AL NOOR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, BAHRAIN

CBSE SECTION 2023-24

A NATION’S STRENGTH- REFERENCE MATERIAL

I. Word Bank

 foundations - roots
 defy - strongly resist
 foes - enemies
 shafts - columns that form the base of a building
 abiding - long lasting
 lustre - shine

II. Answer the following.

1. What are the things that, according to the poet, do not make a nation strong?

Ans. The poet says that wealth, power/ battle, pride are the three things that do not
make a nation strong.

2. What can happen to a nation’s pride?

Ans. God can destroy a nation’s pride and bring it down to ashes.

3. What are the qualities that make a nation strong?

Ans: A nation is made strong by the greatness of its people. Those men who are strong
and would suffer for the sake of truth and honour and those who are brave and work
hard while others sleep, make a nation strong.

III. Answer these questions with reference to the context.

1. ‘Its shaft are laid on sinking sand,

Not on abiding rock’.

a. What does the word, shaft mean?

Ans: A shaft is the base on which a building is constructed.

b. What happens if a shaft is put on sand?

Ans: A building would be unsteady when its shaft is put on sand.

c. What is the result of a shaft being laid on rock?

Ans: When a shaft laid on rock, the building will remain strong and steady.

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d. What is the shaft a symbol of in these lines?
Ans: Here, the shaft symbolises the foundation of a strong country, which is made up of
the strength, integrity and hard work of its people.

2. ‘The blood has turned their stones to rusty,

Their glory to decay.’

a. Whose blood does the line refer to?

Ans: The line refers to the blood spilled by the people who fought wars.

b. What does the phrase ‘turn stones to rust’ refer to?

Ans: The line suggests that even strong people whose strength is like stone can
disintegrate like rust, after a war.
c. Whose glory has diminished?
Ans: A country which goes to war loses his glory.

3. ‘They build a nation’s pillars deep

And lift them to the sky’.

a. Who is ‘they’ in this line?

Ans: Here the word ‘they’ refers to the brave people who stand by their nation and
work hard to make their nation strong and secure.

b. How are a nation’s pillars built deep?

Ans: A nation’s pillars are built deep by the brave people who work hard while others
sleep.

c. How are a nation’s pillars lifted to the sky?

Ans: The pillars of a nation grow taller through the hard work and continued dedication
of its people.

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