UNIT: 2

ONCE MORE TO THE LAKE

QUESTION /ANSWER

QUESTION 1: Why does writer take a vacation at this particular lake?

ANSWER: The writer takes a vacation at this particular lake in order to forget the hard
realities of life. The calmness of the natural lake provides him comfort. He loves it too
much, because it takes him to the distant past when he used to go there with his father.
With the help of it he tries to escape the mortality.
QUESTION 2: Which key concerns the writer has expressed in the text?
ANSWER: The following key concerns the writer has expressed in the text.
1. Love to past memories or nostalgia.
2. Power of memory.
3. Transitoriness of life.
4. Inevitability or morality/death.
5. Father and son relationship.
6. Past and present.
7. Greatness of nature.
8. Old vs new technology.
QUESTION 3: How has the lake changed since he was boy?
ANSWER: The lake has changed in following three ways since he was boy.
Firstly, the road where horses drew the wagon/vehicle has been tarred or pitched fully.
Second, the motorboats produce irritable and awful sound now unlike before. New boats
have noisier engines.
QUESTION 4: What contrast does the writer make between the sea and the lake?
ANSWER: The contrast does the writer make between the sea and the lake is the stirred
water. The sea water easily can be stirred while the lake water can’t be stirred. The lake is
constant and trustworthy body of water.
QUESTION 5: Why does writer repeatedly call the lake as ‘wild lake’?
ANSWER: The writer repeatedly calls the lake as ‘wild lake’ in order to emphasize the
cottages surrounded it. He says that it is not a place where men can not reside. Men not
only enjoy the calmness nature of the lake but also settled their cottages to live in peaceful
atmosphere of the lake which is not wild.
QUESTION 6: Why is the arriving at the lake less exciting now than in the past?
ANSWER: It was less exciting for the poet to revisit the lake accompanied with his son. This
time he was not as much enthuse as before due to the age difference. Next, the artificially
and noise pollution has also marred the natural beauty of the lake. It was no more as
peaceful as it was before.
QUESTION 7: How are the boat motors different in the present situation?
ANSWER: In the present situation, the motor boats produce irritable and awful sound now
unlike before. New boats have noisier engines. In the former days motors where motors
were also indoors, but now they were outdoors by the campers.
QUESTION 8: The writer calls the lake as a ‘holy spot’. How does he further develop this
idea?
ANSWER: The writer describes the lake as a holy spot because it provides him solace or
peace. He further develops it by explaining it more that it makes him forget the worldly
worries and takes him to his beautiful past. It reminds him of his beautiful childhood. It
helps him to forget his morality.
QUESTION 9: What kind of sensation persisted and grew in the mind of the writer?
ANSWER: While spending time at the lake, the writer feels dual existence of himself.
Memories of the past haunt him. He finds himself in his son and himself as his father. He is
at the same time his father in imagination and his son’s father in reality. Such creepy
sensation persisted and grew in the mind of the writer.
QUESTION 10: What is the central idea of the text?
ANSWER: The central idea of the text is that the writer wants to show the relationship
between sight and insight, observation and speculation through reminisces of his boyhood
summer. Especially in this comprehensive text, the writer displays the power of memory
and the utmost fear of morality.