Class 8 English - The Sower - Questions & Answers


Questions and Answers for Class 8 English - Unit 3 Seeds and Deeds | Std 8 English - The Sower - Questions & Answers | Textual Activities
The Sower
Summary
The poem 'The Sower' written by the French writer Victor Marie Hugo portrays a sower. He marches along the plain ploughing, manuring, sowing, weeding, irrigating and harvesting. The speaker is sitting in a cool porch way. The working hours are over. But he still lingers so that he can sow the seeds. These grains grow as corn and pro- vide us food. The sower grows in stature and the poet seems to respect him. The poet is sitting idle, watching the sower, whereas the sower works hard.
Steady rhythm makes the poem perfect. It is divided into four-line-stanzas. They follow a musical flow. The rhyme-scheme followed in the poem is 'abab'. Rhythm and figures of speech like alliteration (shadows shoot), assonance (I, .... stride) and personification (Twilight hastens) make the poem charming. The imagery is brilliant The word choice is simple.

1. What are the various activities involved in farming?
Answer: Ploughing, Manuring, Sowing, Weeding, Irrigating, Harvesting.

2. Where is the speaker sitting
Answer: In a cool porch way

3. What time of the day is it?
Answer: Evening

Additional questions
1. ‘But one sower lingers still’. Why does the sower ‘linger’? What does the use of the word ‘linger’ suggest about the sower?
Answer: He lingers so that he can sow the seeds. It suggests that he is dedicated to his work.

2. Why does the speaker feel a thrill on seeing the sower now? Identify the words used by the poet to establish this.
Answer: He is impressed on seeing the silhouette of the sower dominating over the fields. Black and high his silhouette Dominate the furrows deep!

3. How does the sower go about performing his task?
Answer: He marches along the field to and fro and scatters the seeds wide.

4. In normal circumstances pearls, diamonds and rubies are referred as precious. In this poem, ‘grain’ is referred to as precious. Why does the poet consider grain precious?
Answer: lt is these grains that grow as corn and provide us food that keeps us alive.

5.The poet speaks of the sower as ‘old and in rags’ in the beginning of the poem. How does this opinion change towards the end of the poem? Pick out the lines from the poem.
Answer: The sower grows in stature and the poet seems to respect him more for what he does.
‘Now his gesture to mine eyes Are august; and strange – his height Seem to touch the starry skies.’

6. Bring out the contrast between the poet and the sower.
Answer: The poet is sitting idle, watching the sower whereas the sower works hard even after twilight has set in and everyone has gone home.

Let’s revisit
1. ‘But one sower lingers still’. Why does the sower ‘linger’? What does the use of the word ‘linger’ suggest about the sower?
Answer: He lingers so that he can sow the seeds. It suggests that he is dedicated to his work.

2. Why does the speaker feel a thrill on seeing the sower now? Identify the words used by the poet to establish this.
Answer: He is impressed on seeing the silhouette of the sower dominating over the fields. Black and high his silhouette Dominate the furrows deep!

3. How does the sower go about performing his task?
Answer: He marches along the field to and fro and scatters the seeds wide.

4. In normal circumstances pea¬rls, diamonds and rubies are referred as precious. In this poem, ‘grain’ is referred to as precious. Why does the poet consider grain precious?
Answer: lt is these grains that grow as corn and provide us food that keeps us alive.

5. The poet speaks of the sower as ‘old and in rags’ in the beginning of the poem. How does this opinion change towards the end of the poem? Pick out the lines from the poem.
Answer: The sower grows in stature and the poet seems to respect him more for what he does.
‘Now his gesture to mine eyes Are august; and strange – his height Seem to touch the starry skies.’

6. Bring out the contrast between the poet and the sower.
Answer: The poet is sitting idle, watching the sower whereas the sower works hard even after twilight has set in and everyone has gone home.

7. Look at the words:
cool  fast
rule  past
These are rhyming words. Now, pick out the other rhyming words from the poem.
• Lands — stands
• still — thrill
• deep — reap
• plain — grain
• wide — stride
• Light — height
• eyes — skies

8. Locate the word pictures used in the poem.
shadows shoot across the lands Marches he along the plain, To and fro and scatters wide From his hand’s precious grain

9.‘Seems to touch the starry skies’ is an example of alliteration from the poem. Pick out other examples from the poem
shadows shoot across the lands looking on, I feel a thrill

10.Write the rhyme scheme of the first stanza.
Rhyme scheme ab -ab

11. Prepare a short profile of Victor Marie Hugo using the hints given below.
Born: February 26, 1802, France
Popular as: Greatest and best known French writer
Spouse: Adele Foucher (1822)
Notable works: The Hunchback of Notredame, Sea Devils
Died: May 22, 1885
Answer:
Victor Marie Hugo:
Victor Marie Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in France. He was one of the greatest and best known French writers. He married Adele Foucher in 1822. The Hunchback of Notredame, Sea Devils, etc are his notable works. He passed away on May 22 in 1885.

12. Prepare an appreciation to the poem Sower.
The inspirational poem ‘The Sower ‘ is penned by the renowned French poet cum novelist Victor Marie Hugo.Victor Hugo was much known for his novel like Les Miserables than the short poems he composed.The Sower is translated into English by the Indian English writer Toru Dutt.The poet derives utmost inspiration from a very humble old farmer.The poem talks about an old man ,in rags, with seeds in his hands who goes on sowing unmindful of day and night.He is so lost in his work that he nearly forgot to go back to his home and take rest.Nobody is seen along with him,and the sower,is much immersed in his work,that he wouldn’t think to retire for a break .He loves doing his work, even though he might have suffered set backs in his life.He is hopeful and positive and wouldn’t probably wait for the result of his actions.He is sowing the seeds of life. He emerges as the omnipotent God ,who creates while the whole world is asleep.The sower,the life giver doesn’t wait for rewards to be showered on him.It is a selfless deed that he does.He wouldnt remain there to see the results.He wouldn’t be even alive to reap the harvest since he is too old.His hands aren’t tired of performing hard tasks,neither are they toiled with sins.The poet ,sits in his porch way and observes the old man and gets inspired by his dedication and determination.Nature has signalled him the time to retire but the old man , with much enthusiasm,continues his mission.With measured strides he goes to and fro ,scattering the life giving seeds .This may also refer to the virtues which would bear fruit in the near future.He could be any social reformer hellbent on cleansing the evils of society.His actions may go unnoticed by others or even get criticised or mocked at.But time would prove him right.The poet was very curious while he watched the old man busy in the field at dusk. But gradually, the poet had started admiring him.The old man and his actions have suddenly grown huge,and seemed so huge that the poet suddenly began to admire him.The sower and his activities turn so sublime in the final stanza of the poem.One is reminded of the proverb as you sow, so you reap.The poem at a peripheral level discusses about the sons of earth, who feed the whole world and are never appreciated for their noble endeavour.Those who stay in glass houses seldom do acknowledge the hard work they put in .The poem is also built on this images of sowing and reaping which again reminds us about our deeds and actions. We forge our destiny based on the actions we perform. Every action is therefore sure to have it’s consequences.The poem has a handful of symbols for a clearer perception.Sower is an image ,the poet sitting in the porchway watching lazily the old man,the seeds etc are some among them.The poem indirectly exhorts the readers to be accountable to their actions.

MODEL QUESTION (2015)
1. Read the following stanzas and answer the questions that follow
Sitting in a porch-way cool,
Fades the ruddy sunlight fast
Twilight hastens on to rule
Working hours are well – nigh past
Shadows shoot across the lands;
But one sower lingers still,
Old, in rags, the patient stands,
Looking on, I feel a thrill
1. Where is the poet sitting?
2. What time of the day is it?
3. Pick out the word pictures in the poem.
4. Find out the rhyme scheme of the first stanza.



ഈ ബ്ലോഗിലെ എല്ലാ പോസ്റ്റുകളും ഒരുമിച്ച് കാണാനും ആവശ്യമുള്ളവ എളുപ്പത്തിൽ തിരഞ്ഞെടുക്കാനും ഇവിടെ ക്ലിക്കുക.

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