NCERT Solutions Class 8 English (Honeydew)
The NCERT Solutions in English Language for Class 8 English (Poetry) (Honeysuckle) Poem – 5 The School Boy has been provided here to help the students in solving the questions from this exercise.
NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English (Honeydew – Poem)
- Poem – 1 : The Ant and the Cricket
- Poem – 2 : Geography Lesson
- Poem – 3 : Macavity: The Mystery Cat
- Poem – 4 : The Last Bargain
- Poem – 6 : When I Set Out for Lyonnesse
- Poem – 7 : On the Grasshopper and Cricket
Poem – 5 (The School Boy)
I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
O! what sweet company.
But to go to school in a summer morn,
O! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day,
In sighing and dismay.
Ah! then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour.
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn thro’ with the dreary shower.
How can the bird that is born for joy,
Sit in a cage and sing.
How can a child when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring.
O! Father and Mother, if buds are nip’d,
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are strip’d
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and cares dismay,
How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruits appear?
– WILLIAM BLAKE
Working with the Poem
1. Find three or four words/phrases in stanza 1 that reflect the child’s happiness and joy.
Answer – The words or phrases in stanza 1 that reflect the child’s happiness and joy are “love to rise in a summer morn”, “birds sing on every tree”, “distant huntsman winds his horn”, “the skylark sings with me” and “sweet company”.
2. In stanza 2, the mood changes. Which words/phrases reflect the changed mood?
Answer – The words or phrases reflect the changed mood are “it drives all joy away”, “a cruel eye outworn”, and “in sighing and dismay”.
3. ‘A cruel eye outworn’ (stanza 2) refers to
(i) the classroom, which is shabby/noisy.
(ii) the lessons which are difficult/uninteresting.
(iii) the dull/uninspiring life at school with lots of work and no play.
Mark the answer that you consider right.
Answer – (iii) the dull/uninspiring life at school with lots of work and no play.
4. ‘Nor sit in learning’s bower
worn thro’ with the dreary shower’
Which of the following is a close paraphrase of the lines above?
(i) Nor can I sit in a roofless classroom when it is raining.
(ii) Nor can I learn anything at school though teachers go on lecturing and explaining.
(iii) Nor can I sit in the school garden for fear of getting wet in the rain.
Answer – (ii) Nor can I learn anything at school though teachers go on lecturing and explaining.
