The School Boy: 8th Class CBSE English Honeydew Ch 15

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

1. the classroom which is shabby / noisy.
2. the lessons which are difficult / uninteresting.
3. 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?

1. Nor can I sit in a roofless classroom when it is raining.
2. Nor can I learn anything at school though teachers go on lecturing and explaining.
3. 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.