1)Why does Keats feel that the poetry of earth is never dead? [6] [H.S. = 2015]
Or. How does Keats show that the poetry of earth never ceases? [6] [H.S. = 2019]
Or. How does Keats show that the poetry of earth is never dead? [6] [H.S. = 2022]
Ans. John Keats feels that the poetry of earth is never dead. To confirm his view, he presents two tiny objects of nature in two different seasons – summer and winter. On hot and scorching summer days, the birds are exhausted. They are unable to sing. They take shelter in the cooling shed of trees. At that moment, a grasshopper takes the lead. It fills the air with its sweet voice and keeps alive the poetry of earth. In winter, life becomes dull and monotonous. The frost creates an icy silence everywhere. But in this time, the shrill song of cricket breaks the silence of winter and warms the earth. In this way, Keats shows that the earth’s poetry i.e. music of earth knows no end.
2) What picture of summer is presented in “The Poetry of Earth”? How has it been carried on to the picture of winter? [4+2 = 6] [H.S. = 2016]
Ans. John Keats presents a beautiful picture of summer in the octave part of his poetry, ’The Poetry of Earth’. ‘The hot sun’ indicates the scorching heat of summer that makes all the birds exhausted. They cannot sing. They take shelter in the cooling shed of trees. But it does not affect the grasshopper. It takes the lead. Its voice runs from hedge to hedge. It seems that the grasshopper enjoys the summer. His delights of singing never come to an end. When it is tired out of singing, it takes a rest comfortably under some pleasant weed and again resumes its singing with fresh energy.
On a lone winter evening, when frost makes an icy silence everywhere, the song of cricket increases warmth. The songs of cricket seem to be the songs of the grasshopper to a man who is asleep in drowsiness. In this way, the picture of summer has been carried on to the picture of summer.
3) What does Keats mean by ‘poetry of earth’? Why does he say that this poetry never ceases? [2+4 = 6] [H.S. = 2017]
Ans. By ‘poetry of earth’ John Keats means that the music of earth which is everlasting. In this poem, music is created in the form of the songs of two insects.
For the second part, see the answer to Question No. 1.
4) Identify the voices of the ‘Poetry of Earth’. How does Keats establish its continuity through its voices? [2+4 = 6] [H.S. = 2020]
Ans. The voices of the ‘Poetry of Earth’ in Keats’ sonnet are the grasshopper and the cricket.
Keats establishes a continuity of the poetry of earth through the songs of the grasshopper in summer and the cricket in winter. Avoiding the adversities of nature, the grasshopper continues its singing when all other creatures faint with the hot sun. In frosty winter, when life becomes intolerable, the shrill song of the cricket warms the earth.
5) Justify the title of Keats’s sonnet ‘The Poetry of Earth’. [6] [H.S. = 2018]
Ans. The title, ‘The Poetry of Earth’ indicates the theme of the sonnet. The poetry of earth signifies the music of earth which is never dead. In the sonnet, John Keats shows two little insects which represent the music of the earth. The grasshopper sings in summer avoiding the scorching sun. In winter, cricket warms the earth with its singing. The weather might be harsh, but someone would definitely take over the charge of the singing. So, the main theme of the sonnet is the permanence of poetry in all seasons and it was nicely established by the poet. Thus the title of the poem is appropriate.
Read more about : ‘The Poetry Of Earth’ by John Keats – Questions and Answers(S.A.Q.), class 12, WBCHSE
Read more about : Poetry – M.C.Q. from the previous year’s H.S. Exams, Class 12, WBCCHSE
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