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💬 Poem: Words • Check Your Understanding

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Check Your Understanding 3Critical Reflection 2Answer the Following Questions 5All Exercises 10
Q1

I Fill in the blanks with one word from the poem. One example has been done for you.

In this poem, the poet reflects that words fail to truly satisfy what the heart wants to convey. Words are compared to summer birds who 1. ________________ leaving nothing behind. The heart, is equated to a 2. ________________ who finds that words are as worthless as 3. ________________ when needed. He feels that a few sincere words can bring more 4. ________________ than many meaningless ones. He adds that a voice that brings happiness to a 5. ________________ place does not say much, but the few words it does, are very precious. Moreover, if words could satisfy us, the 6. ________________ would celebrate but words often fail to do that. The poem ends on the note that empty words may look impressive with lots of flowers, but they cannot produce anything valuable, like a 7. ________________.

  1. depart
  2. pilgrim
  3. weeds[
  4. joy
  5. lonely
  6. world[
  7. fruit
Q2

II Let us appreciate the poem.

  1. Read the poem again. Find any four sets of rhyming words and also write the rhyme scheme of the poem.
  2. Identify the poetic device in each of the given lines and explain what the poet communicates through them:
    (i) But words, like summer birds, depart...
    (ii) heart, a pilgrim upon earth...
    (iii) words are of as little worth As just so many weeds
    (iv) If words could satisfy the chest... Oft satisfy the least!
    (v) The world might hold a feast...
    (vi) Like plants that make a gaudy show All blossom to the root
    (vii) But whose poor nature cannot grow One particle of fruit!
  3. Which words are repeated in the poem? Why does the poet use repetition?
  4. The stanzas 4, 5, and 6 end with exclamation marks. Choose the option that displays the emotions being expressed through them.
  1. Rhyme Scheme & Pairs: The rhyme scheme is abcb. Four rhyming pairs: care / air, needs / weeds, impart / heart, and feast / least.
  2. Poetic Devices:
    • (i) Simile — compares words to seasonal birds that vanish quickly, leaving emptiness.
    • (ii) Metaphor — depicts the human heart as a solitary, traveling pilgrim seeking truth.
    • (iii) Simile — compares shallow words to useless weeds that have no real value.
    • (iv) Antithesis / Irony — contrasts the expectation of satisfaction with total disappointment.
    • (v) Hyperbole — exaggerates how joyous the world would be if words could truly satisfy our emotional core.
    • (vi) Simile — compares pretentious talk to flashy flowers that look pretty on the surface.
    • (vii) Metaphor — highlights that grand talk produces no genuine result or nutritious substance.
  3. Repetition: Words like words, heart, and satisfy are repeated to emphasize the central theme: the inadequacy of empty speech compared to deep, heartfelt emotion.
  4. Exclamation Marks Option: (iii) 4. admiration, 5. frustration and 6. disillusionment.
Q3

III Complete the sentences given below with hyperboles. Use the hints given in the brackets.

  1. I have ________________ (lots of/tonnes of) things to do on this weekend.
  2. The player missed the basket by ________________ (a mile/ an inch).
  3. My mother is so tired that she can sleep for a ________________ (night/decade).
  4. I will be back in ________________ (five minutes/two seconds).
  1. tonnes of
  2. a mile
  3. decade
  4. two seconds