INDIAN SCHOOL MUSCAT
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
CLASS XII
FLAMINGO: A THING OF BEAUTY
JOHN KEATS
Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow:
1.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
a) What are we doing every day?
b) Which evil things do we possess and suffer from?
c) What does the expression ‘spite of despondence’ imply?
d) What does ‘unhealthy and o’er darkened ways’ refer to?
2. A thing of beauty is a joy forever
Its loveliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness; but will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
a) How is a thing of beauty a joy forever?
b) What do you understand by a ‘bower’?
c) According to Keats, what treasure does a beautiful thing store for us?
d) What does ‘quiet breathing’ imply?
3. …and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
‘Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms;
a) How do ‘daffodils’ and ‘rills’ enrich the environment?
b) What makes the mid forest brake rich?
c) What is the poetic device used in the third line.
d) Name the poem and the poet.
4. And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.
a) Explain ‘the grandeur of the doom’.
b) What is implied by ‘all lovely tales that we have heard or read’?
c) What is the source of the ‘endless fountain of immortal drink’?
d) Why does the poet make the reference of ‘mighty dead’?
Answer the following in about 30-40 words.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the cause of our ‘gloomy days’ and ‘dark spirits’?
What spreads the pall of despondence over our dark spirits? How is it removed?
What is the message of the poem ‘A Thing of Beauty’?
How do beautiful things help us to live a happy life?
Keats feels that Nature binds us to the Earth. How does he justify this?