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
