English Notes Latest Questions

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    The poem is about the poet’s pure joy over a cherry seed, which he plants with the intention of having a tree of his own. It took eight years for the plant to grow and blossom into a tree. He describes the seasons that the tree lives through to eventually grow and bloom. The plant sees the light ofRead more

    The poem is about the poet’s pure joy over a cherry seed, which he plants with the intention of having a tree of his own. It took eight years for the plant to grow and blossom into a tree. He describes the seasons that the tree lives through to eventually grow and bloom. The plant sees the light of the day in the month of May. Goats, scythe, and the harsh monsoon weather; all harm the plant but it strives to grow against all odds. In spring, new shoots grow and they reach upwards for more sunlight, air, and water. The poet patiently waits as time and the rains do their part to help the plant grow.

    The Cherry Tree Poem Summary

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    Following literary devices/poetic devices have been used in the poem Cherry Tree written by Ruskin Bond: Alliteration – Consonant sounds are repeated in successive words for melody. “Its arms in a fresh fierce lust” Here, the consonant sound ‘f’ is repeated pleasingly. “Made a miracle from green groRead more

    Following literary devices/poetic devices have been used in the poem Cherry Tree written by Ruskin Bond:

    1. Alliteration – Consonant sounds are repeated in successive words for melody. “Its arms in a fresh fierce lust” Here, the consonant sound ‘f’ is repeated pleasingly. “Made a miracle from green growing” Here, the consonant sound ‘g’ is repeated pleasingly. “Shrivelled the slender stem….” Here, the consonant sound ‘s’ is repeated pleasingly.
    2. Antithesis – Opposite ideas/words are used together. Example – “but cherries have a way of growing, Though no one’s caring very much or knowing.” -Opposite idea of growing without caring is seen in the lines. “It was very small, five months child Lost in the tall grass running wild.” -Opposite ideas – small and tall are seen in the lines.
    3. Climax – words, phrases, lines are arranged in ascending order of their importance. Examples “Pink, fragile, quick to fall”
    4. Personification – Human qualities are attributed to non-human, inanimate objects. Example – “A Tree had come to stay” A tree is given the human quality of coming and staying.

    The Cherry Tree Poem Summary

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    “The Planners” presents a bleak view of modernization. The poem’s title ceaselessly builds up an unnamed country (likely inspired by Boey’s native Singapore) with mathematical precision, eliminating all marks of human imperfection in the process. Though these designs are technically “perfect,” the sRead more

    “The Planners” presents a bleak view of modernization. The poem’s title ceaselessly builds up an unnamed country (likely inspired by Boey’s native Singapore) with mathematical precision, eliminating all marks of human imperfection in the process.

    Though these designs are technically “perfect,” the speaker finds such rigid conformity disturbing; in the process of making everything sleeker and more efficient, these planners have effectively erased the country’s past and, with it, the inhabitants’ sense of who they are. The cost of all these gleaming skyscrapers and hanging bridges, the poem implies, is the country’s very soul.

    The Planners Poem Summary

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    Following poetic devices/literary devices have been used in the poem The Planners: Alliteration: When two or more words close together in a line begin with the same consonant. For example, “permutations of possibilities”, “skies surrender”, “dental dexterity”, “gleaming gold”, “Anaesthesia, amnesia”Read more

    Following poetic devices/literary devices have been used in the poem The Planners:

    1. Alliteration: When two or more words close together in a line begin with the same consonant. For example, “permutations of possibilities”, “skies surrender”, “dental dexterity”, “gleaming gold”, “Anaesthesia, amnesia”.
    2. Assonance: When two or more words close together in a line have similar-sounding vowels. For Example, “linked by bridges”, “build and will”, “knock of useless blocks with dental dexterity”.
    3. Caesura: When a line is paused halfway roughly, by punctuation. For Example, “so history is new again. The piling will not stop.”
    4. Enjambment: When a line continues into the next without a pause, maintaining sense, as in the whole of the last stanza.
    5. Metaphor: When the rows of new buildings are called shining teeth, this is a metaphorical use, exchanging one for the other which helps deepen meaning and adds fresh imagery.
    6. Repetition: The use of “They plan….They build” and so on reinforces the idea that the planners are anonymous, yet powerful.

    The Planners Poem Summary

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Best Answer
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    The poem details the argument between the nose and the eyes by placing them in a court setting. The tongue, who is appointed as the lawyer, argues both sides without worrying about who is the true owner of the spectacles. The ear delivers the verdict in favour of the nose simply on the basis of nonsRead more

    The poem details the argument between the nose and the eyes by placing them in a court setting. The tongue, who is appointed as the lawyer, argues both sides without worrying about who is the true owner of the spectacles.

    The ear delivers the verdict in favour of the nose simply on the basis of nonsensical arguments and without considering any logic. The irony of his decision in giving the right of ownership to the nose and asking the eyes to remain shut when the nose wears them is obvious and thus effectively highlights the drawback of blind justice.

    Nose Versus Eyes Summary

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  1. Poonam Sharma
    Poonam Sharma literarian

    Following poetic devices have been used in the poem Nose Versus Eyes: The poem is in stanzas of four lines each, The first and third, and the second-and fourth-lines rhyme in each. Personification: An imaginary being representing a thing or abstraction. The sensory organs are personified. The eyes aRead more

    Following poetic devices have been used in the poem Nose Versus Eyes:

    1. The poem is in stanzas of four lines each, The first and third, and the second-and fourth-lines rhyme in each.
    2. Personification: An imaginary being representing a thing or abstraction. The sensory organs are personified. The eyes and nose are the parties fighting the cakes, claiming ownership of the spectacles. The tongue is the lawyer; the ear is the chief baron – The judge. The tongue is attributed with the qualities of skillful argument and learning. The tongue is also given the quality of shifting loyalties and doublespeak. That is what lawyers do. The ear is spoken of as having good judgment.
    3. Alliteration: The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Example “Spectacles set”, “said spectacles”
    4. Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. Example “Chief Baron Ear”
    5. The figure of speech is Inversion -the word order of the sentence is changed for poetic effect, it should be ‘A strange contest arose between nose and eyes’.Example- “But what were his arguments few people know”.
    6. The poem has many words and phrases related to the legal field ‘Your lordship ‘is how the tongue addresses the ear. ‘Decreed, pleaded, arguments ‘are the few words used in the court.
    7. Hyperbole: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. For example, “time out of mind”
    8. Simile: A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid. For example, “As wide as the ridge”, “just like a saddle”
    9. Tautology: The unnecessary repetition of an idea, statement, or word whose meaning has already been expressed “visage or countenance”.

    Nose Versus Eyes Summary

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