DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, INDORE

Session 2023-24
CYCLE- 15

LITERATURE- The Way Through the Woods

Lessson-14
The Way Through the Woods
Rudyard Kipling
I Quotation-
By discovering nature, you discover yourself.

II Pre-reading Activity-
There are different types of forests around the world. Name few of
them.

III Difficult words-

1) coppice
2) heath
3) anemones
4) badgers
5) whistle

IV Word meanings-
1) undone – ruined, destroyed
2) steadily-continuously
3) broods – sits upon eggs to hatch them
4) underneath-beneath, below
5) misty -cloudy

V Antonyms-
 1) ease x displeasure
2) steadily x intermittently
3) misty x clear

VI Reference to context-
“There was once a road through the woods …”

a) What happened to the road that once ran through the woods?
Answer- The road through the woods was shut down.
b)How long ago did it exist?
Answer- It existed seventy years ago.
c) How has it disappeared?
Answer -It has disappeared due to weather and rain and lack of use.

VII Short Answer Type Questions-

a)Describe the present state of the ‘old lost road’.
Ans. The road had been shut seventy years ago. Now, it cannot be seen
as it is covered by trees and plants that have grown over it. The weather
and rains have added to the covering of the road. It is now fully covered
by coppice and heath.

b) What can be heard on late summer evening ?What do you think

causes these sounds?
Answer – The whistles of the otter can be heard on late summer
evening The otter can be seen calling his mate.Also the horse's feet
tapping ,swish of the skirt can be heard. Actually there is no presence of
such things ,it's just poet's imagination.

c) What message is the poet conveying through the poem? Can you
draw a parallel between man’s actions and nature’s reaction to
them?
Answer – The message conveyed by the poem is that natural world will
always overcome whatever is manmade. Man made a road through a
forest which belongs to trees, animals and birds, however, nature
managed to claim its land by regrowing trees, plants, shrubs etc. and
making the road invisible. It is the part of the woods again.

Figures of speech used in the poem-

1)Alliteration-
It is the repetition of a sound or a letter to add a musical effect.
Example-
a) The way through the woods
b) And the swish of a skirt in the dew

2) Onomatopoeia-

Onomatopoeia is a figure of speech in which words evoke the actual

sound of the thing they refer to or describe.

Example-
And the swish of a skirt in the dew.
Here the word ‘swish’ is an example of onomatopoeia which is giving
an idea of a skirt moving softly in the air.
Long Answer-
Write the summary of the poem ‘The Way Through the Woods’.
Answer-
The poem starts out by mentioning a road that ran through the woods
but was abandoned seventy years ago. The road has been ruined by the
weather and rain long time back. The road which can no longer be seen
and is now a part of the woods itself .It is because the road has vanished
beneath the bushes and vegetation of various species.
However, the road is bustling with activities. The keeper of the wood is
able to see the secret interactions of animals and exists among them
freely. Both the digging badger, which playfully rolls in it, and the ring-
dove, which broods there, call it home.
Now, anyone who explores the woods in the late summer evening will
discover that the road continues further. The otter calls out to its mate
as the night-air cools above the trout-filled ponds. Due to the lack of
human presence in the forests, these animals do not fear people.
Even when the horse isn't there, one can still hear the sound of its hoofs
on the ground. The sound of skirts swishing through dew-covered grass
could be heard. The people move on the road with ease because they
completely know where the path lays. Still, the poet believes that there
is no road through the woods.