Childhood Poem Summary in English by Markus Natten

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Childhood Poem Summary in English by Markus Natten

Childhood Poem Summary in English

The poet regrets having lost the innocence that he had as a child. He feels that after he turned twelve, he realised that hell and heaven did not exist as had been taught to him. He rationalised his thoughts and drew his own conclusions. He ceased to have faith in people and became a little more sceptical.

The poet could have lost his childhood when he realised that adults were hypocritical. He understood that although they sermonised on the need to be loving, yet they did not follow that dictum. They did not love the people around them. Their love was merely a facade.

Perhaps, he lost his childhood when he became more individualistic. He refused to share what was his. He learnt to think for himself. It was at that point of time that he learnt to assert himself.

The poet knows that he has lost his childhood and he laments its loss. He is saddened by the fact that he cannot regain it. He knows, with certainty, childhood can be found still, veiled, in a young child’s face.

Childhood Poem Summary Questions and Answers

1. When did my childhood go?
Was it the day I ceased to be eleven,
Was it the time I realized that Hell and Heaven,
Could not be found in Geography,
And therefore could not be,
Was that the day!

a. “When did my childhood go?” What does the poet want to convey? Name the poetic device.
Answer:
The poet uses interrogation to convey a strong affirmation. He wants to convey that he has lost his childhood.

b. When did the poet lose his childhood?
Answer:
The poet lost his childhood when he was twelve years old.

c. What did he become conscious of then?
Answer:
The poet became rationalistic.

d. What did he stop believing?
Answer:
The poet stopped believing that heaven and hell were places that could be found on the globe.

e. What was different about him earlier?
Answer:
The poet was more naive and trusting earlier when he was younger.

2. When did my childhood go?
Was it the time I realized that adults were not
all they seemed to be,
They talked of love and preached of love,
But did not act so lovingly,
Was that the day!

a. When did the poet lose his childhood?
Answer:
The poet lost his childhood when he realized that there was hypocrisy in the world.

b. What did he observe about the adults?
Answer:
The poet observed that adults did not practise what they preached.

c. What did they preach?
Answer:
Adults advocated love.

d. What virtue was the poet deprived of then?
Answer:
The poet was deprived of his insight.

3. When did my childhood go?
Was it when I found my mind was really mine,
To use whichever way I choose,
Producing thoughts that were not those of other people
But my own, and mine alone
Was that the day!

a. When did the poet lose his childhood?
Answer:
The poet lost his childhood when he became individualistic.

b. How did he change?
Answer:
The poet started thinking with his own mind.

c. What did he realize?
Answer:
The poet realized that he had become possessive of his own things and had started thinking for himself.

d. What virtue was the poet deprived of then?
Answer:
The poet was deprived of sharing and compassion.

4. Where did my childhood go?
It went to some forgotten place,
That’s hidden in an infant’s face,
That’s all I know.

a. When did the poet lose his childhood?
Answer:
The poet lost his childhood when he turned twelve.

b. Why does the poet feel that it has gone to some forgotten place?
Answer:
The poet feels his childhood has gone to some forgotten place because it is untraceable now.

c. Where could it be hiding? Why?
Answer:
Childhood could be hiding in a young child’s face because that is the only place where the poet feels he has seen it, lately.

The Voice of The Rain Poem Summary in English by Walt Whitman

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The Voice of The Rain Poem Summary in English by Walt Whitman

The Voice of The Rain Poem by Walt Whitman Poet

NameWalt Whitman
Born31 May 1819, West Hills, New York, United States
Died26 March 1892, Camden, New Jersey, United States
PoemsLeaves of Grass, Song of Myself, O Captain! My Captain!
AwardsGolden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration
The Voice of The Rain Poem Summary by Walt Whitman
The Voice of The Rain Poem Summary by Walt Whitman

The Voice of The Rain Poem Summary in English

The poet gazed at the gentle spell of rain and asked of the rain who it was. Much to the surprise of the poet, it answered him. The rain said that it is the poetry of the earth. It is never-ending. It is intangible as it rises out of the land, from the endless sea before it ascends towards heaven. There it changes its form, yet, in essence, it is the same. It once again comes down to earth to refresh the dry earth, to bathe tiny particles and settle the dust-layers of the world. As it falls on the earth, the seeds that hitherto lay dormant and lifeless, spring to life. The rain says that the earth is its creator and it gives back life to it. Rain makes the globe wholesome and beautifies it.

Thus, the rain takes a full circle and comes back to its creator, just like the song that originates from its birthplace and after completion, travels around the earth, whether one takes heed of it or not, and then comes back to its place of origin with love.

The Voice of The Rain Poem Summary Questions and Answers

1. And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:
I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,

a. Who are the two people in conversation?
Answer:
The poet and the rain are the two people in conversation.

b. What did the poet ask?
Answer:
The poet asked the rain who it was.

c. Why was it ‘strange to tell’?
Answer:
The rain replied to the poet’s query and gave an extraordinary answer.

d. What does the rain call itself? Why?
Answer:
The rain calls itself the rhyme of the earth. Like a song, it travels back to its source.

2. Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether
changed, and yet the same,
I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
And make pure and beautify it,

a. Where does the rain rise from?
Answer:
The rain rises from the land and the sea.

b. Why is it impalpable?
Answer:
It is intangible—in the form of vapour.

c. Where does it rise to?
Answer:
It rises upward towards heaven.

d. What happens there?
Answer:
The cloud changes its form.

e. What impact does it have on earth?
Answer:
The rain, once again, comes down to earth to wash away paucity, to bathe tiny particles and the dust- layers of the world.

f. What is the effect on seeds?
Answer:
The rain puts life into the seeds; helps them germinate.

g. What is the impact on earth?
Answer:
The rain purifies and beautifies the earth.

h. How does the rain complete its cycle?
Answer:
The rain sets out from the land; goes heavenwards; and comes back again to the land.

3. (For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering,
Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns.)

a. What does the song do?
Answer:
The song sets out, wanders, completes its journey and comes back.

b. How is it like the rain?
Answer:
It comes back after a full cycle and so is like the rain.

c. What do the words ‘reck’d or unreck’d’ suggest?
Answer:
Cared or uncared.

d. How does a song seek its fulfilment?
Answer:
A song seeks its fulfilment by roaming; travelling places before it returns.

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 2 Chapter 8

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 2 Chapter 8

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 2 Chapter 8

The king and queen make a progress to the frontiers. The narrator attends them. The manner in which he leaves the country is very particularly related. He returns to England.

Gulliver spent two years in Brobdingnag, but he was not happy, despite the royal family’s pampering. He was afraid that he would never escape and would turn into a sort of domestic, albeit royal, pet. Escape seemed impossible when chance intervened; Gulliver was taken to the south coast and both Glumdalclitch and Gulliver fell ill. Gulliver said that he wanted fresh air, and a page carried him out to the shore in his travelling-box.

He asked to be left to sleep in his hammock, and the boy wandered off. An eagle grabbed hold of Gulliver’s box and flew off with him and then, suddenly, Gulliver felt himself falling and landed in the water. He worried that he would drown or starve to death, but then felt the box being pulled. He heard a voice telling him that his box was tied to a ship and that a carpenter would come to drill a hole in the top. Gulliver told them to simply use a finger to pry it open, and heard laughter. He realized that he was speaking to people of his own height and climbed a ladder out of his box and onto their ship.

Gulliver began to recover on the ship, and he tried to tell the sailors the story of his recent journey. He showed them the things he had saved from Brobdingnag, like his comb and a tooth pulled from a footman. He had trouble adjusting to the sailors’ small size. While in Brobdingnag, Gulliver couldn’t bear to look at himself in the mirror as he appeared ridiculously insignificant, even to himself. Now, faced with people his own size for the first time in a long while, he couldn’t bear to look at them. He looked upon the sailors who saved his life as the most ‘contemptible creatures I had ever beheld.’

When he reached home, it took him some time to grow accustomed to his old life, and his wife asked him to never go to sea again.

 

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 2 Chapter 7

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 2 Chapter 7

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 2 Chapter 7

The narrator’s love of his country is described. He makes a proposal of much advantage to the king, which is rejected. The king’s great ignorance in politics and the learning of that country very imperfect and confined is written about here. The laws, and military affairs, and parties in the state are explained.

Gulliver was disturbed by the king’s evaluation of England, which he decided arose from his ignorance of the country.
To remedy this, Gulliver offered to teach the king about England’s magnificence. He tried to tell him about gunpowder, describing it as a great invention and offering it to the king as a gesture of friendship, whereby the king could reduce all his subjects to slavery.

The king was horrified by the suggestion. He rejected such a bloodthirsty and inhumane proposal, warning the ‘impotent and grovelling insect’ (Gulliver) that he would be executed if he ever mentioned gunpowder again. Gulliver was taken aback, thinking that the king had refused a great opportunity. He thought that the king was unnecessarily scrupulous and narrow-minded for not being more open to the inventions of Gulliver’s world.

Gulliver turned to giving an account of the customs and government of his hosts. The Brobdingnagiari army was a national guard or militia; there w ere no professional soldiers. As for government, it was extremely simple. There were no refinements, mysteries, intrigues, or state secrets. Government depended upon common sense, mercy, and swift justice. Gulliver found the people of Brobdingnag in general to be ignorant and poorly educated.

Brobdingnagian learning consisted only of morality, history, poetry and practical mathematics. The Brobdingnagians could not understand abstract reasoning or ideas. Their laws could contain only twenty-two words and had to be absolutely clear. No arguments could be written about them. They knew the art of printing but did not have many books, and their writing was simple and straightforward. One text described the insignificance and weakness of Brobdingnagians and even argued that at one point they must have been much larger.

 

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 2 Chapter 6

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 2 Chapter 6

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 2 Chapter 6

Several contrivances of the narrator please the king and queen. He shows his skill in music. The king inquires into the state of England, which the narrator narrates to him.

Gulliver made himself a comb from the stumps of hair left after the king had been shaved. He used strands of the queen’s hair to make several chairs similar to English cane-backed chairs, which he gave to the queen as souvenirs, and a purse that he gave to Glumdalclitch.

The king delighted in music and had frequent concerts at court. Gulliver was sometimes carried, and set in his box on a table to hear them. But the music was so loud that he could hardly distinguish the tunes. Gulliver decided to play the piano for the royal family, but he had to contrive a novel way to do it, since the instrument was so big. He used large sticks and ran over the keyboard with them, but he could still strike only sixteen keys.

The king also held several audiences with Gulliver to discuss the culture of Gulliver’s home country, England. In these audiences, as requested by the King, Gulliver explained the role of the people in the operation of the government, in religion, and in the legal system, among other topics. The king asked many questions and was horrified. He couldn’t understand the English system of taxation, and suggested that Gulliver’s figures were all wrong, for the country seemed headed for bankruptcy. Deficit spending made no sense at all to the king. Neither did having colonies, unless it was for purposes of self-protection. He was also mystified by England’s having a standing army in peacetime. He was astonished that religious differences give rise to problems.

And gambling-what a crazy pastime! He was particularly struck by the violence of the history Gulliver described. He then took Gulliver into his hand and, explaining that he found the world that Gulliver described to be ridiculous, contemptuous, and strange, told him that he concluded that most Englishmen sounded like ‘the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth’ who indulged in conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, revolutions, banishments, the very worst effects that avarice, faction, hypocrisy, perfidiousness, cruelty, rage, madness, hatred, envy, lust, malice, or ambition could produce.