Comprehension
A. Reference to the Context
1. "Night and morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles"
- a. What happened night and morning?
The speaker watered his growing anger and resentment with his fears and tears every night and morning.
- b. Why were tears shed?
The tears were shed out of sorrow, distress, and the bitter emotions caused by suppressed anger and fear of the foe.
- c. What was ‘it’?
‘It’ refers to the speaker’s wrath (anger), metaphorically imagined as a growing tree/plant.
- d. What does ‘sunned it with smiles’ mean?
sunned it with smiles means the speaker disguised his hostile feelings with false, friendly smiles and superficial cheerfulness to deceive his enemy.
2. "And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night"
- a. What grew both ‘day and night’?
The speaker’s wrath (anger/hatred) grew continuously day and night.
- b. Whose ‘wiles’ are referred to here?
The speaker's crafty, cunning, and deceptive tricks are referred to here.
- c. Why does the person use wiles?
The speaker uses deceitful tricks to conceal his true malicious intent and appear harmless while secretly nurturing his vengeance.
- d. How did ‘it’ grow?
It grew steadily and continuously, nourished by fears, bitter tears, fake smiles, and deceptive scheming.
3. "And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine."
- a. What did the foe see?
The foe saw the bright, tempting apple that grew upon the speaker's poison tree.
- b. Why did ‘it shine’?
The apple was ripe, attractive, and alluring, reflecting the deadly perfection of the speaker’s cultivated vengeance.
- c. What was ‘mine’?
Mine refers to the bright, poisonous apple that belonged to the speaker.
- d. What did the foe do with it?
The foe sneaked into the speaker's garden under the cover of night, stole the apple, and ate it, which led to his death.
B. Answer These Questions
- Which phrase in stanza 1 has the same meaning as 'kept his anger to himself'?
The phrase is "I told it not".
- What did the narrator do when he was angry with his friend?
The narrator openly expressed his anger to his friend ("I told my wrath"), which caused the anger to end and restored harmony.
- What did the speaker do when he was angry with his enemy?
He suppressed his feelings, chose not to speak about his anger, and allowed it to fester and grow in secret.
- Why did the speaker's anger grow?
It grew because it was never openly addressed or resolved; instead, it was fed on mistrust, fear, obsession, and deceit.
- What does the speaker compare his anger with in the poem?
The speaker compares his anger to a poisonous tree that bears a fatal fruit.
- How did the speaker feed the tree?
He fed it by watering it with tears and fears, and warming it with false smiles and deceitful tricks.
- What happened to the speaker's enemy in the morning?
In the morning, the enemy was found lying dead ("outstretched") under the poison tree after eating the poisoned apple.
- What do you think is the poet suggesting in this poem?
The poet suggests that suppressing anger and harbouring grudges is destructive. Open communication resolves conflict, whereas bottling up hatred turns toxic and leads to ruinous consequences for everyone involved.
- What did the speaker do to ensure that the tree grew healthily?
He constantly nurtured it day and night with intense emotional energy—watering it with his fears and tears and providing "sunlight" through deceptive smiles and cunning behaviours until it bore fruit.
- How does the speaker feel that morning? What does this tell us about him?
The speaker feels glad and triumphant to see his enemy lying dead beneath the tree ("In the morning glad I see / My foe outstretched beneath the tree"). This reveals that prolonged, suppressed hatred has completely corrupted his moral sense, replacing empathy with cold-blooded vindictiveness.
Comments
Post a Comment