Class 10 - Poem 15
Poem 15
The Power of Music
MCQs
1. (c) 2. (d) 3. (b)
4. (c) 5. (d) 6. (a)
7. (d) 8. (a) 9. (c)
10. (b) 11. (a)
Section B: Contextual Questions
Extract 1
Ans 1: Bhisma Lochan Sharma is a singer. His singing is loud, irritating and persistent despite its ill effects on every one around.
Ans 2: The sound of his singing is so loud that it appears to reach in all directions right from the Himalayas to the gangetic plains and from Delhi to Burma.
Ans 3: The speaker says that Bhisma Lochan continues to sing without a pause as if he has bet his life on it and is hell-bent to draw the attention of the people, perhaps to seek their appreciation for his singing.
Ans 4: The people think that his singing is well-meant i.e., the singer thinks his music is melodious. This suggests that Bhisma Lochan is a friendly character with no intention of harming anyone.
Ans 5: It is a carefully and artistically crafted composition which is funny and extensively uses literary devices such as rhyme scheme, metrical patterns and personification to tell a story. This makes such poetry attractive to all age-groups and easy to learn and repeat.
Extract 2
Ans 1: 'They' refers to bullocks. They trample in panic or become pale and sickly. As a result their carts get overturned.
Ans 2: They plead to Bhisma Lochan to stop singing because his loud and disturbing singing is painful for them.
Ans 3: Their pleading falls on deaf ears i.e., the singing continues with the same strength. It suggests that the man is stubborn and self-centered.
Ans 4: Bullock-carts get overturned, horses refuse to walk. They whine and raise their legs in the air in protest against the loud-unbearable singing. Even the fishes dive deep in water in search of silence and the birds lose control over their wings and turn upside down.
Ans 5: The poetic device used is Personification. It gives human-like character to animals or things. It allows the reader to understand the anguish of animals and birds in this extract. The poet succeeds because a reader can understand why the bullocks got trampled and their carts got overturned.
Extract 3
Ans 1: Bhisma Lochan is unconcerned about the effect of his loud, tuneless singing on everyone around him. 'Booming' refers to the loud sound and 'broadside' refers to the aggressive attack. Thus, his loud singing appears like an aggressive attack.
Ans 2: The 'wretched brutes' were the animals. They behave abnormally on hearing the loud, unpleasant and tuneless singing of Bhisma Lochan.
Ans 3: Three activities done by them are:
- They line themselves along the road,
- they whine,
- they stare at their feet and raise them in air.
Ans 4: Bhisma Lochan’s singing makes the fishes-dive deep down in the lake to avoid the sound of his singing. Trees shake hearing his singing. The trees even a mile away, are affected and they collapse.
Ans 5: Birds lose control of their wings and turn upside down. We agree with the speaker as this is an exaggeration in line with the genre of nonsense poetry. The exaggeration is used to show how unsettling the sound of Bhisma Lochan’s singing was.
Extract 4
Ans 1: The sky (welkin) weeps on hearing the loud & tuneless singing of Bhisma Lochan. Alliteration is used with the sound 'w' repeated in 'welkin weeps'. Welkin Weeps is also an example of Personification as welkin has been given the human attribute of crying.
Ans 2: The mansions collapse. Earlier in the poem the trees had met the same fate as the mansions.
Ans 3: The billy goat was the wisest of all because he took up the challenge instead of getting anxious or collapsing at the loud singing of Bhisma Lochan.
Ans 4: The billy goat put an end to the loud, tireless, widespread and tuneless singing of Bhisma Lochan. He attacks the singer with his horns and stops the singer's singing, thus restoring peace.
Ans 5: The figure of speech is Alliteration. The 'g' sound is repeated in 'golden gift'. This line signifies the welcome silence and liberation from the sound of Bhisma Lochan’s torturous singing.