Poem 6 The Hollow Crown

Question 1.
Pick out the phrase that suggests that King Riehard was sorrowful.
Answer:
The phrase “Talk of graves of worms and epitaphs” suggests that King Richard was sorrowful.
Question 2.
Why does the King suggest that it is now time for his will to be executed?
Answer:
The King knows pretty well that he will be executed very soon by Bolingbroke. So, he wants his will to
be executed.
Question 3.
What is the only thing we bequeath to our descendants?
Answer:
We bequeath only immovable property to our descendants.
Question 4.
What are the vanquished men left with?
Answer:
The vanquished men are left with sorrow and thoughts about death.
Question 5.
What does the ‘small model’ refer to here?
Answer:
The perishable human body stands as a ‘small model’ of the barren earth.
Question 6.
What does a monarch’s crown symbolize?
Answer:
Monarch’s crown symbolizes “empty power” because real power is vested with death
Question 7.
What mocks the ruler’s power and pomp?
Answer:
Death mocks the ruler’s power and pomp.
From your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions briefly in a sentence or two:
Question 1.
What do the three words,‘graves, worms, and epitaphs’,refer to?
Answer:
The three words graves, worms, and epitaphs’ refer to the deep sorrow of King Richard II who was
captured by rebellious cousins Bolling broke.
Question 2.
What does the executor mentioned in the poem do?
Answer:
An executor is one who implements the contents of a will.
Question 3.
Who is Bolingbroke? Is he a friend or foe?
Answer:
Boling broke is king Richard II’s rebellious cousin. He is a foe.
Question 4.
Are all deposed kings slain by the deposer?
Answer:
No, some, of the deposed kings are jailed and some are slain.
Question 5.
What does the crown of rulers stand for?
Answer
‘The crown of rulers stands for jester.
Question 6.
What hides within the crown and laughs at the king’s grandeur?
Answer:
Death hides within the crown and laughs at the king’s grandeur.
Question 7.
What does ‘flesh mean here?
Answer:
Flesh means body’s flesh. It stands for all perishable things.
Question 8.
What are the various functions and objects given up by a defeated king?
Answer:
A defeated king abdicates his crown. He parts with his scepter too. He hands over his right to rule the
kingdom to the victorious king. He gives up the right to levy taxes on subjects. Fie also gives up his right
and listens to the woes of ordinary subjects and solve them.
Question 9.
How does the king establish that he and his subjects are equal in the end?
Answer:
In the end, King Richard II pathetically explains that he is also an ordinary mortal with desires, need for
friends and the compulsion to taste grief. Even a king has a cup of misery in his life.
Question 10.
Bring out King Richard’s feelings when he was defeated.
Answer:
King Richard started feeling distressed about his impending death. He uses the words graves, epitaphs,
and worms. He realizes his possessions will be reduced to a patch of land. He recalls how kings get slain
in battlefield or poisoned to death by their own spouses. The king feels he is also an ordinary mortal
deceived by the jester’s‘ death’. He also needs to taste grief and needs the support of friends during
distress.
Question 7.
What does ‘flesh mean here?
Answer:
Flesh means body’s flesh. It stands for all perishable things.
Question 8.
What are the various functions and objects given up by a defeated king?
Answer:
A defeated king abdicates his crown. He parts with his scepter too. He hands over his right to rule the
kingdom to the victorious king. He gives up the right to levy taxes on subjects. Fie also gives up his right
and listens to the woes of ordinary subjects and solve them.
Question 9.
How does the king establish that he and his subjects are equal in the end?
Answer:
In the end, King Richard II pathetically explains that he is also an ordinary mortal with desires, need for
friends and the compulsion to taste grief. Even a king has a cup of misery in his life.
Question 10.
Bring out King Richard’s feelings when he was defeated.
Answer:
King Richard started feeling distressed about his impending death. He uses the words graves, epitaphs,
and worms. He realizes his possessions will be reduced to a patch of land. He recalls how kings get slain
in battlefield or poisoned to death by their own spouses. The king feels he is also an ordinary mortal
deceived by the jester’s‘ death’. He also needs to taste grief and needs the support of friends during
distress.
Question (iii)
“Comes at the last, and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!”
Answer:
Context:
Here the poet talks about the temporary license to ‘Monarchise’
Explanation:
Richard said that the crown is empty in the middle and this shows the power of the ruler is not permanent.
Anytime it may be lost.
Question (iv)
“How can you say to me, I am a king? ”
Reference: This lines is from the poem “The Hollow Crown” by William Shakespeare. The poem is an
excerpt from the play “Richard II”.
Context: King Richard says these words to his loyal nobels when he talks about the power of death over
monarchs.
Explanation: British subjects usually believe that a king is born with a divine right to rule. People respect
his crown as a symbol of great power. After he is deposed from power, Henry II realizes the bitter truth
that he is no way different from ordinary subjects. He also has wants, need for friends and the compulsion
to taste grief. Nobody can escape death.
Comment: Death – the only thing inevitable in life.
Poetic Devices
(a) Read the poem once again carefully and identify the figure of speech that has been used in each
of the following lines from the poem:
1. “Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth”.
2. (“And yet not so – for what can we bequeath Save our deposed bodies to the ground?”
3. “Keeps Death his court, and there the antic sits,..
4. “How can you say to me, I am a king?”
5. “Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,…”
6. “Bores through his castle wall, and farewell
Answer:
1. Personification (Earth)
2. Metaphor
3. Personification
4. Interrogation
5. Personification
6. Personification
Pick out the words in alliteration from the following lines:
Question (i)
“Our lands, our lives, and all, are Bolingbroke’s,…”
Answer:
lands, fives
Question (ii)
“And tell sad stories of the death of kings:”
Answer:
sad, stories
Question (iii)
“Comes at the last, and with a little pin…”
 Answer:
last, little
Based on your reading of King Richard’s speech, answer the following questions in about 100 – 150
words each. You may add your own ideas if required to present and justify your point of view.
Question 1.
What are the causes for King Richard’s grief?
Answer:
King Richard II was a popular king. He had many nobles at the service. His rebellious cousin
Bolingbroke attacks him with 10,000 men on his side. He sends message to the Welsh King for . sending
his army to defeat Bolingbroke. But to his shock, Welsh army is not sent. He realizes with alarm the
terrible fate he would suffer in the hands of his foe and his most impending death in captivity. King
Richard is reminded of the power of death that overshadows everything else. Death scoffs at the power of
rulers. Losing the battle, non-receipt of Welsh army and the prospect being jailed and killed worries
Richard II.
He realizes that in the hollow crown death had reigned him. Infact, death, a jester had misled him to
believe that he was monarchising England. He can now own only a patch of barren land. He is not an
impregnable castle of brass anymore. He is an ordinary mortal. He too needs friends and needs to taste
grief and face death.
“Life and death are illusions. We are in a constant state of transformation.”
Question 2.
How are the eternal truths and wisdom brought to the reader here?
Answer:
Human’s glorious life gets reduced to graves, epitaphs and worms. Men is left with nothing but his mortal
remains to gift to the earth. The earth only serves as a paste and cover to the dead bodies. Great kings too
have had inglorious death. Duncan was killed in bed. Hamlet was poisoned to death. Macbeth was slain in
the war. The death gives freedom to monarchs from monarchising the country.
The king realizes with a shudder that Death has occupied a prominent position right inside the crown. He
scoffs at the pomp and show of the temporal kings. Even the most powerful monarch who feels as strong
as a brass castle is brought down by just a pin prick of death. Death is a great leveller who makes kings
believe that they are also ordinary mortals with wants, need for friends and the need to taste grief.
“Life is a brief intermission between Birth and Death. Enjoy it.”
Question 3.
Death has been cited to in many ways in this monologue. Identify the poetic devices used in those
references.
Answer:
bequeath deposed bodies – Metaphor
small model of barren earth-Metaphor
hollow crown – Metaphor
antics – Personification
Dust our paper – Metaphor
scoffing his state grinning at his pomp – Personification
Question 4.
Who does the future generations remember easily – the victor or the vanquished? Give reasons. Also, cite
relevant references from King Richard’s speech.
Answer:
Unusually future generations remember victors. But there are rare instances of just rulers falling due to
the conspiracy and greed of an aggressor. On such occasions, future generations remember the
vanquished. A Shiva devotee king was very generous. His enemies entered his kingdom under the guise
of Shiva devotees in saffron clothes and slew the king and captured his kingdom. Alexander, King
Richard was a just ruler. He was loved by his subjects and loyal nobles. He was defeated by his rebellious
cousin simply because he wanted to be a king. When Richard was thinking about the welfare of his
subjects, Bolingbroke was secretly raising an army to dethrone him.
People who are mad after power resort to unjust means. So, British subjects respected and loved the
vanquished but were helpless and defeated Porus who had fought so valiantly and wanted to be treated
with respect befitting a king. Alexander himself respected him and returned his kingdom and sealed a life
time friendship with him. From King Richard’s speech one understands that he was good at heart but in
the strategy of war, he was not good. Like a crooked end of a straight walking stick, a ruler has to have
some secret deals with neighbouring countries to be protected during crisis. Bolingbroke turned out to be
a more assertive and Shrewd king. But people would remember a just and noble person more even if
defeated.
“Nobility of spirit has more to do with Simplicity than Ostentation, Wisdom than Wealth, Commitment
rather than Ambition.