Leisure By William Henry Davies
Leisure
_William Henry Davies
Word Galaxy
1. leisure: free time
2. stare: a long fixed look on something with eyes wide open
3. boughs: main branches of a tree
4. glance: a brief or hurried look
5. enrich: to improve the quality
Answer the following questions.
Q.1 What does ‘leisure’ mean in this poem?
Ans. In this poem, the word ‘leisure’ means having free time to pursue one’s passion or to spend time with nature and admire its beauty.
Q.2 Who are ‘we’ in the poem?
Ans. The word ‘we’ in the poem refers to people who have no time to enjoy nature.
Q.3 The words ‘No time’ are repeated seven times in the poem. What is the poet trying to say?
Ans. The words ‘No time’ are repeated seven times in the poem to highlight that we humans are so busy in our daily work that we have no time to admire nature and its beauty.
Q.4 If the poet was living in a town, what would he see on the road?
Ans. If the poet had been living in a town, he would have seen traffic on the roads and people around him rushing to their work.
Q.5 How can we live a better life?
Ans. We can live a better life by using our leisure time creatively to strengthen and admire the beautiful things around us.
Q.6 What does the poet wish to see in his free time?
Ans. In his free time, the poet wished to stand beneath boughs and stare for long like wandering sheep or cows. If he had free time, while passing through woods he would be able to spot where squirrels hid their nuts in grass. The poet would like to watch streams sparkling in broad daylight. He wished he had the time to admire nature’s beauty in its various forms.
Q.7 When and where can we see the squirrels hiding their nuts?
Ans. We can see the squirrels hiding their nuts in the grass when we are passing by the woods.
Q.8 How do the streams look in broad daylight?
Ans. The streams shine like stars in the night sky, in broad daylight.
Q.9 Quote the lines from the poem where the poet poses a rhetorical question to his readers.
Ans. The line from the poem are:
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“What is this life if, full of care We have no time to stand and stare” |
Rhetorical question – the poet asks a question to which he does not expect anyone to reply since the answer to it is very obvious. He asks whether life has any value if a man cannot find the time to take a break from his hectic schedule and stare at nature.
Q.10 Which ‘life’ is the poet talking about? What is it that we don’t have the time to do but the cows and sheep we have?
Ans. The poet is talking about one’s extremely busy and stressful life. We don’t have the time to stand and stare beneath the boughs like cows and sheep.
Q.11 Why do you think the word ‘beauty’ is written with a capital ‘B’?
Ans. The word ‘Beauty’ is written with a capital ‘B’ to show the importance of nature’s beauty.
Q.12 The movements in nature are beautiful like a dancer. Based on your own observation, describe the movements of two things in nature that are beautiful.
Ans. The movements of the leaves and the waves are beautiful.
Q.13 How, according to the poet, is our life poor?
Ans. The poet says the people neither have time for themselves nor for nature. People are busy to even stand and admire the beauty of nature around them. Hence, according to the poet, our life is poor.
Q.14 Read the lines and answer the questions:
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And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began |
a. Who is referred to as ‘her’?
Ans. Beauty is referred to as ‘her’ in the poem.
b. To what has the poet compared ‘her’ in the poem?
Ans. The poet has personified Beauty as a dancer.
c. What does the poet lament about?
Ans: the poet laments that we have no time to watch beauty dance and watch her smile.
d. Give the antonym of ‘enrich’.
Ans. Reduce/deplete
Q.15 Write a figure of speech in the following lines:
a.
“No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep and cows.”
Ans. Simile – Humans are compared to sheep and cows.
b.
“No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.”
Ans. Personification – Beauty is given the human quality of dancing.
c.
“We have no time to stand and stare.”
Ans. Alliteration – repetitive effect of the world.
Q.16 Is ‘Beauty’ a male or a female? Justify with reference in the poem.
Ans. In the poem, Nature is personified as a beautiful dancing maiden. ‘Beauty’ is referred to as ‘her’. Hence, ‘Beauty’ is a female according to the poem.
Q.17 What kind of life is it according to the poet when we have no time to admire nature?
Ans. The poet is telling us about our hectic life. We have no time to admire the nature around us. Even we cannot spare a few moments to stand under the branches of green trees and enjoy the beautiful and restful shades of the tree. We are busy in our own life and he (the poet) has criticized humans on the fact that we are like a machine and run every day without noticing the little detail about our surroundings.