Hi Everyone!! This article will share Moon Wind Questions & Answers.
This poem is written by Ted Hughes. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of Light in the Night, No Poem by Thomas Hood and Black Beauty so, make sure to check these posts as well.
Moon Wind Questions & Answers
Question 1: How do things get blown about on the moon if there is no wind?
Answer: For the poet, things on the moon get blown about because of the utter stillness of the moon. Everything is weightless on the moon, and it is airless, however, the poem is sheer fantasy so anything can happen.
Question 2: When the moon-wind begins to blow, some strange things happen. Make a list of all the unlikely things that take place on the moon.
Answer: The unlikely things that take place on the moon are:
- A squall of hens and cabbages knocks you off your feet.
- A tearing twisting sheet of pond clouts you with a frog.
- A camp of caravans squawks.
- A ferris wheel bounds along the skyline.
Question 3: Which words does the poet use to describe the following or the movement they make?
i. Candle (flame)
Answer: The candle shivers out. Normally, we would say ‘flicker’, but shiver is just as good a word. Its use is odd in that shiver is not associated with heat but with cold; here, if the candle ‘shivers out’ we feel the cold even more.
ii. Giant marquee
Answer: Booms and flounders like a swan at sea. We have sound (booms) and movement here. The image of a swan (a large bird, like the large marquee) floundering in the sea is apt. The swan is normally serene (on a placid body of water) but ungainly when not in its usual environment.
iii. Hens and cabbages
Answer: A squall… knocks you off your feet. These are then flying haphazardly (squall) and at some speed. An image akin to ‘raining cats and dogs’; one would know too well if one is hit by these flying objects.
iv. Pond, caravans
Answer: Tearing twisting sheet… Clouts you with a frog. To the eye, a pond looks like a sheet of water. If this sheet were to suddenly fly towards you it would indeed be tearing and twisting; and being clouted by a frog would certainly not only be a surprise but painful as well;
Caravans: suddenly… Squawks and takes off. The caravans, presumably parked in a caravan park, are compared to a flock of birds sitting in a field and then suddenly taking off.
v. Ferris wheel
Answer: Bounds along the skyline… like a somersaulting giraffe. A ferris wheel is large and stands out against the skyline; so does a giraffe. A spinning giraffe, with its long legs sticking out, would indeed look like a ferris wheel with its hanging swings flying in all directions.
Question 4: What is so strange about the idea in the last line of the poem? Can you think of any other expressions of this kind?
Answer: Dead-still means absolutely without movement. Blast means a strong gust of wind. There is a contrast here of opposites. It is rather like saying ‘He is a meat-eating vegetarian’.
Question 5: The rhyme scheme of the poem is abcb. Is this true throughout the poem?
Answer: Yes, this is true. If we consider the first four lines, ‘about’ of the second line and ‘out’ of the fourth lines rhymes.
Question 6: Is there one pair that does not quite rhyme?
Answer: Yes, there is one pair that does not quite rhyme. In stanza 5, off/giraffe is not a perfect rhyme.
So, these were Moon Wind Questions & Answers.