Short Questions (2 Marks)
Question 1 : What does the poet mean by saying “no men ……….. counties foreign?
Answer : By saying this, the poet means that the whole world is a singular entity despite all the possible differences in it and all the diversities of language, cate, colour etc.
Question 2 : Does the earth unite us in a sense? If yes, explain in the context of the poem.
Answer : Yes, the earth does unite us in one of the most beautiful senses. It is the earth that we walk upon and after our lives, we all shall lie inside it, which is our destined end.
Question 3 : In which context, ‘harvests’ and ‘war’ have been used by the poet?
Answer : ‘Harvest’ is symbolic to peace, when one does the cropping work in order to feed oneself, while ‘war’ has been used to show an intensity that is similar to starvation and destruction.
Question 4 : How is the labour not different for us and the so called strangers?
Answer : The labour is not different for us and for the so called strangers because all of us have to do it for survival on a regular basis. Also, the hands and the mechanism we use are same.
Question 5 : How are the eyes of everyone similar according to the poet?
Answer : We have the same eyes as our so called strangers have. As our eyes wake and sleep so do theirs. As we dream of something, so do they. Hence, our eyes are similar.
Question 6 : What meaning does the poet imply by saying “strength that can be won by love”?
Answer : By saying this, the poet wants to imply the meaning that even the mightiest one can be conquered (won over) by the invincible (unbeatable) power of love. Love has that much capability which can be used to create wonders.
Question 7 : How can we say that there is a common life in every part of the land?
Answer : It can be said that there is common life everywhere. We share same resources and we all do labour. We are psychologically similar and we do understand the pain and please equally.
Question 8 : How do we hate our brothers? Is it right?
Answer : We hate our brothers by taking arms against them, by judging them wrong and by seeing them as counterparts (replica). This is not right as when we hate others, we dispossess ourselves.
Long Questions (8 Marks)
Question 1 : The poet has used various ways to establish the fact that we all are same. Explain these ways in accordance with the poem.
Answer : This poem is a revelation of the fact that the whole world is a union. Nothing is strange or foreign. No person or no country can be categorised to be strange. We are the people, who share this common land and hence, we can affair that we are the same. Despite being from different countries, speaking different languages, believing in different religions, we all are same – the human beings.
We feel pain the pleasure equally. We put our best and devoted and efforts in the form of labour to procure the harvest. We are afraid of the war and rejoice at love. We share similar resources over the earth and our hatred is harmful for the earth. Keeping all these in mind, the poet has tried his best to establish the fact that we all are same.
Question 2 : Explain how does our hatred, jealousy and misdeed pollute our own earth.
Answer : The world is a union i.e. all the way a singular entity. We may belong to different nations, may speak different languages, may believe in different religions, but still we are same. Every person on this earth is our brother. If we are in brotherhood, we can share the joys of being together and enjoy the peace. But, if we stand against our fellow men, who are our brothers, and start a war with them, then we are polluting our own earth.
We only lack our strength of character, but we are also criticising our own values. Our misdeeds, hatred and jealousy have no end which is a severe blow to the humanity and its concern. Therefore, we must remain intact to our values, to our ethics and to our dignity. Only these things can keep our earth away from being polluted and will remain a place to live in beautifully.