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What if Summary in English by Shel Silverstein
What if Summary in English
The narrator is a young girl. Her mind is sometimes filled with doubts and fears. At night such unpleasant situations haunt her.
She wonders what will happen if she loses her power to speak, or if the school closes the swimming pool, or if she gets beaten up, or if somebody puts poison in her cup. It is also possible that she may get sick and die, or fail in the examination, or stop growing in height, or is hit by lightning. The other such bad situations are that the wind may tear up the kite, or a war breaks out, or her teeth grow irregularly, or she may never learn to dance.
When she wakes up next morning, everything looks fine and normal. But her fears return at night again.
What if Summary in Hindi
लेखक एक युवा बालिका है। उसके दिमाग में कभी-कभी संशय और भय भर जाते हैं। रात को ये दुखदायी स्थितियाँ उसके दिमाग को मथती रहती हैं।
उसे हैरानी है कि क्या परिणाम होगा यदि वह अपनी वाशक्ति खो बैठे, अथवा उसका स्कूल स्विमिंग पूल के इस्तेमाल पर पाबन्दी लगा दे, अथवा कोई व्यक्ति उसकी धुनाई कर दे अथवा उसके प्याले में विष घोल दे। यह भी संभव है कि वह स्वयं बीमार पड़कर भगवान को प्यारी हो जाये, अथवा वह परीक्षा में फेल हो जाये अथवा उसका कद बढ़ना थम जाये अथवा उस पर आकाशीय बिजली गिर जाये। अन्य ऐसी बुरी स्थितियाँ हैं कि पवन उसकी पतंग फाड़ दे, अथवा विश्व में युद्ध छिड़ जाये अथवा उसके दाँत टेढ़े-मेढ़े उगे अथवा वह कभी भी नृत्यकला न सीख पाये।
जब वह अगली सुबह उठती है तो सब कुछ ठीक-ठाक और सामान्य पाती है। पर उसके भय पुनः रात को उसे तंग करने लगते हैं।
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Daffodils Poem Summary by William Wordsworth
Daffodils Summary by William Wordsworth About the Poet
William Wordsworth was a 19th century literary stalwart and the most influential pioneer of English romantic poetry.He was born on 7th April, 1770 at Cockermouth, in Cumbria. He lost both his parents at an early age. He began to write poetry while he was at school. As a young man, Wordsworth developed a love of nature, a theme reflected in many of his poems. While studying at Cambridge University, Wordsworth spent summer holidays on a walking tour in Switzerland and France. He became an enthusiast for the ideals of the French Revolution.
In 1797, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy moved from Dorset to Somerset, where he met and befriended Samuel Taylor Coleridge, another great poet of his generation. They collaborated on a collection of poems titled ‘Lyrical Ballads’, which included many of Wordsworth’s poems along with Coleridge’s long poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Brought out in 1798, this collection of poems marked the beginning of the Romantic Movement in English poetry.
In 1799, Wordsworth and Dorothy settled at Dove Cottage in Grasmere in the Lake District. In 1802, Wordsworth married a childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson. It was during his stay in Grasmere that Wordsworth wrote his poem, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, in 1804. In 1813, Wordsworth moved from Grasmere to nearby Ambleside. In 1843, he became the poet laureate.
Wordsworth died on 23 April, 1850 and was buried in Grasmere churchyard. His great autobiographical poem, The Prelude was published after his death. The Excursion, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood, Tintern Abbey, She was a Phantom of Delight, The Solitary Reaper, Michael: A Pastoral Poem, The Leech Gatherer, The World is Too Much with Us are some of his other best-known poems that have established him as One of the most outstanding figures in the history of English literature.
Daffodils Summary About the Poem
The poem ‘Daffodils’ or ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ is one of the loveliest and best-known poems of William Wordsworth. The poem was written in the year 1802. It was first published in “Poems in Two Volumes” in 1807. The very starting line of the poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud” informs the poet’s profound sentiments of being left alone. It was actually the death of his brother John that led him to “loneliness.” The poem was thus not a result of imagination, but that of actual visualization.
Daffodils Summary of the Poem
The poet or the speaker in this poem, says that, once while “wandering like a cloud floating above hills and valleys”, he came across a field of daffodils beside a lake. The dancing, fluttering flowers stretched endlessly along the shore, and though the shining waves of the lake danced beside the flowers, yet the daffodils outdid the water with their beauty.
Daffodils Poem Summary
The poet says that the golden daffodils twinkled and stretched in a continuous line just like the stars in the Milky Way galaxy for putting a greater implication in indicating that the flowers are heavenly as the stars. He seems the endless view of the golden daffodils as a never-ending line. The poet’s exaggeration of the number of flowers by saying “Ten thousand saw I at a glance” indicates that he has never seen so many daffodils at once. The poet could not help to be happy in such a joyful company of flowers.
He says that he stared and stared, but did not realize what wealth the scene would bring him. For now, whenever he feels “vacant” or “pensive” the memory strikes “that inward eye” that is “the bliss of solitude” and his heart fills with pleasure, “and dances with the daffodils.”
Daffodils Summary Critical Analysis
In this poem, which reads like a piece of memory etched deep in the poet’s heart, praises the beauty of the daffodils which leaves a lasting impression on him. Divided into four stanzas, the poem deals with the subjects of nature and memory, which were close to the hearts of all the romantic poets. The style of poetic expression as well as diction employed by Wordsworth is easy and uncomplicated, bearing a kind of musical eloquence. The four six-lined stanzas of this poem follow a quatrain-couplet rhyme scheme: ababcc. Each line is metered in iambic tetrameter.
In this poem, the poet tells us what he observed and experienced while walking through the hills and valleys one day. He was lonely and melancholy. Suddenly, as he passed a lake, he noticed a cluster of yellow daffodils waving in the breeze. This wasn’t just an isolated or scattered patch of daffodils. There were thousands and thousands of them that he saw dancing in the breeze. The speaker’s loneliness was replaced by the sheer joy of seeing this lovely spectacle, and its impact was strong enough to become a piece of memory that he would love to recall in future fondly as a great gift of nature. Now, whenever he feels depressed, he just thinks of the daffodils, and his heart finds back the joy of living.
The poem starts with the poet’s description of himself as a ‘cloud’ that floats over the hills. This presents an idea of seclusion. The idea of being alone is contradicted by the phrase “crowd” (line 3). This is actually the ‘setting of the poem. As human form Wordsworth prefers seclusion but the ‘crowd’ of daffodils bewilders his senses. The feeling of ecstasy suddenly makes a dive.
The plot is extremely simple, depicting the poet’s wandering and his discovery of a field of daffodils by a lake, the memory of which pleases him and comforts him when he is lonely, bored, or restless. The characterization of the sudden occurrence of a memory—the daffodils “flash upon the inward eye”, which is “the bliss of solitude”—is psychologically acute, but the poem’s main
brilliance lies in the reverse personification of its early stanzas. The speaker is metaphorically compared to a natural object, a cloud, as comprehended by—“1 wandered lonely as a cloud/That floats on high…”, and the daffodils are continually personified as human beings, dancing and “tossing their heads” in “a crowd, a host.” This technique implies an inherent unity between man and nature, making it one of Wordsworth’s most basic and effective methods for instilling in the reader the feeling, the poet so often describes himself as experiencing.
Nature permeates the entire poem. Phrases like “a crowd, a host…. continuous as the stars…they stretched in never-ending lines…ten thousand saw I at a glance” present deep implications of nature’s extensiveness. Daffodils, an everyday found flower has been portrayed in magical verses and blended with transcendental romanticism that leaves an everlasting mark in the minds of the readers of this poem.
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Television Poem Summary by Roald Dahi
Television Summary by Roald Dahi About the Poet
Roald Dahl (1916 – 1990) was a versatile Norwegian-British novelist, short story writer, poet and screenwriter. Dahl served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence officer, and rose to the rank of acting wing commander. In 1953, he published the best¬selling story collection Someone like You. It was followed by a couple of bestselling children’s books, James and the Giant Peach (1961) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964). The latter was subsequently adapted into a film. Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Twits and George’s Marvellous Medicine are some of his other best-known books written for children.
Regarded as one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century, he wrote 19 children’s books. Besides, he also wrote a number of stories for the mature, adult reading public, including the popular Tales of the Unexpected. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to literature, he was awarded the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the British Book Awards’ Children’s Author of the Year in 1990. In 2008, The Times placed Dahl 16th on its list of ‘The 50 greatest British writers since 1945’. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide.
Television Summary About the Poem
The poem “Television” by the British poet Roald Dahl was written in 2003. Though the poem is about children, it is addressed to their parents, i.e., adults. In this respect, it is different from his other poems, particularly the ones collected in “Revolting Rhymes” that are directly addressed to children. The use of rhymed couplets is another striking aspect of this long poem that lends it an almost musical quality. Since its publication, the poem has received worldwide popularity and attention for its brilliant style, earthy and uncomplicated tone, and a message that is extremely significant today, when we are uncritically accepting the dominance of technology in all walks of life usually even at the expense of the actual needs of our own kids.
Television Summary of the Poem
The poem ‘Television’ by Roald Dahl states that the television is a hypno- tizer which dulls the imagination of children by all the filth it telecasts. According to Dahl, children who watch the television just constantly stare at the screen bedazzled by the shows which completely control their minds, so much so that they find it impossible to do or think of anything else. He further says that the television set and its morbid shows that are turning our young generation into zombies where thinking is concerned. Values, morals & ethics
are thrown into the dustbin & bizarre information provided by the media is being constantly chewed & digested by children these days. He further states that before the television had come, children used to spend their time reading quality books which, as he appears to be stating in an indirect manner, develops their imagination; sharpens their senses; transports them to the most wonderful places; and allows them to spend their leisure time qualitatively.
Sadly however, it is very difficult today to rid the idiot box from our homes. Of course there are some good points about television watching especially, where the news is concerned to make the pupil aware of what is happening in society. But most of the time, the television is unable to censor the content being broadcast which ultimately leads to a sort of ‘early maturation’ of young students. Books on the other hand can be controlled where information is concerned & always benefits the minds of the scholar. In the poem, Roald Dahl also describes the way an adult can initiate the reading habit in children.
Television Summary Critical Analysis
The poem ‘Television’ consists of a total of 94 lines. These lines are not separated into stanzas. Here they are divided into meaningful segments for ease of comprehension. Roald Dahl follows the same simple rhyme scheme throughout this poem – aabb and so on in a series of rhyming couplets. Only on one occasion does he diverge from this when the end words of the lines rhyme in lines 31, 32 & 33.
The poet uses the device of apostrophe when he addresses his poem to English parents and advises them on doing away with their television sets. He also uses the rhetorical device of personification to give human qualities to something that is incapable of human actions. Dahl uses the device of personification in two cases – first, when he gives television the human ability to kill something, and second, when he gives ‘imagination’ the human ability to die at its hands. The tone of this poem is contrary to what has led the poet to pen his thoughts here.
Dahl is a man who lived through a period of great many inventions, including that of television. However, he is not excited by this so- called progress and development of the human race. He hankers for the olden days when life was simpler, and little pleasures were more easily experienced.
He associates television with the loss of Innocence in children. He is saddened to see that children do not any longer read books as ardently as they used to, when he was younger. He longs to change this, and ‘Television’ comes out of his meagre attempt to do so. In characteristic style, his aim is both to entertain and edify his readers – young and old alike.
The poet talks about the importance of books in the lives of the children and most importantly, how this passion for books has been substituted with the addiction for television. The poet makes the television set like an evil which hinders the growth of brains for the children and hampers their creativity. The poet highlights the vitality of books which are, however, ignored because of this television.
The author, at the end, requests the parents to do away with the television sets from their homes and instead place a nice book shelf at its place and fill it with good books. This will aid the children to build their knowledge, creativity and at the end, will make them successful. No matter, now, the children might rebel at this change and even argue and fight with the parents for throwing away their favourite television, but at the end, they will be benefitting out of it.
And a day will come, when they will acknowledge and thank the parents for doing so.In all, the poem focuses on the concerns about the ill-effects of television on the young minds of young children. The poet is of the opinion that television kills the imagination of children. It also distracts them from the joy of reading. The poem is written not from a child but from an adult’s point of view.
Television Summary Word-Meanings
install – set up
idiotic – foolish
gaping – seeing with mouth wide open
loll – lie back: slop – spill; splatter
lounge about – sprawl
stare – gaze
hypnotized – spellbound; entranced
absolutely – completely
ghastly – terrible; frightening
junk – waste
rot – decay; putrefy
clog – block; choke
clutter up – jam; block; obstruct
contented – satisfied
galore – in sufficient quantity
isles – islands
rotter – an unpleasant person: nauseating – disgusting
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Vocation Summary in English by Rabindranath Thakur
Vocation by Rabindranath Thakur About the Poet
Poet Name
Rabindranath Thakur
Born
7 May 1861, Kolkata
Died
7 August 1941, Jorasanko Thakur Bari, Kolkata
Artworks
Dancing Woman, Woman’s Face
On view
National Gallery of Modern Art
The Wonderful Words Summary by Mary O Neill
Vocation Summary in English
The child walks to his school at ten in the morning, Everyday he meets a bangle-seller. The man goes about at ease all day long. The child is tempted to adopt the vocation of that happy hawker.
In the afternoon the child comes back from the school. He sees a gardener working with spade in a kothi. The gardener is his own master. He soils his clothes and gets wet in the rain. But nobody scolds or punishes him. The child wishes he too were a gardener, free to do what he liked.
At night the child sees the watchman on duty. The lone man carries a lantern and keeps walking in the lane all night. The child envies the watchman. He too wants to go about freely and do what he likes.
Vocation Summary in Hindi
बच्चा प्रात: दस बजे स्कूल के लिये निकल पड़ता है। हर दिन वह एक चूड़ी विक्रेता को देखता है। वह व्यक्ति सारा दिन मौज से घूमताफिरता है। बच्चे की भी इच्छा होती है कि उस सुखी फेरी वाले का धंधा अपना ले।
दोपहर बाद बच्चा स्कूल से घर लौटता है। वह एक कोठी में किसी माली को फावड़ा चलाते देखता है। माली अपनी मर्जी का मालिक स्वयं होता है। वह अपने वस्त्र भी गंदे कर लेता है और वर्षा में गीले कर लेता है। पर कोई भी व्यक्ति उसे न डाँटता है, न दण्ड देता है। बच्चे की तमन्ना होती है कि काश वह भी माली बन जाये और अपनी इच्छानुसार काम स्वतंत्र रूप से किया करे।
रात को बच्चा चौकीदार को ड्यूटी देते देखता है। वह अकेला व्यक्ति हाथ में लालटेन लिये सारी रात गली में घूमता रहता है। बच्चे को चौकीदार से भी ईर्ष्या होने लगती है। वह कामना करता है कि वह स्वच्छन्द विचरण करे और अपनी इच्छानुसार काम करे।
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After Blenheim Poem Summary by Robert Southey
After Blenheim Summary by Robert Southey About the Poet
Robert Southey (1774 – 1843) was one of the three renowned ‘Lake Poets’ associated with the Romantic school (the other two being William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge). He was ‘Poet Laureate’ of England for around three decades, starting from 1813 until his death in 1843.
During his long literary career, Southey wrote a number of lyrics, ballads, and comic-grotesque poems. His poetry was first published in 1795 in a collection, titled Poems; containing The Retrospect, Odes, Sonnets, Elegies, &c. by Robert Lovell and Robert Southey of Balliol College, Oxford.
The collection included 21 poems by Southey and 11 by Lovell. Joan of Arc, My days among the Dead are past, After Blenheim, English Eclogues and The Inchcape Rock are some of his best-known poems. English Eclogues anticipates Alfred Tennyson’s English Idylls as lucid, relaxed, and observant verse accounts of contemporary life.
Besides being a poet, Southey was also a prolific letter writer, literary scholar, essay writer, historian, a polyglot-translator and biographer. His biographies include the life and works of John Bunyan, John Wesley, William Cowper, Oliver Cromwell and Horatio Nelson. One of his most outstanding contributions to literary history that earned him great fame is the children’s classic The Story of the Three Bears, the original story of Goldilocks, first published in his prose collection The Doctor. He also served for a brief period of time, as a Tory Member of Parliament.
After Blenheim Summary About the Poem
“After Blenheim”, also known as “The Battle of Blenheim”, is a famous anti¬war poem written by Robert Southey. The poem, published in 1798, is in the form of a ballad and its theme is the famous Battle of Blenheim of 1704. It was fought between the combined forces of France and Bavaria representing one side, and the forces of England and Austria representing the rival side.
The poem is set at the site of that Battle, the Anglicised name for the German village of Blenheim, situated on the left bank of the Danube River in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany. The poem starts with the queries of two little kids about a skull which has been found by one of them while playing near their cottage. As the kids are surprised and curious, they approach their grandfather and ask him about it.
The grandfather, Kaspar, then tells the two kids about a war that had been fought years ago. He describes the horrors of war. Despite that, he does not categorically criticize the war as such. The poem ends on a rather baffling note, suggested by the repeated use of the phrase “a famous victory” that the war reminds him of at present.
After Blenheim Summary of the Poem
The poem opens on the scene of a summer evening. An elderly farmer named Kaspar was sitting in the sun in front of his cottage, watching his grandchildren, Wilhelmine and Peterkin, playing on the field. Wilhelmine saw her brother Peterkin who was rolling something large and round that he found near a stream.
He then takes it to Kaspar and asks what it is. The old man took it from the curious boy and with a natural sigh replied that it was some poor man’s skull that died in the war. He further added that he had found many such skulls while ploughing the fields as thousands of brave men died in the ‘Battle of Blenheim’, known for its famous victory. The young Peterkin became more curious to know all about the Battle of Blenheim and for what did the men fought with each other.
After Blenheim Poem Summary
To this Kaspar said that it was the English who defeated the French, but he was not sure as to why they fought but could only say that everybody said that it was a ‘famous victory’.Kaspar said that his father lived at Blenheim at that time who had suffered heavy” loss by the war, his house was burnt and he had to tlee with his wife and children and became homeless.
Kaspar added that the war rage, its fire and sword caused much destruction all over the country and many pregnant women and new born babies died. But things like that are quite common for every war with a famous victory.
It is said that it was a shocking sight as after the battle was won, thousands of copses lay rotting in the sun but he again repeated that things like that must happen after a famous victory. Everybody praised Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene for their triumph over French.
Wilhelmine said that this was a bad thing but Kaspar again said that “Nay…nay…my little girl, It was a famous victory”. Everybody praised the Duke for the great fight but. Peterkin questioned as if any good came at last. To which Kaspar could say anything but only repeated that it was a famous victory”.
After Blenheim Summary Critical Analysis
Robert Southey’s poem “After Blenheim” comprises II stanzas, each containing 6 lines. It has been written in’the form of a ballad, capturing a piece of conversation between an old man named Kasper and his two grandchildren. Kaspar explains to the children the story of the battle, that the Duke of Marlborough routed the French, although he admits he never understood the reason for the war himself.
He also mentions that his father had a cottage by the rivulet (small stream). The soldiers burned it to the ground, and his father and mother had fled, with their child. Thousands of corpses lay rotting in the fields, but he shrugs it off, as part of the cost of war. Wilhelmine says it was a wicked thing, but he contradicts her saying, no, it was a great victory”. Kaspar does not come up with any concrete answer, when the grandchild Peterkin asks him what good came out of the war. This is because Kaspar is focusing more on what we would call today the “spin” about the war and this specific battle. He is emphasizing “the great victory” more.
The poem is replete with the terrible consequences of war – its wastefulness and how this affects the people and the land. The irony is that war wreaks havoc on the victor and the vanquished alike. The victors, in their success do receive terrible consequences as well. It’s quite likely that the grandpa is looking to shield Peter kin from this reality, since Peter kin is of a tender age.
Maybe the grandpa wants to wait till the boy is more mature to reveal to him what war is really all about. In addition, it is possible that Grandpa Kaspar doesn’t really know what came out of the war. Maybe he feels nothing positive and constructive as to what did come out of this war and that is also why he doesn’t provide an answer – or at least a suitable answer for Peterkin.
Throughout the poem the phrases “great victory” and “famous victory” are repeated but with no boast behind it. In the sixth stanza Kaspar tells them that it was the English and French who fought for some unimportant reason, but it was a great victory. The next two stanzas explain all the collateral damage in the battle, for example women and children fleeing from burning homes, the country side wasted and dead babies and mothers. The ninth stanza paints the image of the battlefield with thousands rotting in the sun.
The tenth, which shows the people praising the victory of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene to which the little girl reacts by saying how terrible it was. But, as if rehearsed he said it that was a famous victory. The final stanza is the boy Peterkin asking whaf good came from all this death and destruction and the grandfather responds again ‘Why that I cannot tell,’ said he ‘But ’twas a famous victory’.
The repetition of the old man words builds up an ironic climax. The moral of the poem is that there is no real rationale for destructive war among human beings and nations that should learn to get along.
After Blenheim Summary Word-Meanings
sported – played
rivulet – a small stream
expectant – eager, hopeful
ploughshare – broad cutting blade of a plough
slain – killed
rout – defeat
quoth – said
yon – beyond
dwelling – house
fly – run away
wasted far and wide – destroyed or ruined up to a great distance
