The School Boy

AP/NCERT Solutions for Grade 8 Honeydew

Poem The School Boy

Working with the poem (Page 84)

1. Find three or four words/phrases in stanza 1 that reflect the child’s happiness and joy.

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?

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. ✔

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.