… Warming Up …
Let’s introspect!
1. Think and respond with ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. When you are faced with a very serious problem or some grave danger, what do you experience?
Ans. 
♦ Write about your feelings and reactions in 4-5 lines. You may describe your feelings and reactions using other words than those given here.
Ans.
When I stuck in danger, I experience a lot of fear. Sometime I think that I should quit but after a little calmness I find myself getting an idea to get out of that terrible situation. I prepare myself mentally to fight against the obstacle. And I succeed.
♦ Form groups of four. Discuss what you actually feel and do in difficult situations and some of the things you could do and would like to do in those situations.
Ans.
2. Guess what the following symbolise and match the pairs.
(1) a tall mountain (a) beauty
(2) a dark night (b) freedom
(3) a rose (c) deep distress
(4) sunrise (d) anger
(5) a flying bird (e) strength/firmness
(6) thunder (f) hope
Ans.
… Factual Questions …
♦ What is the poet thankful for?
Ans. The poet is thankful for his soul which is unconquerable.
♦ Which lines show that the poet has suffered his hardships bravely?
Ans. The line that show that the poet has suffered his hardships bravely as follows:
“ have not winced nor cried aloud.”
“ My head is bloody, but unbowed.”
♦ What is meant by the ‘place of wrath and fears ’?
Ans. The “place of wrath and tears” refers to the world we live in, which is full of anger and suffering.
♦ What does the poet have full control over?
Ans. The poet has full control over his fate and soul.
…ENGLISH WORKSHOP…
1. Choose the correct option :
(a) Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole of pole
(i) There is a pit between two poles which you cannot see at night.
(ii) I am in a pit that is covered with a black sheet.
(iii) The circumstances are as bad as they can be with nothing to hope for from any corner.
Ans. (iii) The circumstances are as bad as they can be with nothing to hope for from any corner.
(b) In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud
(i) I fell down and cried aloud.
(ii) I have not expressed my grief even when I had to suffer great pains.
(iii) I freed myself from a difficult situation and cried.
Ans. (ii) I have not expressed my grief even when I had to suffer great pains.
(c) Under the bludgeoning of chance, My head is bloody, …
(i) I have suffered many setbacks and losses, for which there was no reason.
(ii) I got hurt due to my own faults.
(iii) My enemies hit me till I started bleeding.
Ans. (i) I have suffered many setbacks and losses, for which there was no reason.
(d) And yet the menace of the years, Finds, and shall find, me unafraid
(i) My enemies threaten me but cannot find me.
(ii) A great bully found me once, but shall not find me in future.
(iii) Even though I am growing old, I am not, and shall not be, afraid.
Ans. (iii) Even though I am growing old, I am not, and shall not be, afraid.
(e) How charged with punishments the scroll, …
(i) The scroll is very expensive
(ii) I may have to pay for many of my mistakes
(iii) I have to pay money as punishment
Ans. (ii) I may have to pay for many of my mistakes
(f) I am the master of my fate :
(i) I take responsibility for everything that happens in my life.
(ii) My fate is my master.
(iii) I am the master of this world.
Ans. (i) I take responsibility for everything that happens in my life.
(g) I am the captain of my soul.
(i) I am the captain of a team.
(ii) My soul is the captain of my team.
(iii) My actions are the result of my own feelings.
Ans. (iii) My actions are the result of my own feelings.
2. Write the rhyme scheme of the poem.
Ans. The rhyming scheme of the poem is ‘abab’
3. Read the poem : ‘Where lies the land…’ by A. C. Clough.
Ans.
WHERE lies the land to which the ship would go?
Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.
And where the land she travels from? Away,
Far, far behind, is all that they can say.
On sunny noons upon the deck’s smooth face,
Link’d arm in arm, how pleasant here to pace!
Or o’er the stern reclining, watch below
The foaming wake far widening as we go
On stormy nights, when wild northwesters rave,
How proud a thing to fight with wind and wave!
The dripping sailor on the reeling mast
Exults to bear, and scorns to wish it past.
Where lies the land to which the ship would go?
Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.
And where the land she travels from? Away,
Far, far behind, is all that they can say.
… Arthur Hugh Clough