ENGLISH FIRST LANGUAGE
POEM: - THE STOLEN BOAT
POEM: - THE STOLEN BOAT
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is regarded as the greatest poet of Nature. He is a worshipper of Nature — Nature’s devotee or high-priest. Nature occupies in his poems independent status and is not treated in a casual or passing manner. Under the influence of Nature, he experiences a mystic mood, a transcendental feeling. The revolutionary movement in France (1788-92) made a powerful impression on his mind, but soon he was disillusioned and spent some years in despair. He was given the title of Poet Laureate in 1843. His major works are: Lyrical Ballads (1798), Poems in two Volumes (1807) and The Excursion (1814).
I. Question & Answers
1. Who does 'her' in the first line refer to?
Ans: - The cool summer breeze.
2. Where was the boat moored?
Ans: - Inside a rocky cave, tied to a willow tree.
3. What does 'home' inline 3 refer to?
Ans: - The place where the boat was usually moored.
4. What does 'her' inline 4 refer to?
Ans: - The boat
5. Why does the poet use words like 'home' and 'her' while talking about the inanimate boat?
Ans: - The attraction of the boat to the boy is so much that it acquires a human presence in his mind.
6. What stealthy act does the boy commit?
Ans: - The boy takes away the boat without the permission of the owner of the boat.
7. What sound is captured in lines 6 and 7?
Ans: - Mountain-echoes of the sound of the oars splashing in the water.
8. What visual picture is created in lines 8 to 10?
Ans: - The picture is of small ripples caused in the water by the moving oars, and their fading away to leave only a long stretch of reflected moonlight in the water in the wake of the boat.
9. What does 'they' inline 10 refer to?
Ans: - The small ripples in the water.
10. How many peaks are mentioned in the poem? Which one is bigger?
Ans: - Two peaks are mentioned: The first one is a craggy ridge, the one the boy wanted to reach; the second one is a black and huge peak which looms suddenly in front of him.
11. a) What is the boat compared to inline 19 and 20?
Ans: - A swan gliding smoothly in the water.
b) The purpose of the comparison is
a. to highlight the beauty and grace of the swan
b. to highlight the beauty and grace of the boat
c. to highlight the graceful movement of the boat
Ans: - (c) to highlight the graceful movement of the boat.
12. In the expression 'troubled pleasure' (line 6).
a) What pleasurable experience of the narrator does 'pleasure' refer to?
Ans: - Taking the boat away all by himself.
b) The narrator's pleasure is 'troubled' because
a. his conscience pricks him on his stealthy act
b. the pleasure is short-lived
c. he is scared of his stealthy act being found out
Ans: - (a) his conscience pricks him on his stealthy act
13. Read carefully lines 21 to 26
(a) Draw a picture of the black and huge peak.
b) Pick out the details of the peak that appears fearful to the boy
Ans: - Rising from behind the craggy ridge all of a sudden; Being black and huge in size; Went on growing in size till it towered between the boy and the stars; Seemed to be coming after the boy with a measured step.
c) The lines refer to the movement of the peak. Is it real or imagined by the boy?
Ans: - It is the imagination of the boy who is already feeling guilty about his act of stealing the boat.
d) In the boy's imagination, the movement is
a. threatening and menacing
b. lively and graceful
c. friendly and inviting
Ans: - (a) threatening and menacing.
14. a) In the phrase "trembling oars", who is trembling?
Ans: - The boy is trembling.
b) Name the figure of speech in this expression.
Ans: - The figure of speech used here is "Transferred Epithet".
c) The boy is trembling because of
a. He is frightened by the 'approaching' peak
b. Of his guilty conscience
c Of cold
Ans: - (a) He is frightened by the 'approaching' peak.
15. The episode of the stolen boat ends with the boy leaving the boat back in its mooring place (line 32). The remaining lines of the poem (lines 33 to 44) deal with
a. the lasting memory of the actual experience
b. details not connected with the actual experience
c. the mysterious shapes and images haunting him
Ans: - (c) the mysterious shapes and images haunting him.
16. Wordsworth defined poetry as "emotion recollected in tranquility". What dominant emotion of the boat experience is recollected by the poet?
Ans: - Fear caused by the sight of the huge, black peak.
17. Many days after the stolen boat experience, the narrator was haunted by a mysterious presence within him. Pick out details of this mysterious presence from lines 37 to 44.
Ans: - After the experience, there hung over the boy's thoughts darkness which can be called solitude or blank desertion. There were no familiar shapes or pleasant images of trees, sea or sky. There were just huge and mighty forms that do not live like living men. These forms moved slowly through his mind by day and troubled him in his dreams.
17. Many days after the stolen boat experience, the narrator was haunted by a mysterious presence within him. Pick out details of this mysterious presence from lines 37 to 44.
Ans: - After the experience, there hung over the boy's thoughts darkness which can be called solitude or blank desertion. There were no familiar shapes or pleasant images of trees, sea or sky. There were just huge and mighty forms that do not live like living men. These forms moved slowly through his mind by day and troubled him in his dreams.
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