Hi Everyone!! This article will share Under Ground Questions & Answers.
This poem is written by James Reeves. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions & answers of The Kabuliwala and The Story of Doctor Dolittle so, you can check these posts as well.
Under Ground Questions & Answers
- Quarrying – digging
- Solitude – alone
- Populous – full of people
- Gigantic – huge
- Intrude – go somewhere you are not welcome
- Toil – work hard
- Marvellous – wonderful
- Secure – safe
- Tread – step, walk
Question 1: Read the lines and answer the questions:
Sometimes a fork or spade intrudes
Upon their earthy solitudes.
(a) How can fork and spade intrude life under the ground?
Answer: Fork and spade are mostly used to dig the earth for planting saplings, for making a well, burying the dead and so on. These tools could accidentally wedge into the homes of the creatures living underground.
(b) What is earthy solitude?
Answer: Earthy solitude in the above line refers to living alone under the earth’s surface, without disturbance from the outside world.
(c) What else do you think can interfere with their quiet life?
Answer: Vehicles running above the ground, drilling or piling machines, children playing, heavy rain, etc. can interfere with their quiet life.
Under Ground Questions & Answers
Question 2: Who, according to the poet, is busy under the ground?
Answer: The poet is able to visualise many creatures busy under the ground. The rabbits, the mole and the ants make place under the earth to live peacefully. He is also able to imagine some creatures which sleep and do not toil.
Question 3: What does the poet mean by ‘populous empire’?
Answer: By ‘populous empire’, the poet means the colonies of ants built underground.
Question 4: Read the lines and answer the questions:
In the dark kingdom underground
How many marvellous things are found.
(a) Why does the poet call the place a kingdom?
Answer: He calls it a kingdom because there are plenty of creatures that live underground almost as if there is a separate kingdom present there.
(b) Why is it dark?
Answer: It is dark because light does not reach there as the kingdom is below the ground.
Question 5: Who does the poet think will stop their work and why will they stop?
Answer: According to the poet, ants, rabbits and moles will stop their work to hear the footsteps of the poet walking over the ground.
Under Ground Questions & Answers
Question 6: Why does the poet call the underground as ‘the country of dead’?
Answer: He said so because the creatures living below the ground often die there.
Question 7: What thoughts cross the mind of the poet as he walks on the ground?
Answer: While visualising some insects and animals busy underneath the ground, the poet wonders whether they would stop their work and hear him walking on the ground above. He thinks of the ants that run to and fro, always busy trying to make their densely populated empires grow. There are some creatures which the poet feels are quiet. These creatures feel secure underneath the ground but sometimes are disturbed when people decide to dig the earth for some work. The roots of the tree, he feels, are also busy spreading into the graves of the dead. The poet says, further down there are buried rocks and stones which are like earth’s huge sharpening tools. Overall, the poet is wonderstruck at the marvellous world that exists under the ground.
Question 8: Write a few pairs of rhyming words from the poem.
Answer: Fro-grow, overhead-tread, toil-soil and stones-bones.
So, these were Under Ground Questions & Answers.