The Nightingale and the Glow-worm

 Poem Appreciation

1. The speaker seems to show two contrasting sides to the nightingale's character in the course of the poem. What are these?

The speaker shows two contrasting sides to the nightingale’s character in the course of the poem. On one side the nightingale is shown as a tireless musician who cheers all the villages throughout the day. On the other side, the nightingale is shown as a ruthless predator who wants to hunt and eat the glow-worm.

2. Although the glow-worm is much tinier than the nightingale, he still talks about himself as being equal to the bird. Which four lines show this?

These are the four lines in the poem which show that the glow-warm talked about himself as being equal to the bird.

For ‘twas the self-same power Divine

Taught you to sing, and me to shine

That you with music, I with light,

Might beautify and cheer the night.

3. Do you think that the glow-worm makes use of flattery to save his life? Quote the line which shows this?

Yes. I think that the glow-worm makes use of flattery to save his life. It cannot run away or fight with the nightingale. It knows that it has no other chance than flattery. It has to convince the nightingale not to eat it.

Here are the lines which show it in the poem. ‘As much as I your minstrelsy and That you with music …….Might beautify and cheer the night.

4. When the glow-worm speaks of the ‘power Divine’, do you think he is truly glorifying God or is simply being very clever? Justify your answer.

The glow-worm cleverly uses ‘power Divine’ both for glorifying God and to convince the Nightingale that a glow-worm and a Nightingale are equally gifted by God. It convinced the Nightingale that both of them are created by God to ‘beautify and cheer’ the world.

5. Do you think that the glow-worm could really spoil the nightingale’s song? If yes, how? If no, why does he say so?

No. I don’t think that the glow-worm could really spoil the nightingale’s song. It was only trying to save itself. It wanted to flatter the nightingale.

6. Read the poem once again and write down the rhyme scheme used in it.

The rhyme scheme of the pome is:

aabbccddeeffgghhaaiiccjjkk