The School Boy 8th Class NCERT CBSE English Honeydew Chapter 15
Question: What is the mood of the school boy?
Answer: The school boy is unhappy.
Question: What makes the school boy unhappy?
Answer: He has to go to school even in a summer morning when there is so much to enjoy in open fields and forests. Secondly, his teacher is cruel and the lessons are uninteresting.
Question: Why does the boy compare himself to a caged bird?
Answer: Like a caged bird, the boy is also not free to do any thing at his own will. He wants to lead a life of freedom but he can’t because there are many restrictions on him.
Question: What is the poet’s advice to parents of school-going kids?
Answer: The poet calls upon the parents to let their kids grow and play joyfully in early years. They should not restrict their natural activities.
Question: Why does the school boy compare himself to a plant?
Answer: A small child is like a tender plant. If he is suppressed too much, he fails to grow to full size. A tender plant if crushed at the bud-stage, won’t bear any flower or fruit in spring season.
Question: Find three or four words / phrases in stanza 1 that reflect the child’s happiness and joy.
Answer: The phrases that reflect the child’s joy and happiness are ‘love to rise in a summer morn’, ‘birds sing on every tree’, ‘the skylark sings with me’, and ‘sweet company’.
Question: In stanza 2, the mood changes. Which words / phrases reflect the changed mood?
Answer: The phrases that reflect the changed mood are ‘it drives all joy away’ and ‘spend the day in sighing and dismay’.
Question: ‘A cruel eye outworn’ (stanza 2) refers to
- the classroom which is shabby / noisy.
- the lessons which are difficult / uninteresting.
- the dull / uninspiring life at school with lots of work and no play.
Mark the answer that you consider right.
Answer: ‘A cruel eye outworn’ refers to the dull / uninspiring life at school with lots of work and no play.
Question: ‘Nor sit in learning’s bower
Worn thro’ with the dreary shower’
Which of the following is a close paraphrase of the lines above?
- Nor can I sit in a roofless classroom when it is raining.
- Nor can I learn anything at school though teachers go on lecturing and explaining.
- Nor can I sit in the school garden for fear of getting wet in the rain.
Answer: Statement (ii) is a close paraphrase of the given lines.