The Height of the Ridiculous Questions & Answers

Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Height of the Ridiculous Questions & Answers.

Written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, the poem is a humorous poem with plenty of funny expressions meant only for enjoyment. The main features of this poem are the expressions indicating funny moments. The poet’s main purpose is to simply entertain his audience. Below are given the questions and answers of this poem. I have also shared the questions and answers of Bangle Sellers and Palanquin Bearers so, you can check these posts as well.

The Height of the Ridiculous Questions & Answers

Question 1: Read the passage given below and answer the following questions:

“They were so queer…………………… sober man am I.”

(a) What kind of person is the poet?

Answer: The poet is sober man.

(b) What made the poet laugh so much that he thought that he would die?

Answer: The poet had written some lines of a poem for the first time which turned out to be very funny. They were so funny that he laughed so much that he thought that he would die.

(c) Which word in the lines above means ‘strange’?

Answer: Queer

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Question 2: Why did the poet call his servant?

Answer: The poet had written a poem for the first time and when he read them he found them funny and good. He wanted the servant to take the poem to the printer.

Question 3: What did the poet think about the lines that he had written?

Answer: While the poet was in a happy mood, he wrote some lines. He found them so funny that he thought he would actually die of laughing and was sure that people would appreciate them.

Question 4: Read the passage given below and answer the following questions:

“Ten days and nights…………………………. funny as I can.”

(a) Which word in the lines means ‘worthless’?

Answer: Wretched

(b) Why did the poet spend ten sleepless nights?

Answer: The poet’s servant on reading the poem written by the poet went into a fit of laughter so much that he was unstoppable for ten days and nights. Hence, the poet had to spend ten sleepless nights to look after the servant.

(c) Which figure of speech is used in these lines?

Answer: These lines use hyperbole as it speaks of the reaction of the servant in an exaggerated manner.

(d) What was the result of the ridiculous reaction of the servant?

Answer: Because of the ridiculous reaction of the servant the poet did not dare to write any funny poem again.

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Question 5: Do you think the poem is ridiculous? Why?

Answer: Yes, the poem is ridiculous because the poet makes fun of himself. The servant laughs wildly on reading his master’s work. The poet has given up writing because of this.

The Height of the Ridiculous Questions & Answers

Question 6: What effect did the poem have on the servant?

Answer: The poet’s servant read the first line and started grinning. The grin grew broader as he continued reading and he started chuckling to himself. He started roaring with laughter at the fourth line. He laughed so hard that his waistband split. When he read the fifth line, he burst five buttons and went into a laughing fit that seriously alarmed the poet. For ten days and nights, he watched over him and never dared to write humorously again.

Question 7: What made the poet stop writing funny poems?

Answer: The poet stopped writing when he saw that the funny poem he wrote affected the servant so much that he could not stop laughing for ten days and nights much to the poet’s discomfort.

Question 8: What was the height of the ridiculous in the poem ‘The Height of the Ridiculous’?

Answer: The poet once wrote a poem which he thought was good though funny. He called upon his servant to take the poem to a printer when the servant began to read the poem. The servant was initially amused by the first few lines and he began to grin. Soon, his amusement turned into a fit of laughter. He laughed so much that his waistband broke, his buttons fell off and he himself went into a fit of laughter. The height of the ridiculous was that the servant continued laughing for ten days and ten nights due to which the poet had to spend sleepless nights.

Question 9: Is the poem a bit exaggerated? Quote the lines which tell you this.

Answer: Yes, the poem is exaggerated. The lines that tell us are:

I laughed as I would die.

There’ll be the devil to pay.

He broke into a roar.

His waistband split.

Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye.

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Question 10: Why is the poem called ‘The Height of the Ridiculous’?

Answer: When the poet wrote down his, he was sure that people would find them funny. He himself started laughing on reading them funny. He himself started laughing on reading them. He laughed so hard that he thought he would die. This in itself was ridiculous. But the height of the ridiculous was when on reading the poem, his servant laughed so hard that his waistband broke, his buttons fell off and he himself went into a fit of laughter from which he recovered after ten days. For ten days and nights, the poet watched over him and never dared to write humorously again. The poem is called ‘The Height of the Ridiculous’ because the effect of his funny lines on people, reached the heights of absurdity.

So, these were The Height of the Ridiculous Questions & Answers.

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