Poem
Appreciation
1. On the basis of
your understanding of the poem choose the best option for the answer.
a. Where is the
setting of the poem?
i. in an old age home ii.
in the poet’s neighbourhood iii. outside the
poet’s school iv. on the busy
street
b. What was the woman’s
fear?
i. her old age ii.
the traffic iii. the winter iv. all of the above
2. Why was it
difficult for the woman to cross the road?
The woman was old, tired. It is cold and the road was
slippery. She was afraid that the crowd, the horses, or the carriages might harm
her.
3. Who helped the old
lady?
An unknown schoolboy, who was the gayest of all the boys
helped the old lady.
4. What was his
reason for helping her?
The old lady was somebody’s mother. He hoped that someday,
his mother would be helped by an unknown person in case he is far away from
home and not in a position to help her himself.
5. What was the old
woman’s reaction to being helped?
The old woman was very happy and grateful to being helped.
That night prayed to God to look after the good boy, somebody’s son, who had
helped her.
6. Pick a simile from
this poem and explain it?
Writers use a simile to compare two things with words like ‘as’
and ‘like’. ‘Came the boys like a flock of sheep’ is the simile in this poem.
Here the poet compares a group of boys who are coming out of their school to a
flock of sheep.
