the various responsibilities that she may. have to shoulder.

Question 11.
The poem is full of similes. Why do you think the poet has used so many similes in this poem?
Answer:
Simile is a figure of speech that beautifies a piece of literature, where comparison is made between two objects or persons. By comparing the princess to many things in nature, the essence of the poem is conveyed more effectively and meaningfully.

Question 12.
Pick out the rhyming words from the poem and mention the rhyme scheme.
Rhyming terms are
Answer:
along –   song
stream – dream
sing   –   string
tide – bride
Rhyme scheme is a a b b c c a a d d c c.

Question 13.
Pick out the examples of alliteration from the poem.
Answer:
She sways like a flower in the wind of our song.
She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream.
Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing.
She hangs like a star in the dew of our song.
She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide.

8th English Palanquin Bearers Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

Question 14.
Some words and lines are repeated in the poem. Work in pairs and list the words and lines that are repeated. Why do you think the words are repeated?
Answer:
(a) Lightly, gaily, softly are some of the words that are repeated.
(b) ‘We bear her along like a pearl on a string’ is the sentence that is repeated.
This repetition add rhythm and beauty to the poem and makes it sound melodious.
It also lays emphasis to those words thereby stressing on their importance.

II. Appreciation:

(a) Rhyming words:
The use of words in a poem that have the same sound, especially at the ends of the lines.

Rhyme scheme:
This refers to the say the words in the poem rhyme with each other. Letters like a, b, c, d and so on are used to show the rhyming pattern. Lines which rhyme with each other are denoted by the same letter.

Pick out the rhyming words and mention the rhyme scheme of this poem.
Rhyming words are
Wood    –   stood – could
Both      –   under growth
Rhyme scheme is -a b a a b

(i) Fill in the blanks with appropriate similes from those given in brackets,

(air, ice, night, snail, coal, rose, ox, lightning, butter, lamb, mouse, ditch water, ocean, snow)

As white a snow
as wide as the ocean

As light as air
as slow as a snail

As cold as ice
as timid as a mouse

As smooth as butter
as dark as the night

As black as coal
as strong as an ox

As quick as lightning
as beautiful as a rose

As dull as ditch-water
as meek as a lamb.

8th English Palanquin Bearers Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

(ii) Complete these lines with similes using your imagination. One has been done as an example.

When I am happy, I am as beautiful as a flower.
When I am sad, I am as slow as a snail.
When I am lonely, I am as quiet as a graveyard.
When I am angry, I am as red as a tomato.
When I am tired, I am as slow as a sloth.
When I am embarrassed, I am as red as a cherry.
When I am possessive, I am as wild as a bear.
When I am calm, I am as cool as cucumber.

Additional Questions and Answers

I. Answer the following questions:

Question 1.
Mention all the things the princess is compared to.
Answer:
The princess is compared to a flower that sways in the wind of their song, to a bird that skims on the foam of the streams, to a laugh that floats from the lips of a dream to a pearl on a string, to a star that hangs in the dew of their song, to a beam on the brow of a tide and to a tear that falls from a bride’s eyes.

II. Mention the figures of speech of the following:

Question 1.
She sways like a flower in the wind of our song.
Answer:
Simile

Question 2.
She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream.
Answer:
Simile

Question 3.
She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.
Answer:
Simile

Question 4.
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Answer:
Simile

8th English Palanquin Bearers Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

Question 5.
She hangs like a star in the dew of our song.
Answer:
Simile

Question 6.
She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide.
Answer:
Simile

Question 7.
She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.
Answer:
Simile

8th English Palanquin Bearers Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

Palanquin Bearers Poem Summary in English

The poetry speaks about the days of yore, when palanquins were the only luxurious mode of transport.

The palanquin bearers move forward with their beloved princess in it. They move lightly, gaily and softly, as they bear her to her husband’s palace. As the palanquin bearers move, so does the princess sway in it, to the rhythm of their march. Her movements are compared to the swaying of a flower, skimming of bird, and floating laugh of a dream.

The palanquin bearers move gaily because their princess is happy to be leaving for her husband’s palace. The princess is so delicate that she is compared to a pearl on a string. She is also compared to a star and the sunbeam on the brows of a tide. The abundant use of Simile in the poem has conveyed the message more effectively.

 8th Standard English Notes

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