New Stepping stone The School Boy || class 8 || Chapter 1 || The School Boy

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Read and Write

New Stepping stone The School Boy

( A). Answer these questions.

1. Why does the schoolboy love to rise on a summer morning? New Stepping stone The School Boy 

2. What is it that takes the joy out of a summer morning? 3. What plea does the schoolboy make to his parents? 4. Which line in the poem tells us that the children do not enjoy sitting in class?

B. Answer the following with reference to the context.

1. O! it drives all joy away

Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones spend the day In sighing and dismay.

a) What drives joy away?

b) Whose is the “cruel eye?

c) Why do the little ones sigh?

2. How can the bird that is born for joy

Sit in a cage and sing? a) Who is being compared to a bird here?

b) What is the ‘cage’ referred to in these lines?

c) What, according to the speaker, happens when the bird’ is made to sit in the ‘cage?

Appreciation Answer these questions. (New Stepping stone The School Boy )

1. An analogy is a literary device used to establish a relationship between two unrelated objects

that are compared for their common qualities. Unlike a simile or a metaphor, an analogy is a strong rhetorical device used to make rational arguments and support ideas by showing connections and comparisons between dissimilar things

Can you point out one strong analogy given in the poem? How is the comparison established?

2. Explain these lines: (New Stepping stone The School Boy )

Or how shall tx gather sabar griefs destroy Or bless the melewing war, When the blasts of winter appear

Suggested While reading Activities (New Stepping stone The School Boy )

Read the poem to the children in stanzas. Use proper voice modulation so that the mood in each stanza is clearly brought out.

Paraphrase (New Stepping stone The School Boy )

The poem has six stanzas of five lines each.

Stanza 1: The poet, in the voice of a little boy, says that he loves to wake up on a summer morn, to the song of birds on every tree, the distant sound of the hunter’s horn and the

sweet singing of the skylark.

Stanza 2: The second stanza is in stark contrast to the happiness in the opening stanza. Here the boy says that going to school on a summer morning takes all the joy away. He can only sadly sigh as he sits in school under the cruel and watchful eye of the teacher. This description of school is initiated by the fact that it robs him of the fun of nature.

Stanza 3: The child sits, head lowered, and spends many hours in school, which are wasted as he cannot find any joy or meaning in his books or the tiring showers of lecturing he receives there. The phrase “learnings bower’ is a reference to being able to learn in the shade of nature rather than within a dreary school.

Stanza 4: In this stanza, the boy compares himself to a caged bird. Just as a bird that is born for joy cannot fly or sing when caged, the boy, when scared by school, cannot but droop and forget his youth, which is meant to be as fresh and invigorating as spring. Stanza 5: The boy asks a question to his parents. He asks them that if sorrow and cares would nip flowers in their buds and blow away flower in full bloom and if tender plants are prevented from growing in spring…

Stanza 6: … how will there be fruits in summer? If spring and summer are lost, there will be nothing to be thankful for when the mellowing autumn or the harsh winter arrives. A deprived youth can only give rise to a meaningless adulthood. Read out the poem again to the students in stanzas. Each stanza must be followed by questions pertaining to it. You may use these guidelines or form your own sections and questions.

Stanza 1: I love to rise… sweet company. 1. Which season does the first stanza describe? 2. Describe the kind of morning that the poet loves.

Stanza 2: But to go to… sighing and dismay. 1. What does going to school on a summer morn do? 2. How does the boy spend his day in school?

Stanza 3: Ah! then at times… the dreary shower. 1. What is the boy’s mood in school? 2. Why is much time wasted in school? 3. What is the importance of the phrase ‘learnings bower’ in this context?

Stanza 4: How can the bird… his youthful spring! 1. What can’t a caged bird do? 2. What can’t a schoolboy do? 3. Bring out the analogy in this stanza.

Stanza 5: 0! father and mother… care’s dismay.

1. Who is this stanza addressed to?

2. What is the question that the boy begins in this stanza?

Stanza 6: How shall the summer… blasts of winter appear?

1. If spring is taken away, how will it affect summer?

2. What does the poet wish to convey through the closing lines?

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Figures of Speech

• Analogy . (New Stepping stone The School Boy )

• The schoolboy is compared to a caged bird. It refers to the imprisonment of the imaginative free spirit of the child.
• Childhood is compared to a plant. Only if the plant is nurtured well in spring will it

bear fruit in summer and provide in autumn for the harsh winter. Similarly, unless the childhood is lived well and fully, the child will not be equipped to handle the griefs of

life or the harsh realities of adulthood.

• Alliteration – blossoms blown away, bird that is born

Rhyme Scheme The rhyme scheme of each stanza is ababb.

Theme The theme of the poem is childhood yearnings to be with nature and stay away from the oppressive education system. Much knowledge can be imparted with the help of nature.

Suggested Post-reading Activities (New Stepping stone The School Boy )

Encourage the students to learn the poem by heart, so that they are able to recite it confidently with the right voice modulation and expression. At the end of the lesson, summarise the poem. Tell the children that what is best for a healthy and wholesome life is a judicious mixture of nature and formal classroom learning,

Summary (New Stepping stone The School Boy )

The poet, in the voice of a little boy, says that while he loves the sound of birds and the singing of the skylark on a summer morning, he finds going to school on a summer’s morn cruel and bereft of all joy. Sitting in school, he cannot enjoy his lessons for just as a caged bird cannot sing in joy, a child engulfed in fear and robbed of his childhood cannot be happy. He goes on to ask his parents that if all the flowers are nipped in the bud and plants stripped while they are yet tender, how will there be fruits in summer or a chance to gather in autumn for a harsh winter. Similarly, he says if a child’s youth is taken away, there will be no meaningful adulthood to follow.

Genre (New Stepping stone The School Boy )

“The Schoolboy’ is a lyrical poem that expresses the opinion of the poet as a young child.

Answer of the questions New Stepping stone The School Boy 

Read and Write New Stepping stone The School Boy 

A. 1. He loves to rise on a summer morn because birds are singing on every tree and he can hear the

huntsman winding his horn in the distance. He has the merry company of the skylark as it sings

along with him.

2. Going to school on such a summer morning takes the joy out of it. The little students sigh in

dismay as they are under the watchful eye of their teacher.

3. The schoolboy asks his parents what will happen in winter if flowers are nipped in the bud and

plants are not allowed to grow properly in spring and summer.

4. The line is: ‘In sighing and dismay’.

B. 1. a) Going to school drives joy away.

b) The ‘cruel eye’ is that of the teacher.

c) The little ones sigh because they are forced to sit inside the class when they would rather be

outside enjoying the summer morning.

2. a) The schoolboy is comparing himself and others like him to a caged bird.

b) The cage’is school or the classroom inside which he is forced to sit.

c) When a bird (student) is forced to sit in a cage (classroom), it/he misses out on the joys of the world.

Appreciation New Stepping stone The School Boy 

1. Suggested answer: The analogy in the poem is between a little schoolboy who doesn’t wish to go to school on a summer morning and a bird. He would rather be outdoors, singing and playing amidst nature. He feels unhappy and morose trapped inside the classroom under the watchful eye of his teacher. Similarly, if a bird which is used to flying around freely in the skies, singing from every tree and enjoying its freedom is put inside a cage, it will be extremely unhappy and frustrated to have its

freedom curtailed.

2. Suggested answer: In these lines, the schoolboy or poet is trying to convey that if flowers or plants are not allowed to bloom and grow fully in spring and summer, then when cold winter arrives, there will be no fruit to enjoy. Similarly, if childhood is spent in joyless existence made dull with cares and sorrow, then adult life will also be unhappy and unfruitful.