English Summary

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Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary in English by Thomas Campbell

Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary in English

The poem is a ballad, which tells the tragic tale of Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover, a Scottish chieftain. The poem begins with the girl and the chieftain arriving at the banks of Lochgyle with the intention of going across it, to safety. They are being closely followed by Lord Ullin and his men and so the two lovers are desperate to go across before others arrive at the shore. The lover requests the boatman to ferry them across and promises to pay him a silver pound.

The boatman hesitates because the weather is stormy and it is dangerous to cross the Loch just then. But, when the girl pleads with him and says that she would rather face the stormy weather than an angry father who would surely kill her lover, the boatman is touched and agrees to take them across without money.

Thus, the boat leaves the shore just as Lord Ullin and his men reach the place. All his anger evaporates the moment he sees his daughter in the boat, battling against the fury of the raging tempest. The sight of his daughter crying out for help from the storm-ravaged boat melts his heart and he cries out to her to return with the assurance that he would forgive her. But it is too late and before his very eyes the little boat capsizes and the two lovers and the boatman are drowned in the turbulent waters.

The mood of the poem is very dark, serious, emotional and sad as it recounts the tragic tale of the two lovers. The setting of the poem is the Scottish Highlands.

Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover are trying to:
(i) escape the wrath of her father.
(ii) settle in a distant land.
(iii) challenge the storm in the lake.
(iv) trying to prove their love for each other
Answer:
Escape the wrath of her father.

b. The boatman agrees to ferry them across because:
(i) he has fallen in love with Lord Ullin’s daughter.
(ii) he wants to avenge Lord Ullin.
(iii) he has lost his love.
(iv) he is sorry for the childlike innocence of the lady.
Answer:
He is sorry for the childlike innocence of the lady.

c. The mood changes in the poem. It transforms from:
(i) happiness to fear.
(ii) anxiety to grief.
(iii) fear to happiness.
(iv) love to pain.
Answer:
Anxiety to grief.

d. The shore of Lochgyle has been referred to as fatal shore! ’ The poetic device used here is:
(i) metaphor
(ii) simile
(iii) transferred epithet
(iv) onomatopoeia
Answer:
Transferred epithet.

Question 2.
In pairs, copy and complete the summary of the poem with suitable words/expressions.
Answer:
A Scottish Chieftain and his beloved were (a) running awav from her wrathful father. As they reached the shores, the (b) chieftain told a boatman to (c) ferrv them across Lochgyle. He asked him to do it quickly because if (d) her father’s men found them, they would kill him. The boatman (e) agreed to take them not for the (f) silver pound that the chieftain offered but for his (g) voung. innocent bride. By this time, the storm had (h) begun and a wild wind had started blowing. The sound of (i) trampling could be heard close at hand. The lady urged the boatman (j) to hurry as she did not want to face an angry father.

Their boat left the (k) stormy land and as it got caught in the stormy sea, Lord Ullin reached the deadly (1) shore. His anger changed to wailing when he saw his daughter (m) caught in the storm. He asked her to return to the shore. But it was (n) futile as the stormy sea claimed his daughter and her lover.

Question 3.
Why does Lord Ullin’s daughter defy her father and elope with her lover?
Answer:
Lord Ullin’s daughter defies her father and runs away with her lover because her father refuses to let her marry the person she loves. Hence, if she wants to marry her lover, her only option is to elope with him.

Question 4.
Give two characteristics of the boatman who ferries the couple across the sea.
Answer:
The boatman is tender because he is able to sympathise with the innocent girl who has braved the elements and her father’s wrath for the person she loves.

He is also courageous because he agrees to ferry the lovers across the lake in the raging storm, endangering his own life in the process.

Question 5.
Imagery’ refers to something that can be perceived through more than one of the senses. It uses figurative language to help form mental pictures. Campbell used vivid, diverse and powerful imagery to personify the menacing face of nature. Pick out expressions that convey the images of anger in the following stanzas.
Answer:
Stanza 6 • ‘raging white’
Stanza 7 • ‘water-wraith was shrieking’
Stanza 9 • ‘raging of the skies’
Stanza 10 • ‘stormy seas’
Stanza 13 • ‘stormy water’
Stanza 14 • ‘loud waves lash’d the shore’,‘water wild’

Question 6.
Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

‘His horsemen hard behind us ride:
Should they our steps discover.
Then who will cheer my bonny bride
When they have slain her lover?’

a. Who is ‘his’ in line l? Who does ‘us’ refer to?
Answer:
Lord Ullin is referred to as ‘his’ in line l. The chieftain and his lover, Lord Ullin’s daughter, are referred to as ‘us’.

b. Explain – ‘cheer my bonny bride’.
Answer:
In this phrase ‘bonny’ implies attractive or beautiful. In this phrase, the young chieftain argues that if he is slain by Lord Ullin’s men, nobody will be able to keep his lover happy.

c. Why would the lover be slain?
Answer:
The lover would be slain for daring to run away with Lord Ullin’s daughter.

Question 7.
In Stanza 10, the poet says –
‘The boat has left a stormy land,
A stormy sea before her, ———– ’

a. In both these lines, the word ‘stormy ’ assumes different connotations. What are they?
Answer:
In the lines, the land is considered to be stormy because it is dangerous for the young couple as Lord Ullin’s ‘ men are pursuing them over land on horseback. The sea is stormy because there is, actually, a storm brewing over the sea. ’

b. The lady faces a dilemma here. What is it? What choice does she finally make?
Answer:
The Lady has to choose between the stormy land, representing the wrath of her father, and the sea, upon which a storm is raging. She chooses to risk her life in the stormy sea rather than face her angry father.

Question 8.
‘Lord Ullin reached that fatal shore’ just as his daughter left it. (Stanza 11).

a. Why is the shore called fatal?
Answer:
The shore is called fatal because Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover escape to the sea from that shore, only to be killed in the open sea.

b. Why does Lord Ullin’s wrath change into wailing on seeing his daughter?
Answer:
Lord Ullin’s wrath changes to wailing on seeing his daughter because, in her haste to escape her father, she drowns in the stormy sea.

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The Solitary Reaper Summary in English by William Wordsworth

The Solitary Reaper Summary in English

William Wordsworth, a Romantic poet, highlights the beauty of a ‘highland lass’ song in this poem. The poet is walking in the highlands of Scotland when he comes upon a girl singing in the field. He is so enamoured by her song that he stops in his travels and listens to her song. Her beautiful voice fills the whole valley. As he climbs over the hill, the song lingers in his ears and remains with him for a long time.

The poem begins with the poet walking in the highlands of Scotland when he comes across a girl who is cutting and binding grain into sheaves. She is singing as she works. Though the tune is melancholy, her voice is so captivating that the poet stops to listen to her.

He compares her song to the sweet notes of the nightingale and the cuckoo, both birds that sing in romantic surroundings. Since he is not familiar with the dialect, or he is too far to catch the words of the song, he is unable to understand the theme of the maiden’s song. He is, nevertheless, intrigued by the song and wonders what the theme of the song could be. This does not detract from his enjoyment of the song and he just stands there and listens to her song as she goes about her work. One thing is clear, her song is sad and her notes are plaintive. He wishes that her song would go on and on. Finally, the poet carries on, along his way, bearing in his heart the memory of the song.

The Solitary Reaper Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. The central idea of the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper’ is:
(i) well sung songs give us happiness
(ii) melodious sounds appeal to all
(iii) beautiful experiences give us life-long pleasure
(iv) reapers can sing like birds
Answer:
That beautiful experiences give us life-long pleasure.

b. In the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper ’ to whom does the poet say ‘ Stop here or gently pass ’?
(i) to the people cutting com
(ii) to himself
(iii) to the people who make noise
(iv) to all the passers by
Answer:
To himself.

c. ‘The Solitary Reaper’ is a narrative poem set to music. This form of verse is called a:
(i) ballad
(ii) soliloquy
(iii) monologue
(iv) sonnet
Answer:
Ballad.

d. The poet’s lament in the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper’ is that:
(i) he cannot understand the song
(ii) he did not know the lass
(iii) she stopped singing at once
(iv) he had to move away
Answer:
He cannot understand the song.

e. The setting of the poem is:
(i) Arabia
(ii) Hebrides
(iii) Scotland
(iv) England
Answer:
Scotland.

Question 2.
Read the second stanza again, in which Wordsworth compares the solitary reaper’s song with the song of the nightingale and the cuckoo. On the basis of your reading (and your imagination), copy and complete the table below. (Work in groups of four, then have a brief class discussion.)
Answer:

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The Road Not Taken Summary in English by Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken Summary in English

This poem talks about the choices that one has to make in life and their consequences. One day, while walking in a wooded area full of trees with yellow leaves, the poet comes to a fork in the road and has to decide which road he should take. He starts debating over the choice as he realizes he cannot walk on both. The second road appears to be less travelled and he is tempted to walk on it even though the first path also appears to have been left undisturbed for some time. However, he decides to take the second path with the intention of walking on the first one sometime in the future.

At the same time he knows that the chances of his returning that way are slim, especially as he is aware of the manner in which one path leads on to the other, taking the traveller far away from the main path. In the last stanza, the poet becomes philosophical when he talks about a future time when he would look back at the choices that he has made in life and their consequences. He feels his life will be very different from others because he has always been tempted to take the path that is not generally followed by others. It shows the poet as an adventurous man ready to take risks in life. He does not appear to like following the conventional path.

The mood of the poem is philosophical and thoughtful as the narrator wonders whether his choice of the road he decided to travel upon had been the right one.

The Road Not Taken Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. In the poem, a traveller comes to a fork in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue his journey. Figuratively the choice of the road denotes:
(i) the tough choices people make the road of life.
(ii) the time wasted on deciding what to do.
(iii) life is like a forest.
(iv) one must travel a lot to realize his dreams.
Answer:
The tough choices people make on the road of life.

b. The poet writes, ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. ’ The word diverged means:
(i) appeared
(ii) curved
(iii) branched off
(iv) continued on
Answer:
Branched off.

c. The tone of the speaker in the first stanza is that of:
(i) excitement
(ii) anger
(iii) hesitation and thoughtfulness
(iv) sorrow
Answer:
Hesitation and thoughtfulness.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions briefly.

a. Describe the two roads that the author comes across.
Answer:
The author comes across a fork in the road as he is travelling through the woods. Both the roads look similar to him because of the undisturbed leafy undergrowth, but he senses that one of the roads has been trodden on less often than the other. .

b. Which road does the speaker choose? Why?
(Encourage the students to think creatively andformulate their own answers.)
Answer:
The speaker finally decides to take the road that not many people had walked on because it seems more adventurous than the route everyone seemed to take.

c. Which road would you choose? Why?
(Encourage the students to think creatively and formulate their own answers.)
Answer:
I would choose the road that many people have walked on because that is a tried and tested road. Many people have walked that path and achieved success.

I would choose the road less travelled because I want to do something different and carve out my own space in the world.

d. Does the speaker seem happy about his decision?
Answer:
No, the speaker does not seem happy about his decision because although he plans to come back to the path that he doesn’t take, he knows that the path that he has chosen might lead him to other, far flung paths. He might not get a chance to come back to the road that he did not take.

e. The poet says ‘I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference. ’ What is ‘the difference ’ that the poet mentions?
Answer:
The poet talks about his decision of choosing a path that is different from the path that everybody has chosen to take. His choice of path will lead him to a destination that is different from the one that everybody has reached. This is the difference that the poet is talking about.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Brook Summary in English by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Brook Summary in English

This is a poem that traces the life of a brook or a small stream as it emerges from the mountaintop and flows down the hills and across valleys to empty into the river. On a deeper level, the poet uses the brook to draw a parallel with the life of man. Like the brook, man is energetic, lively, and moves swiftly when he is young but slows down later on in life, just like the brook does, before it empties into the river.

By the use of words like ‘chatter’, ‘babble’, ‘sharps and trebles’, the poet describes the energetic movement of the brook in the initial stages which changes to the usage of words like ‘steal’, ‘slide’, ‘gloom’, ‘glide’, ‘murmur’ and ‘loiter’ to express the slower movement towards the end of its journey. As it slows down, it also deposits the ‘shingle’, sand and silt that it has brought down from the mountain and hills during its journey.

It passes through different landforms, through forests and past fields that are either fertile or fallow. It also passes by grassy lawns and flower filled gardens with forget-me-nots and hazel trees. It does not follow a straight path but meanders on around rocks and boulders without letting anything stop its path. Similarly, a man also is faced with many challenges in life and has to go on regardless finding new paths. The picture of the brook comes alive with the mention of the fishes like trout and grayling that swim in it and the reflection of the sunbeam dancing on its waves.

Through this poem, the poet points to the eternal nature of the brook that outlives man. Many men are bom and die but the brook never ceases to exist. It continues to flow from its source to the river eternally.

The Brook Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. The message of the poem is that the life of a brook is:
(i) temporary
(ii) short-lived
(iii) eternal
(v) momentary
Answer:
Eternal.

b. The poet draws a parallelism between the journey of the brook:
(i) the life of a man
(ii) the death of man
(iii) the difficulties in a man’s life
(iv) the endless talking of human beings
Answer:
And the life of man.

c. The poem is narrated in the first person by the brook. This figure of speech is:
(i) Personification
(ii) Metaphor
(iii) Simile
(iv) Transferred epithet
Answer:
‘Personification’.

d. In the poem, below mentioned lines: ‘And here and there a lusty trout, And here and there a grayling ’ suggest that:
(i) the brook is a source of life.
(ii) people enjoy the brook.
(iii) fishes survive because of water.
(iv) the brook witnesses all kinds of scenes.
Answer:
The brook is a source of life.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions.

a. How does the brook sparkle?
Answer:
The brook sparkles because the sunlight reflects off its clear water.

b. Bicker’ means to quarrel. Why does the poet use the word here?
Answer:
The brook makes a noise which can be compared to the sound of quarrelling as it flows down into a valley.

c. How many hills and bridges does the brook pass during its journey?
Answer:
The brook passes thirty hills and fifty bridges during its journey.

d. Where does it finally meet the river?
Answer:
It finally meets the river after flowing by Phillip’s farm.

e. Why has the word‘chatter’been repeated in the poem?
Answer:
The word ‘chatter’ has been repeated in the poem to create the sound effect of the rapid movement of the brook.

f. With many a curve my banks I fret’. What does the poet mean by this statement?
Answer:
The brook shapes its bank by constantly eroding it and depositing silt. This creates new curves on the banks. This process is referred to in the above mentioned line.

g. ‘I wind about, and in and out’. What kind of a picture does this line create in your mind?
Answer:
This line creates a picture of a meandering brook, weaving itself into the landscape. Its movement is rapid as curved and it rolls down the gentle slopes, making its marks on the landscape.

h. Name the different things that can be found floating in the brook.
Answer:
Blossoms of flowers, lusty trouts, graylings and foamy flakes can all be found floating in the brook.

L What does the poet want to convey by using the words ‘steal’ and ‘slide’?
Answer:
‘Steal’ and ‘slide’ implies that the brook is moving quietly and fluidly through the landscape.

j. The poem has many examples of alliteration. List any five examples.
Answer:
Five examples of alliteration in the poem are:
‘field and fallow’
‘fairy foreland’
‘With willow-weed’
‘foamy flake’
‘golden gravel’

k. ‘I make the netted sunbeam dance ’. What does ‘the netted sunbeam ’ mean? How does it dance?
Answer:
The rays of the sun, as they filter through the leaves of the trees, create a netted pattern. This pattern projects itself on the surface of the water and gives the illusion of dancing sunbeams.

l. What is the ‘refrain ’ in the poem? What effect does it create?
Answer:
The refrain is ‘For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.’ It creates an effect of timelessness.

Question 3.
Read the given lines and answer the questions.
“I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.”

a. Who does ‘I’ refer to in the given lines?
Answer:
‘I’ refers to the brook.

b. How does it ‘chatter’?
Answer:
It ‘chatters’ because of the noise that it makes as it flows over the golden bedrock, cutting through the landscape.

c. Why Has the poet used the word ‘brimming’? What kind of a picture does it create?
Answer:
The poet has used the word ‘brimming’ to indicate that the river is overflowing its banks in its motion.

d. Explain the last two lines of the stanza.
Answer:
The last two lines of the stanza imply that although the life of human beings is finite, the flow of the river is eternal.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

Best Seller Summary in English by O.Henry

Best Seller Summary in English

The story is set in a typical American background with the twists and turns associated with an O. Henry story. It traces the life of a travelling salesman John Pescud, who believes that bestselling romances are the product of an over-imaginative mind. He finds the stories impossible to believe and feels that they are far removed from real life. He finds it hard to digest that an American man from Chicago would feel so deeply about a girl as to follow her to a remote European country with an unpronounceable name and fight half a dozen soldiers to win her hand in marriage.

Ironically, when he recounts the story of his own marriage to his travelling companion, the reader is exposed to events that are as extraordinary as a best seller. He meets his wife for the first time in a train and follows her as she changes train after train, travelling all the way from Pittsburgh to Virginia only because he falls in love with her. He stays in a local hotel, finds out all about her background and then approaches her to inform her of his intentions of marrying her. Then, he proceeds to meet her father, informs him about his background and his intentions of marrying his daughter, charms him with his stories, and finally gets his permission to marry his daughter.

Best Seller Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Based on your reading of the story, answer the following questions by choosing the correct option.

a. The narrator says that John was ‘of the suff that heroes are not often lucky enough to be made of ’ His tone is sarcastic because:
(i) he hated John.
(ii) he felt that John was a threat to him.
(iii) John was not particularly good-looking.
(iv) nobody liked John.
Answer:
He felt that John was a threat to him.

b. Pescud felt that best-sellers were not realistic as:
(i) American farmers had nothing in common with European princesses.
(ii) men generally married girls from a similar background.
(iii) American men married girls who studied in America.
(iv) American men did not know fencing and were beaten by the Swiss guards.
Answer:
Men generally married girls from a similar background.

c. ‘Bully’, said Pescud brightening at once. He means to say that:
(i) he is a bully. ‘
(ii) his manager was a bully.
(iii) he was being bullied by his co-workers.
(iv) he was doing very well at his job.
Answer:
He was doing very well at his job.

d. The narrator says that life has no geographical bounds implying that:
(i) human beings are essentially the same everywhere.
(ii) boundaries exist only on maps.
(iii) one should work towards the good of mankind.
(iv) he was happy to travel to other countries.
Answer:
Human beings are essentially the same everywhere.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions briefly.

a. One day last summer the author was travelling to Pittsburgh by chair car. What does he say about his co-passengers?
Answer:
The author’s co-passengers were well- dressed ladies who refused to open their windows and men wearing identical looking business suits with the same expressionless faces.

b. Who was the passenger of chair no. 9? What did he suddenly do?
Answer:
The passenger of chair no. 9 was a travelling salesman named John Pescud of Pittsburgh, who the narrator was acquainted with.
He suddenly threw a book to the floor between his chair and the window, in disgust.

c. What was John Pescud’s opinion about best sellers? Why?
Answer:
John Pescud felt that the stories in such books were of a poor quality and far removed from real life.

d. What does John say about himself since his last meeting with the author?
Answer:
According to John, he was on his way to becoming prosperous. His salary had been raised twice along with receiving a commission. He had bought some real estate and was on the way to buy some shares. He was also married now.

e. How did John’s first meeting with Jessie’s father go ?
Answer:
For the first few seconds of John’s first meeting with Jessie’ father was a little nervous but they soon hit it off. John got him to laugh at his stories. They talked for two hours. He was honest with his intentions and asked the colonel to give him a chance to woo his daughter.

f. Why did John get off at Coketown?
Answer:
Some time back Jessie had admired some petunias growing in some of the houses in Coketown, so John had got down there in the hope of finding some saplings of these flowers to take back for Jessie.

g. John is a hypocrite. Do you agree with this statement? Substantiate your answer.
(Encourage the students to think creatively andformulate their own answers.)
Answer:
Yes, John was a hypocrite because on one hand, he was making fun of the romantic stories written in best-sellers but on the other hand, he himself had had a romantic marriage. He had followed the girl he had seen in a train to her hometown, changing a number of trains till he had landed in her hometown, met her father, and wooed her in the style of any romantic hero of a best-seller.

No, John was not a hypocrite. In my opinion, he probably had not realized that his love story was as romantic as the stories of the best selling novels that he so disliked were meant to be.

h. Describe John A. Pescud with reference to the following points:
Answer:
Physical appearance: He had a small, black, bald-spotted head. He was a small man with a wide smile, and an eye that seemed to be fixed upon that little red spot on the end of one’s nose.

His philosophy on behavior: He believed that when a man is in his home town, he ought to be decent and law-abiding.
His profession: He was a travelling salesman for a plate glass company based in Pittsburgh.
His first impression of his wife: She was the loveliest creature that he had set his eyes upon.
His success: He’d had his salary raised twice since he last saw the author and he got commission for his sale. He had bought some real estate and the following year the firm was going to sell him some shares of stock.

Question 3.
Rearrange in the correct sequence as it happens in the story.
Pescud sees a girl (Jessie) reading a book in the train.
Pescud instantly gets attracted to the girl (Jessie)
Jessie takes a sleeper to Louisville.
Pescud follows her but finds it difficult to keep up.
Jessie arrives at Virginia. .
Pescud goes to the village to find out about the mansion Pescud speaks to the girl (Jessie) for the first time.
Jessie informs Pescud that her father would not approve of them meeting.
Pescud meets Jessie’s father.
They meet alone two days later.
They get married a year later.

Question 4.
A newspaper reporter hears of the marriage of Pescud and Jessie. He interviews them and writes an article for the paper entitled: A Modern Romance.
Answer:
Pittsburgh, 19 March, 20xx

And we thought romances were the creations of highly imaginative minds! Recently I had the privilege of interviewing Mr and Mrs Pescud of Pittsburgh on their fairy-tale romance which culminated in marriage a year ago.

Mr John Pescud is a highly successful man working for Cambria Steel Works as a travelling salesman selling plate-glass. He comes from a humble background while Mrs Pescud belongs to an old aristocratic family of Virginia. How they met can make any best-selling novel pale in comparison!

Well, Pescud first saw his wife, Jessie reading a book in the train in which he was travelling. He got instantly attracted to her and followed her as she changed several trains till she finally reached Virginia. In fact he says that during that time his business took a back seat!

Jessie’s father came to receive her at the station at Virginia and Pescud followed them till they reached their mansion. He booked himself in a hotel and found out details about the family from the landlord of his hotel. On the third day, he met Jessie alone for the first time and informed her of his intentions of marrying her. Jessie was obviously taken aback and informed him that her father may not approve of him and probably would set the hounds on him. Pescud was not a man to be frightened so easily. He met Jessie’s father at the mansion. The meeting was surprisingly a pleasant one and a year later he married Jessie. Today, the old Colonel, her father lives with them in Pittsburgh!

As Shakespeare had wisely said—“All’s well that ends well!”