REVISION

The Fun They Had- Isaac Asimov

• Characters: Tommy (13 yrs) and Margie (11 yrs)
• Theme: transformation by technology. The whole story focuses on
two eras: One is the Digital Era (22nd Century) in which Tommy and
Margie live and the other is the Normal Era, about which they learned
through their grandparent's diary.
• How did the experience of reading words on crinkly, yellow pages
differ from reading on a screen for the characters, and why did they
find it amusing?
The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost
• Theme: Making choices, decisions
• Metaphor: The road is a metaphor for the choices we make in life.
• Visual Imagery: The poet gives us a visual description of the two
roads. He says that one was grassy as there were hardly any travellers
walking down that road.
• Comment on the aspect of freedom and responsibility with regard to
the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’.
The Sound of Music
• Theme: love and passion for Music; earnest efforts and able guidance
pave one's way to success.
• Which values of life strengthened Evelyn against the handicap of her
deafness? What does her career teach the people?
• Bismillah Khan, on receiving the Bharat Ratna, remarked, “Teach your
children music, this is Hindustan’s richest tradition; even the West is
now coming to learn our music.” What does it reveal about his
sentiments towards India?
Wind – Subramania Bharati
• Theme: when you face a lot of hardships and obstacles in life, you
should never give up, instead you should befriend those obstacles.
• Anaphora- repetition of ‘don’t’.
• Personification- Wind
• Symbolism – wind- It refers to the challenges in life. He is using wind
as a symbol for the adversities in our life.
• Do you think the poem “Wind” is a didactic poem? What moral values
does it preach?
The Little Girl- Katherine Mansfield
• Characters: Kezia, Father and Mother
• Theme: the relationship between parents and their children.
• Kezia: soft, affectionate, sensitive and emotional girl.
• How did Kezia feel in the presence of her father?
Rain on the Roof- Coates Kinney
• Theme: The rain soothes and comforts an over worked mind by
taking it back to its lovely past.
• Personification- darkness (stanza 1)
• Onomatopoeia: ‘patter’
• How does the poet react to the sound of the rain falling on the roof?
A Truly Beautiful Mind
• Significance of the title: it encompasses both the intelligence of
Einstein and his humanistic tendencies. As a genius, he made an
immense contribution to the world of science by presenting startling
theories and as a human being, he preached for peace and
democracy.
• Einstein was an unusual child with no indication of his potential
greatness. Comment.
The Lake of Innisfree- William Butler Yeats
• Theme: Nature Vs Civilizations; peacefulness of Nature
• Repetition- ‘I will arise and go now’
• Anaphora (3rd stanza)
• What values of life does the poet support?
The Snake and the Mirror- Vaikom Muhammad
Basheer
• Theme: human vanity and pride
• Message: faith in God and humility in thoughts are what make a
person strong enough to face any difficult situation in life.
• The story ‘The Snake and the Mirror’, deals with the issue of human
vanity and pride. Discuss this statement in light of the character of
the doctor.
A Legend of the Northland- Phoeby Cary
• Theme: Greed is a grave sin.
• Simile- "And the children look like bear cubs.“
• Alliteration- “ funny, fury clothes”, ‘faint with fasting’
• Repetition- ‘away’
• What values do the legend of Saint Peter and the little woman teach?
My Childhood- A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
• Message: tolerance, acceptance, broadmindedness and brotherhood
are essential for an all-round growth. In order to reform social
systems that are infected by prejudices of caste and status, one must
be ready to confront obstacles.
• Characters: Abdul Kalam, Jainulabdeen (father), Ashiamma (mother),
Samsuddin (cousin), Ramanada Sastry, Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry
(friend and his father), Sivasubramanian Iyer (Science teacher)
• “Once you decide to change the system, such problems have to be
confronted.” What system is being refer in the sentence from the
chapter “My Childhood”?
No Men are Foreign- James Kirkup
• Theme: Universal brotherhood
• Metaphor- Uniform/countries
• Repetition- ‘remember’(stanza 4)
• Refrain- first and last stanza
• “The land our brothers walk upon. Is earth like this, in which we all
shall lie!” What does the poet mean to say in the above lines?
Explain.
Reach for the Top
• Message: one must set one’s eyes on the stars and strive hard to
achieve the goal through hard work, determination, and constant and
persistent efforts.
• “If I chose a correct and a rational path, the others around me had to
change, not me”, said Santosh Yaday. How does her life justify her
words?
On Killing a Tree- Gieve Patel
• Theme: Man’s destructive nature vs regenerative power of mother
Nature.
• Personification- tree
• Alliteration
• Metaphor- leprous hide
• Repetition- pulled out (3rd stanza)
• What relationship does the tree have with the earth?
Kathmandu- Vikram Seth
• Message: purity of holy places must be upheld
• How does the author describe the flute seller? What does he say
about the flute music?
A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal – William Wordsworth

• Theme: Inevitability of death

• Metaphor: “She seemed a thing that could not feel”-The subject is
metaphorically compared to an inanimate object that cannot feel,
implying numbness or detachment.
• Repetition: “No motion has she now, no force;”
• What is the central theme of the poem? How has it been used in the
poem?
If I Were You- Douglas James
• Theme: necessity of being witty and usefulness of being calm and
composed.
• Characters: Gerrard (Playwright), Intruder
• The best way to deal with a crisis is not to lose your calm. Discuss this
statement with reference to the behaviour of Gerrard in the play.