Class Notes NCERT Solutions for CBSE Students
Fog Poem: 10th Class NCERT CBSE English ‘First Flight’ Chapter 20
Question:
- What does Sandburg think the fog is like?
- How does the fog come?
- What does ‘it’ in the third line refer to?
- Does the poet actually say that the fog is like a cat? Find three things that tell us that the fog is like a cat. say that the fog is like a cat? Find three things that tell us that the fog is like a cat.
Answer:
- Sandburg thinks that the fog is like a cat.
- The fog comes silently like a cat on its small feet.
- ‘It’ refers to fog.
- The poet does not actually say that the fog is like a cat, but he uses the metaphor of cat for comparison.
Three things that tell us that the fog is like a cat are:
(i) It comes silently like a cat on its small feet.
(ii) It looks over like a cat.
(iii) It sits on its haunches like a cat.
Question: You know that a metaphor compares two things by transferring a feature of one thing to the other.
- Find metaphors for the following words and complete the table below. Also try to say how they are alike. The first is done for you.
| Storm | Tiger | Pounces over the fields, growls |
| Train | ||
| Fire | ||
| School | ||
| Home |
Answer:
(i)
| Storm | Tiger | Pounces over the fields, growls |
| Train | Gush of wind | Very fast movement |
| Fire | Anger | Danger that surrounds both on the basis of their intensities |
| School | Gateway | Leads to adulthood and a life of responsibility |
| Home | Nest | Provides hospitable, loving environment |
Question: Does this poem have a rhyme scheme? Poetry that does not have an obvious rhythm or rhyme is called ‘free verse’.
Answer: This poem does not have a rhyme scheme as the sentences do not end with like sounds. There is no pattern of similarity in the sounds of the ending words of any of the sentences, therefore the poem is written in free verse.
Summary:
The poet says that the fog which is generally seen during the winter season is coming towards the city and the harbour just like a cat. This means that it is approaching the city in a very silent manner so that no one can notice its arrival. He has compared its arrival to that of a cat because a cat always enters a place silently. Next he says that the fog has covered the whole of the city and harbour and it appears as if it is sitting by folding its legs and looking around just the way a cat does when it sits on the haunches and looks around. At the end, he describes the departure of the fog which very silently and unpredictably, again, similar to the departure of the cat, vanishes.
