When the humid shadows hover

Overall the starry spheres

And the melancholy darkness

Gently weeps in rainy tears,

What a bliss to press the pillow

Of a cottage-chamber bed

And like listening to the patter

Of the soft rain overhead!

a) What does the poet imply by “humid shadow?

Ans: By “humid shadows”, the poet implies the clouds full of rain.

(b) What does the phrase “starry spheres” refer to?

Ans: The phrase “starry spheres” refers to the sky filled with numerous stars shining at night.

(c) What does the poet consider to be a ‘bliss’ in the rainy season?

Ans: In the rainy season when the showers are falling on the roof, the poet considers it bliss to lie
comfortably i

(d) Which poetic device has been used in “lie listening”?

Ans: In “lie listening”, the poetic device used is alliteration as ‘I’ sound is repeated.

(e) Which poetic device has been used in the third and fourth lines?

Ans: The third line employs ‘transferred epithet’ by the words “melancholy darkness”. Here darkness is
not sad or melancholy but some man who is sad in the darkness. The fourth line uses ‘personification’ by
presenting the sadness as weeping gently by shedding tears in the form of rain.

Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign

Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes

Like ours the land our brothers walk upon

is earth like this, in which we all shall le

Q1. Who is the poet writing to in this poem? What literary method does line 1 use?

Ans. In the poem, the poet addresses the audience. Here, apostrophe is being employed as a poetic
device.

Q2. What does the word “uniform” mean?

Ans. The term “uniform” describes the distinctive attire worn by members of the same group or body or
by students enrolled in particular educational institutions.

Q3. What breathes beneath all uniforms?

Ans. A single body breathes beneath all uniforms. This means beneath superficial differences, there is a
similarity in all men.

Q4. What is the irony in uniform?

Ans. An outfit, costume, or means of identification that is the same for a group or organisation is called a
uniform. But rather than becoming one, the world is still divided because every country wears a
different uniform.

I will arise and go now,

for always night and day

I hear the lake water lapping

with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway,

or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Questions :

(i) Where will the poet go?

(ii) For how long time will the poet go there?

(iii) What will the poet hear?

(iv) How the poet will hear this sound?

(v) Name the poet.

Answers :

(i) The poet will go to Innisfree Island.

(ii) He will go there forever.

(iii) The poet will hear the lapping sound of the water against the shore. (iv) The poet will hear this
sound through the very core of his heart.
(iv) W.B. Yeats.

And I shall have some peace there,

for peace comes dropping slow

Dropping from the veils of the morning

to where the cricket sings;

Their midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evenings full of the linnet’s wings.

Questions :

(i) Who does ‘I’ refer to in the first line?

(ii) What will the speaker have there?

(iii) What is the special feature of that land at midnight?

(iv) How is the evening at that land?

(v) What land is the speaker talking about?

Answers :

(i) ‘I’ refers to the poet.

(ii) He will have peace of mind there.

(iii) That land glimmers’ at midnight.

(iv) The evenings of that land are MI of small birds.

(v) The speaker is talking about ‘Innisfree’ island.