KSEEB 8th English The Cloud Poem Lesson Notes Summary Questions and Answers

Pre-reading task.

Write a few lines about the clouds in your own words;

A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small. and light that they can float in the air. All air contains water, but nearer the ground, it is usually in the form of an invisible gas called water vapour. When warm air rises, it expands and cools. Cool air can’t hold as much water vapour as warm air, so some of the vapour condenses into tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air and forms a tiny droplet around each dust particle. When billions of these droplets come together they become a visible cloud.

Clouds are white because they reflect the light of the sun. Clouds reflect all the colours in the same exact amount, so they look white. Clouds are made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals, usually a mixture of both. The water and ice scatter all light, making clouds appear white. If the clouds get thick enough or high enough all the light above does not pass through, hence the gray or dark look. Also, if there are lots of other clouds around, their shadow can add to the gray or multi colored gray appearance.

8th English The Cloud Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

Textbook Questions and Answers

I. Comprehension

A. Answer the following m a sentence or two each:

Question 1.
Who is the ‘I’ in the poem?
Answer:
The word ‘I’ in this poem refers to the clouds.

Question 2.
What does the cloud do when leaves are laid in their dreams?
Answer:
They bear light shades to the leaves when they are laid in their noonday dreams.

Question 3.
How is the cloud related to the earth, water and sky?
Answer:
The cloud is the daughter of the earth and water and the nursling of the sky.

Question 4.
What happens after the rain?
Answer:
After the rain, when the pavilion of the heaven is bare, the wind and the sunbeams build up a blue dome of air with their convex gleams.

8th English The Cloud Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

B. Answer the following in about one hundred words each:

Question 1.
The cloud is personified throughout the poem. Explain.
Answer:
The cloud is personified in the whole poem. The cloud speaks to us in this poem. It identifies itself as the daughter of the earth and water and the nursling of the sky. It identifies itself to a person, who brings fresh showers to the thirsting flowers, from the seas and oceans and bears light shade for the leaves as they lay in their noonday dreams.

It shakes the dews on the buds, from it’s wings, to waken them so that they may dance about in the sun, as they are rocked in their mother’s breast. It then wields a flail to whiten the green ground with the hail. It laughs as it passes of in thunder. It passes through the pores of the ocean and shores. It laughs at the cenotaph formed for it, by the sunbeams with their convex gleams. It claims to be immortal because it can change it’s form but it cannot die. It will arise and rebuild again like a child from the womb and like a ghost from the tomb.

Question 2.
The poem ‘The cloud’ is rich in imagery. Explain.
Answer:
The poem brings vivid imagery as one reads. Some of the instances where they are very obvious are when it talks about “bringing fresh showers to the thirsting flowers”. Here, we are reminded of the drooping flowers on a hot day which waits patiently for nature to nurture them.

The next instance is in the sentence “It bears light shade for the leaves”. Here again we can recall to mind the shadow that falls on the leaves as a cloud sails across the sky over them.

The next imagery is when it “shakes dews from its wings” on the sleepy buds to waken them. One is here reminded of a wet bird which tries to shake off the water from it’s wet feathers. It also reminds us of the special beauty of nature found only in the early morning hours where the plants are soaked with dew.

The next sentence which highlights imagery is when the “buds dance about in the sun”. Here, one can clearly visualize the beauty of the swaying vibrant flowers. The next imagery is very vividly brought out in the sentence “when hail scatters on the green plain”. It is very easy to visualize the beauty of a frozen land where you find the whole world covered in a white shroud. We find some small puddles as “it dissolves the hail in the rain”.

We are taken to a beauty of the shore of an ocean when we read the lines “when it passes through the pores of the ocean and shores” Another beautiful imagery is brought out in the sentences, “when the pavilion of heaven is bare,” and “build up the blue dome of air”. These sentences bring to mind the exquisite beauty of a clear blue sky, devoid of any clouds. This poem with its hoard of imagery is a feast to our mind and eyes

8th English The Cloud Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

II. Appreciation questions:

Question 1.
The first stanza tells us about the Cloud’s activity. What does the cloud bring with it?
Answer:
The cloud brings fresh showers to the thirsting flowers and light shade for the leaves that slumber in their noonday dreams

Question 2.
The cloud is said to have wings and it shakes its wings. What happens when the wings of the clouds are shaken?
Answer:
When the cloud shakes it’s wings, dew falls from them and they waken the sleepy buds.

Question 3.
In the third stanza, Shelly talks about the earth as a planet. The ‘flail’ is an Instrument, which is used to separate the grain from the husk. How does the poet compare hail striking the earth and the flail hitting the wheat?
Answer:
The imagery that is very evident here is of the snow flakes that fall on to the earth in it’s powdery form and covers the green plain. The poet has compared this beautiful scene of nature to a flail that lashes the ‘ wheat to separate the husk and the grain leaving the earth covered with husk

Question 4.
The cloud says, “I change but I cannot die”, though the sky appears clear after the rain. Explain.
Answer:
The cloud takes many forms according to the poet. It is at times dew, rain, snow flakes or a cloud in the sky. When the sky is bare without even a trace of cloud, the cloud is then in the form of water as it passes through the pores of the ocean and shores. For it is from here that the clouds are formed again.

Question 5.
In the last stanza after the rain and the convex gleams of the sun makes the sky look like a blue dome of air. The poet calls the blue clouds ‘Cenotaph’. Give reasons.
Answer:
Having spent itself- as rain or snow- the blue clear sky now looks like it’s Cenotaph, which is a monument built to honour a soldier killed in a war. The poet feels that the cloud which was in the sky has performed it’s duty and died when it fell to the earth as dew, rain or snow. The sunbeams which then created its blue dome therefore looked like a cenotaph to the poet. Therefore the reference is made.

8th English The Cloud Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

III. Annotate.

Question 1.
“I wield the flail of the lashing hail And whiten the green plains under”
Answer:
The above sentence is an extract from the poem ‘The Cloud’ written by P.B. Shelly. The line brings out a beautiful imagery. Here, the scattering of the snow flakes can be visualized. It is compared to a farmer who uses a flail to separate the husk from wheat leaving the ground covered with husk. Similarly, nature leaves the green plain covered with snow flakes.

Question 2.
“I am the daughter of the earth and water. And the nursling of the sky.
Answer:
The above sentence is taken from the poem ‘The Cloud’ written by P.B. Shelly. Here the poet talks about the parentage ofthe cloud. The cloud which is personified here, is said to be the daughter of the earth and water because she is created by them. She is called the nursling of the sky because she is nurtured by the sky.

Question 3.
“I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores
I change but I cannot die.”
Answer:
The above sentence is an extract from the poem ‘The Cloud’ written by P.B.Shelly. In this poem the cloud talks about its immortality. It states that it can take many forms such as a cloud, a dew, rain or snow and that it cannot die. In the above sentence, the cloud speaks about it’s liquid state, as it passes through the pores of the ocean and shores.

Additional Questions with Answers

I. Pick out the rhyming terms

streams  dreams
one  sun
under  thunder
sky  die
bare  air
rain  again

8th English The Cloud Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

II. Multiple Choice Questions :

Question 1.
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph The figure of speech of the above sentence is
(a) metaphor
(b) simile
(c) personification
(d) alliteration
Answer:
(c) personification

Question 2.
The cloud is the daughter of
(a) the earth and water
(b) the earth and the sky
(c) the sky and the water
(d) the sky and the sun
Answer:
(a) the earth and water

III. Identify the figure of speech of the following:

  1. I bring fresh showers to the thirsting flowers – personification
  2. I bear light shades for the leaves when laid – personification
  3. When rocked to rest on their mother’s breast – personification
  4. As she dances about in the sun – personification
  5. I wield the flail of the lashing hail – personification
  6. And then again I dissolve it in rain – personification
  7. And laugh as I pass in thunder – personification
  8. I am the daughter of the earth and water – personification
  9. And the nursling of the sky – personification
  10. I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores – personification
  11. I change but I cannot die – personification
  12. And the winds and the sunbeams with their convex gleams build up the dome of air – personification
  13. I silently laugh at my own cenotaph – personification
  14. I arise and unbuild it again – personification

8th English The Cloud Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

IV. Answer the following questions:

Question 1.
From where does the cloud bring showers?
Answer:
The cloud brings showers from the seas and oceans.

Question 2.
What is the cloud compared to when the poet speaks about the dew?
Answer:
The cloud is compared to a wet bird from whose wings the water drops fall to the earth.

Question 3.
How according to the poet does the cloud scatter the hail?
Answer:
According to the poet the cloud uses a flail to lash at the hail, thereby scattering them on the green plain

Question 4.
How is the blue cenotaph built for the cloud?
Answer:
The cenotaph is built by the winds and the sunbeams with their convex gleams.

Question 5.
‘I arise and I unbuild it again”
What is it that is being unbuilt in this poem? Who will unbuild it ?
Answer:
The blue cenotaph that was built by the wind and the sunbeams will be unbuilt again by the cloud.

Question 6.
‘How is the cloud related to the earth, water and sky?
Answer:
The cloud is the daughter of the earth and water and the nursling of the sky.

8th English The Cloud Poem Notes Question Answer Summary

The Cloud Poem Summary in English

In this poem, the poet very clearly talks about the immortality of the cloud because it cannot die but can only change its form.

The cloud is personified in the whole poem. She is spoken of as the daughter of the earth and the water and the nursling of the sky. This poem speaks about the different tasks done by the cloud as it passes over the earth’s surface. It brings fresh showers from the seas and oceans to the thirsting flowers and bears light shade to the leaves as they slumber in their noon day dreams.

It showers dews on the sleepy buds and wakes them so that they may dance to the rising sun and enjoy the beauty of nature, as they are rocked on their mother’s breast. It spreads flaky hails and covers the green plains in a white sheet of snow. Later it dissolves in rain and laugh as it passes off in thunder. It passes through the pores of the oceans and shores, when it is in the form of water. The cloud which has well watered the earth is now back in the ocean.

The sky is blue with not a trace of cloud and the sunbeams with their convex gleam build a blue dome of air. This dome is considered to be the, cloud’s cenotaph. But the cloud laughs at the irony of the thought because it cannot have a cenotaph at all, as it cannot die. It rises again from the caverns of rain like a child that is born and like a ghost that rises from a tomb.

8th Standard English Notes

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