NCERT Solutions Class 6 English (Honeysuckle)
The NCERT Solutions in English Language for Class 6 English (Poetry) (Honeysuckle) Chapter – 8 What if has been provided here to help the students in solving the questions from this exercise.
Poem – 8
(What if)
Last night, while I lay thinking here,
Some What ifs crawled inside my ear
And pranced and partied all night long
And sang their same old What if song:
What if I’m dumb in school?
What if they’ve closed the swimming-pool?
What if I get beat up?
What if there’s poison in my cup?
What if I start to cry?
What if I get sick and die?
What if I flunk that test?
What if green hair grows on my chest?
What if nobody likes me?
What if a bolt of lightning strikes me?
What if I don’t grow taller?
What if my head starts getting smaller?
What if the fish won’t bite?
What if the wind tears up my kite?
What if they start a war?
What if my parents get divorced?
What if the bus is late?
What if my teeth don’t grow in straight?
What if I tear my pants?
What if I never learn to dance?
Everything seems swell, and then
The night-time What if strikes again!
– SHEL SILVERSTEIN
Working With The Poem
1.
(i) Who is the speaker in the poem?
Answer – The speaker in the poem is child.
(ii) With your partner list out the happenings the speaker is worried about.
Answer – Some of the happenings the speaker is worried about are being dumb at school; the swimming being closed; and about getting beaten up or being poisoned. He is also scared that he might start to cry; fall sick and die; or fail an examination. Some of his other worries are more amusing such as growing green hair on his chest and his head getting smaller.
(iii) Why do you think she/he has these worries? Can you think of ways to get rid of such worries?
Answer – She/he has these worries because in the night she/he is free therefore, these fearful thoughts started coming in his mind. To get rid of such worries she/he should involve their mind in creative work.
2. Read the following line.
Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
Can words crawl into your ear? This is an image. The poet is trying to make an image of what she/he experiences. Now with your partner try and list out some more images from the poem.
Answer –
(i) Pranced and partied all night long
(ii) Sang their same old whatif song
(iii) Everything seems swell
(iv) The night-time Whatif strikes again!
3. In groups of four discuss some more ‘whatifs’ that you experience in your day to day life and list them out.
(i) _______________________________________
(ii) _______________________________________
(iii) _______________________________________
(iv) _______________________________________
(v) _______________________________________
(vi) _______________________________________
(vii) _______________________________________
(viii) _______________________________________
And now write a poem of five or six lines with the ‘whatifs’ that you have listed.
Answer –
- Whatif my mother doesn’t give me lunch
- Whatif my friends stop talking to me
- Whatif my teacher gives me bad grades
- Whatif I lose all my notebooks and textbooks
- Whatif I am punished the whole day at school
Poem
- Poem 1 : A House, A Home
- Poem 2 : The Kite
- Poem 3 : The Quarrel
- Poem 4 : Beauty
- Poem 5 : Where Do All the Teachers Go?
- Poem 6 : The Wonderful Words
- Poem 7 : Vocation
