AHSEC Class 11 English Chapter 14 Childhood পাঠটোৰ উত্তৰ

TEXTBOOK EXCERCISES

THINK IT OUT

1. Identify the stanza that talks of each of the following:

Individuality rationalism hypocrisy

Answer:

Individuality: Stanza 3. Here the poet realises that his mind is truly his own and that he can think independently.

Rationalism: Stanza 1. Here the poet begins to question accepted beliefs and realises that Hell and Heaven cannot be found as actual places in Geography.

Hypocrisy: Stanza 2. Here the poet notices that adults talk about love but do not always behave lovingly towards one another.

2. What according to the poem is involved in the process of growing up?

Answer: According to the poem, growing up involves the development of rational thinking, awareness and individuality. A child gradually learns to distinguish between reality and imagination and begins to question ideas that were once accepted without doubt.

Growing up also means recognising the difference between what adults say and what they actually do. Finally, a person develops an independent mind and learns to form thoughts and opinions of his own.

3. What is the poet’s feeling towards childhood?

Answer: The poet has a nostalgic and reflective feeling towards childhood. He repeatedly wonders when his childhood disappeared, showing that its loss is important to him.

At the same time, he understands that growing up has given him rational thinking and independence. In the end, he associates childhood with the innocence visible on an infant’s face.

4. Which do you think are the most poetic lines? Why?

Answer: The lines in the final stanza where the poet imagines childhood as hidden in an infant’s face are the most poetic.

These lines are especially beautiful because they express the abstract idea of childhood through the simple image of an innocent infant. The image suggests purity, simplicity and innocence, while also showing that the poet’s own childhood has passed away.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Do you think the poet is nostalgic about his childhood? Does he feel the loss of his childhood as a great loss?

Answer: Yes, the poet appears nostalgic about his childhood. His repeated questions about when and where childhood disappeared show that he feels its loss deeply.

Childhood represents innocence and simplicity for him. However, he also recognises that growing up gives a person rational thinking and an independent mind. Thus, his feeling combines nostalgia with acceptance.

2. Why is the age of eleven so important for the poet? Do you think he attained adulthood at the Age of eleven?

Answer: The age of eleven is important because the poet remembers it as a possible stage when he began to question his childhood beliefs about Heaven and Hell.

He realised that they could not be found as actual places in Geography. However, this does not necessarily mean that he became fully adult at eleven. It was only an important step towards rational thinking and maturity.

3. What does the poet say about the hypocrisy of the grown ups?

Answer: The poet observes that grown-ups often say that they love one another and speak about love, but their actions do not always show the same feeling.

This difference between what adults preach and what they actually practise makes the poet aware of their hypocrisy. Recognising this contradiction becomes an important stage in his growth.

4. What is the difference between childhood and adulthood? Do you think the only difference is between, that of innocence and ‘hypocrisy’?

Answer: Childhood is associated with innocence, trust and dependence on the ideas of others, while adulthood is associated with rational thought, experience and independent judgement.

The difference is not limited only to innocence and hypocrisy. Growing up also involves learning to distinguish reality from imagination, questioning accepted beliefs and developing one’s own thoughts and identity.

5. Is independent thinking a step towards adulthood ? If so, how?

Answer: Yes, independent thinking is an important step towards adulthood.

A child often accepts the ideas and beliefs of adults without questioning them. As a person grows up, he begins to examine ideas for himself and form his own opinions. When he realises that his thoughts belong to him alone, he moves towards maturity and individuality.

6. In the last stanza the poet asks “Where did my childhood go”? The previous three stanzas begin with “When did my childhood go?” Do you think that this change is quite significant?

Answer: Yes, this change is very significant. In the first three stanzas, the poet asks “when” because he is trying to identify the stage or moment at which his childhood ended.

In the last stanza, the question changes to “where”. Now he is no longer searching for a particular time but for the place where childhood has gone. He finally imagines it as being hidden in the innocent face of an infant.

7. Has the poet got an answer to the question : “Where did my childhood go”?

Answer: Yes, the poet arrives at a symbolic answer to his question.

He feels that his childhood has gone to some forgotten place and that its innocence can now be seen in an infant’s face. The infant represents the purity, simplicity and innocence that the poet associates with childhood.

8. Identify where the poet talks of

i) Individuality ii) rationalism iii) hypocrisy

Answer:

i) Individuality: The poet talks of individuality in stanza three. He realises that his mind is his own and that he can think independently without being completely guided by others.

ii) rationalism: Rationalism is presented in stanza one. The poet begins to question the literal existence of Hell and Heaven and learns to distinguish between imagination and reality.

iii) hypocrisy: Hypocrisy appears in stanza two. The poet notices that adults speak and preach about love but do not always practise love in their actions.

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Teacher Generate Question Answer

1. Identify the stanza that talks of each of the following:

Individuality rationalism hypocrisy

Ans: Individuality : stanza no. 3

Rationalism : stanza no. 1

Hypocrisy : stanza no.2

3. What according to the poem is involved in the process of growing up?

Ans: The process of growing up involves many things. First of all it begins with the stage when one can differentiate between reality and imaginary things. The second stage is reached when one can differentiate between what adults preach and what they do. He can see through their hypocrisy. And lastly, independent thinking is the sign of a mature man. He is not influenced or directed by others as he was in his childhood.

4. What is the poet’s feeling towards childhood?

Ans: The poet seems to be nostalgic about his childhood. But it has been lost and will not come back. He seems to suffer from a sense of loss.

5. Which do you think are the most poetic lines? Why?

Ans: The most poetic lines in the poem are.‘It went to some forgotten place,That’s hidden in an infant’s face.These two lines form a rhyming couplet. They lift us back to the innocent world of an infant where the poet’s childhood seems to be lying hidden.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Do you think the poet is nostalgic about his childhood? Does he feel the loss of his childhood as a great loss?

Ans: Naturally the poet grows nostalgic about his childhood. Childhood means innocence and loss of it means the loss of innocence. The poet suffers from a sense of loss and speculates on how and when he suffered that loss.

2. Why is the age of eleven so important for the poet? Do you think he attained adulthood at the Age of eleven?

Ans: At the age of eleven the poet was able to differentiate between fact and fiction, truth and imaginary speculation. He realised that ‘hell’ and ‘heaven’ are merely imaginary concepts. They don’t exist in the world of reality or even in geography books. The age of eleven was the first step towards maturity and rational thinking.

3. What does the poet say about the hypocrisy of the grown ups?

Ans: There was a process of growing up. He was no more a child when he could see through the hypocrisy of the grown up people. It was a step towards adulthood. The grown ups are not as good as they appear to be. Nor do they practise love in their actions as they preach it so frequently.

4. What is the difference between childhood and adulthood? Do you think the only difference is between, that of innocence and ‘hypocrisy’?

Ans: It appears so. Childhood stands for innocence. It knows no crafts or hypocrisy. The moment a man is able to differentiate between the preaching’s and actions of the grown ups, he takes a step forward towards maturity. Hypocrisy and crafty nature is associated only with the world of adults.

5. Is independent thinking a step towards adulthood ? If so, how?

Ans: Certainly, it is. A child has no independence. His thinking is always influenced and directed by adults. The day he starts thinking independently, he takes a step ahead towards maturity. The day he feels that his thoughts are his own and only his own, then, it is a definite step towards adulthood.

6. In the last stanza the poet asks “Where did my childhood go”? The previous three stanzas begin with “When did my childhood go?” Do you think that this change is quite significant?

Ans: In all the previous stanzas, the poet has been asking the same question. He wants to know the stage when he lost his childhood and suddenly grew up as an adult. But in the last stanza he asks. ‘Where did my childhood go?’ He wants to know the place and not the time. And finally he finds an answer. ‘That’s hidden in an infant’s face.’

7. Has the poet got an answer to the question : “Where did my childhood go”?

Ans: It seems that the poet has got the final answer. He realises that his childhood is lying hidden in an infant’s innocent face and has been deliberately forgotten. His lost childhood is lying hidden somewhere in the innocence which is present only over an infant’s face.

8. Identify where the poet talks of

i) Individuality ii) rationalism iii) hypocrisy

Ans: i) The poet talks of his ‘individuality’ in stanza three. Here is a person whose mind is really his own and who can think independently. He is not influenced or directed by others.

ii) The poet’s rationalism is shown in stanza first. Here he comes to realise for the first time that ‘hell’ and ‘heaven’ are merely imaginary concepts. He can now differentiate between facts and fiction.

iii) The poet can see through the hypocrisy of the grown ups in stanza two. Adults are not what they appear to be. They talk and preach of love but seldom practice it.