Song of the Open Road, 12th English Poem,Explanation,

Song of the Open Road

Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

The most influential poet in the American canon was essayist and journalist. He was often called the father of ‘free verse’. He breaks the boundaries of poetic form. He also used unusual images and symbols in his poetry to glorify the nature and human life.

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.”

The poet starts his journey on foot (afoot) and he is glad (lighthearted), not having any burden on his mind. He is glad to take the open road which goes to the healthy and free world, the road is not the road to travel but this is the road of life. The healthy world is the world where all human values are respected and followed by all. And the free world shows that the value of liberty as well as the people who are using the freedom not only for their own self but for the welfare the humanity. He thinks this world is his.

And the long brown path is the path which will take him to wherever he wants, wherever he chooses, this shows his optimism and healthy mind which is free to do many things.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune; I myself am good-fortune,

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,

Strong and content I travel the open road.

The poet has very optimistic and positive approach the road of life. There is no feeling or fear of bad luck or negativity in his mind, so he says that he himself is enough to have his good fortune. Therefore he doesn’t complaint about anything he is happy to have, doesn’t postpone anything doesn’t need anything. The poet is bored of indoor complaints and the libraries (it shows intellectual environment around the poet). He is fed up of all the criticism made out of irritation. But our poet is so strong and firm, full of optimism and ready to go further on the open road that is the road of life.

The earth, that is sufficient,

I don’t want constellations nearer,

I know they are very well where they are,

I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

The earth is sufficient for the poet means the free world is enough for him where is will meet new and different people. He doesn’t want influential people who always criticize someone like the poem and try to use their influence over others. He knows that these influential people are now away from him, and the poet is happy to have this distance. He knows it better that these people suffice means work only for the people who are in their favour.  (May be this is the thing in the life of the poet when he was criticized by all influential people, and there he would have seen some partial treatment)  

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,

I carry them, men and women; I carry them with me wherever I go,

I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,

I’m filled with them, and I will fill them in return)

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In the last stanza the poet is talking about the old burdens which are very delicious means his sweet memories of the past and these memories are there in plenty. These are memories of men and women of his past life which gives him immense joy and happiness. He always cherishes these sweet memories wherever he goes. He thinks that it is impossible for him to get rid of these burdens throughout his life. At the end he says that these people or memories have given him a lot and he promises that he will give them in return a lot.

English Workshop 2.2 The Boy Who Broke The Bank, by Ruskin Bond, (with questions and answers) Std 10th, English

English Workshop

2.2 The Boy Who Broke The Bank 

 by Ruskin Bond

1.   Who am I? (Identify the character from the extract) 

a)             I am the washerman’s son. Who am I?

Sitaram.

b)            I am the owner of the bank. Who am I?

Govind Ram.

c)             I am the sweeper. Who am I?

Nathu.

d)            I am the friend of Mrs. Shrivastava. Who am I?

Mrs.Bhushan

e)             I am the hairdresser. Who am I?

Deep Chand.

f)               I have a crooked Lego am I?

Ganpat (the beggar).                                                                                 

2.   Make a list of customers of Pipalnagar Bank, from the extract.

• Nathu,
•  Mrs. Shrivastva,
•  Mrs.Bhushan,
• Deep Chand (the barber)       and his Customer,
• Ganpat, the beggar.

3.    Match the following and write the complete meaningful sentences.

	Group  A		Group B
i.	Sitaram was looking out for any job	A	holidaying in Kashmir
ii.	According to Mrs. Bhushan	B	to go home and come back the next day
iii.	Govindram was......	C	that might suit Nathu
iv.	the manager told the customers	D	it was the hottest summer in the history of Pipalnagar

Answers-

	Group  A		Group B
i.	Sitaram was looking out for any job	C	that might suit Nathu
ii.	According to Mrs. Bhushan	D	it was the hottest summer in the history of Pipalnagar
iii.	Govindram was......	A	holidaying in Kashmir
iv.	the manager told the customers	B	to go home and come back the next day

4.    Write who said to whom

(a)        “Don't raise such dust!”

               Sitaram said to Nathu.

(b)       “Who would have thought the bank would collapse!”

                Nathu said to himself.

(c)         “Where did you disappear?”

                Mrs. Bhushan said to Mr. Bhushan.

(d)        “The bird has flown!”

                An elderly gentleman said to Deep Chand.

5. Why does the manager of the bank in dilemma? Write down in 5 to 6 lines in your notebook.

• Answer- The small bank was flooded with the people of Pipalnagar. They wanted their money back immediately, they harassed the manager with many questions. the manager was in a dilemma because all the cash was given to all the people and emergency funds could not be obtained easily. And he could not persuade the crowd.

6. Cross out the odd.

a)    sweeper, hooligan, beggar, declare, locker

Explanation-declare is a verb and all other words are nouns.

b) hurriedly, carelessly, salary, definitely, suddenly

Explanation-salary is a noun and all other words are adverbs.

c)   imminent, latest, payment, awful, shocking

Explanation-payment is a noun and all other words are adjectives.

d) morning, scattering, raising, collecting, shouting

 Explanation-morning is a noun  and all other words are verbs

7. Find the describing words for the following from the text.

• customary  tour
• broken window
•  crooked leg

 8 Complete the following table.

Verb	Noun	Adjective	Adverb
pay	payment	payable	x
x	sudden	sudden	suddenly
declare	declaration	declarable	x
cheer	cheer	cheerful	cheerfully

9. Write in your own words of few sentences about each of the following:

·         Nathu-

Nathu is a sweeper boy, who used to sweep the Pipalnagar Bank every day. He is an important character in the story. Actually, he is the reason for the bank to break or fall.

         As Nathu has not got any payment for more than one and half months, he is discontented. He shows this dissatisfaction to his friend and the confusion begins there. Though he is the reason for this huge problem, he is the last to know about it.

·         Mrs Shrivastava

Mrs. Shrivastava is one of the customers of  Sitaram, the washer man’s boy, who suggests Nathu for her work.

Mrs. Shrivastava tells her friend, Mrs. Bhushan about the bad economic condition of the bank and its employees. She tells this without any wise thought, which creates many difficulties for the Pipalnagar bank. And the fall to the bank.

·         Seth Govind Ram

Unaware of the things at Pipalnagar, Seth Govind Ram is enjoying holidays in Kashmir. He is the owner of the bank. He is not seen directly in the story but has a lot of importance.

When he is not found at home, in the town, everybody thinks he and his bank became bankrupt.

·         Sitaram

Sitaram was washer man’s boy and friend to Nathu. He casually asks his friends farewell and wants to help him. But his words about the bank are taken differently by Mrs. Shrivastva and the rumour about the bankruptcy spreads like a forest fire in the town.

• 10. Expand the theme in a write-up of about 20 lines.

 a) ‘Rumours are spread by fools and accepted by greater fools’.

b) ‘Books are our real friends '.

2.1 You Start Dying Slowly….. -by Pablo Neruda. (Explanation of the poem) 10th Standard, New syllabus,2018-19

You start dying slowly….. 

 

If you do not travel,

If you do not read,

If you do not listen to the sounds of life,

If you do not appreciate yourself.

You start dying slowly…..  

The Nobel Prize-winning poet, Pablo Neruda, wants us to live life fully and not negatively or idly. He tells the folk (people) to come out of their shells and travel the different places and experience new things. He further asks us to read.  He says so because life is so small and it is difficult to get all experiences in life. So to see and feel the unseen we must read something all the time. He asks us to listen to the sounds of life that is to listen and understand the moves of life. Listening to the sound of life may include listening to voices.listineing to noise, listening to music and listening to the music of nature. But we must learn to listen to the silence. One who understands the sound of the silence can conquer everything. In simple we must listen to ourselves from within. If we do not appreciate ourselves for our good deeds and fail to praise and encourage ourselves…………….then how can we get encouragement from others.

When we fail to do all the above things, negativity fills our life and we start losing hope for a happy life.

When you kill your self-esteem;

When you do not let others help you.

You start dying.

Colour, class, caste, religion, creed, any social strata, status or intellectuality difference can’t make anyone superior or inferior. But, as a human being, when we really think we are inferior to others. We do lose our self-respect and where we are not ready to respect ourselves how can we expect it from others. That is why we must not lose our self-esteem.

When we don’t mix in society and stop communicating with the people, we stop them coming near us. Naturally, we stop them from helping us. In other words, we ourselves close all doors of hope, remaining in gloomy loneliness.

These things make us negative and loneliness can make our life worse.

If you become a slave of your habits,

Walking every day on the same paths…..

If you do not change your routine,

If you do not wear different colours

Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

You start dying slowly….

Habits (especially bad habits) are so easy to have in our lives and we easily become a slave of these habits, which in the end can harm us a lot. So we must recognize them in time and shoo them away. On the other hand, good habits are really difficult to follow in the beginning but once we have them, they are really great to help in moulding our personality as well as our future.

Poet asks us to change the old paths means to change the attitude of our inner self and see the things or find the things in a new dimension(way). It may be things related to life or carrier or any innovation. As a colourful butterfly gets mixed in nature, we must wear new colours and get mixed in society or the world around us. These colours may be the different emotions like joys and sorrows, loyalty and disloyalty, ups and downs, good and evil. We must acknowledge them all.

To get all these things we must talk to all to the known and to the unknown also, to explore life. And if we fail to do this our life would be boring to have no innovations.

If you avoid to feel passion

And their turbulent emotions;

Those which make your eyes glisten

And your heart beat fast.

You start dying slowly…….

All of us do have dreams and ambitions. We feel them and if we strive to get them. When one becomes successful after chasing the dreams, he knows how consistence efforts are needed and what flame of emotions (turbulent emotions)is required there in the mind. Which makes our heart beat fast and the shine in the eyes is worth remembering. The feeling of success or the taste of success is the best in the world.

When we avoid our emotions to try to do great things then our emotional life ends somewhere and we start dying mentally.

If you do not change your life

When you are not satisfied with your job,

Or with your love,

If you do not risk what is safe, for the uncertain,

If you do not go after a dream,

If you do not allow yourself,

At least once in your lifetime,

To run away from sensible advice……………..

If we do not change our life, our life becomes monotonous and boring. One must do the job of his or her liking only. Otherwise, it becomes a burden. So we must be very careful while choosing our carrier.

 ( For example-One very famous and praiseworthy actor in Marathi plays and movies, practised as Doctor till the age of 40, then he realized that his real love is acting and not in medicines. Then he started acting on the stage and in movies also and got praise from the world. But till the age of 40 years, he was dissatisfied as a doctor and the actor within him was restless. But all people do not dare to change their way, though they don’t love their job truly.)

Many of us do the work or the job which we really did not mean to do. But some of the things stop us making us dissatisfied from within.

We don’t want to take risks; we don’t want to come out of our comfort zone or our imaginary boundaries. We don’t challenge the talent within us at the proper time and in the span of life, we forget that we had some talent, once.

At least once in our lifetime, if we do not allow ourselves to chase our dreams. If we don’t allow ourselves to move from our so-called permanent place. Then you start dying slowly…..and surely…… not from outside but from inside you will die that is for sure.

 -Pablo Neruda