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Thinking about the Poem

Question 1: Does 'dying' really rhyme with 1ion'? Can you say it in such a way that it does?

Answer 1:

Yes, 'dying' somehow rhyme with 'lion'. We can rhyme 'dying' properly with the words 'fine' or 'sign' etc.

Question 2: How does the poet suggest that you identify the lion and the tiger? When can you do so, according to him?

Answer 2:

The poet suggests that if a huge and yellowish-brown beast in the jungle in the east makes a move

Towards us, then it is an Asian lion. We can identify it when it roars at us while we are dying with terror. When we come across a wild beast that is yellow in color with black stripes, it is a Bengal tiger. We can identify it when it eats us.

Question 3: Do you think the words 'let' and 'lap' in the third stanza are spelt correctly? Why does the poet spell them like this?

Answer 3:

No, the words 'lept' and 'lep' are spelt incorrectly. The poet has spelled them like this so that he can keep the rhythm of the poem. When spelled this way, they rhym e with the first part of 'leopard', thus giving emphasis to 'leopard' in each line.

Question 4: Do you know what a 'bear hug' is? It's a friendly and strong hug -such as bears are thought to give, as they attack you! Again n, hyenas are thought to laugh, and crocodiles to weep ('crocodile tears') as they swallow their victims. Are there similar expressions and popular ideas about wild animals in your own language(s)?

Answer 4:

'A bear hug' pertains to an action which shows actual love by the core of its heart. It is always friendly. On the other hand a hyena and crocodile do not spare human beings. Hyenas never laugh. But their faces look like that. Crocodiles do not weep but tears come when they swallow their prey. In every language we get similar expressions and popular ideas about wild animals.

Question 5: Look at the line "A novice might nonplus". How would you write this 'correctly'? Why is the poet's 'incorrect' line better in the poem?

Answer 5:

The line "A novice might nonplus" can be correctly written as "A novice might be nonplussed". The poet's incorrect line is better in the poem as it keeps the rhyme scheme of the poem intact. By writing it incorrectly, 'nonplus' rhymes with 'thus'.

Question 6: Can you find other examples of poets taking liberties with language, either in English or in your own language(s)? Can you find examples of humorous poems in your own language(s)?

Answer 6:

Yes, many poets take such liberties to create proper rhyming. These are for example: Kirk is used for 'church' to rhyme with 'work'. Ken is used for 'see' to rhyme with 'pen'.

Question 7: Much of the humor in the poem arises from the way language is used, although the ideas are funny as well. If there are particular lines in the poem that you especially like, share these with the class, speaking briefly about what it is about the ideas or the language that you like or find funny.

Answer 7:

The following lines show humour in this poem:

>      A true chameleon is small.

>      He roars at you as you're dying.

>      Hyena comes with merry smiles.

>      Twill do no good to roar with pain.

Thinking about the Poem

Question  1: Why does the poet say, "I would not intrude on him"? Why doesn't he offer him money to buy another ball?

Answer 1:

The poet wants the boy to understand the loss. He wants him to learn that it is a part of life. That's why the poet doesn't want to get in the way of the boy and doesn't want to offer him money to buy another ball.

Question  2: "…staring down/All his young days into the harbor where/ His ball went ..." Do you think the boy has had the ball for a long time? Is it linked to the memories of days when he played with it?

Answer 2:

Yes, I t looks like the boy had the ball with him from a long time. When it bounced into the water, all

His reminiscences of the childhood days flashed in front of him. This led to an understanding that those moments would not come back now, just like the ball. He can buy new balls and can likewise create new moments, but those which have gone would not return now.

Question 3:

What does "in the world of possessions" mean?

Answer 3:

In the world of possessions' means people like to own all type of things in the world. Money is external because it can buy only materialistic objects; it cannot buy memories or anything that one loses and never gets them back.

Question 4: Do you think the boy has lost anything earlier? Pick out the words that suggest the Answer.

Answer 4: The poem indicates that the boy has lost something earlier. He is much troubled now. The following words indicate the same:

>      The epistemology of loss, how to understand.

) -    No use to say, 'O! There are other balls.'

Question 5: What does the poet say the boy is learning from the loss of the ball? Try to explain this in your own words.

Answer 5:

The poet says that the boy is learning to cope up with the loss of the ball. He is going through grief but still learning to grow up in this world of assets. He learns that there are so many things in life that are to be lost forever and cannot be brought t back. It is useless to feel distressed for them.

Question 6: Have you ever lost something you liked very much? Write a paragraph describing how you felt then, and saying whether -and how -you got over your loss.

Answer 6:

Grieving over the lost a pen

It is the time when I was studying in class V. My father was a teacher in the same school. I was awarded for the best Performa nice in Math’s Olympiad conducted by Tiwari Academy. I got a prize of 1000 and a golden pen set. I liked that pen very much. One day, while leaving for the house from the school, I bought t some eatables from the shop. The shopkeeper gave me so many items that I put in my bag. During the sharing of items with our friends, somewhere I lost my lovely pen. I could not contain myself and a river of tears started rolling from my eyes. I hesitate tingly uttered ...pen. One of my best friends understand the loss of the pen since it had a great value for me.

Immediacy tell my m other showered me deep affection and promised me to prove a similar pen. I got relief and felt happiness.