ssc, English, unit 2, 2.1 chapter 7, Animals, Maharashtra, board, balbharathi, solution, kumarbharathi,
Q1.Get into pairs and attempt the following :
“The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.”- Mark Twain. – Discuss with your partner what Mark Twain means from the above quote. Write in your own words.
By the above quote. Mark Twain means that his dog has certain qualities which he wishes that human beings possess, but do not. Each day, as he comes across different people and learn more about human nature, the feeling grows within him that humans possess many disagreeable qualities that do not help in improving relationships. As a result. he begins to love his dog more than human beings.
Q2.Put the following attributes/ abilities given below in the proper circles.
(c) love and care
(e) good manners
(f) has 360° vision
(g) shows gratitude
(h) lives for more than 150 years
(j) learns computing
(k) worships god
(l) sleeps in standing position
(m) stands up immediately after birth
(n) brings up children
(o) belongs to various species
|Human||Common to both||Animals|
|cooks||Self-control||lives for more than 150 years|
|Learn to compute||communicates||sleep in a standing position|
|Stands up immediately||Love and care||has a 360° vision|
|Worship god||Shows gratitude||belongs to various species after birth|
|Brings up children|
Q3.At times, especially when you are frustrated, you wish you were an animal/ a bird/ a fish/ a butterfly and not a human being. Say which of the above you would choose to transform to and give 3 or 4 reasons for your choice.
I wish I could be a ______________________________
When I am frustrated. I wish I could be a bird, so I could fly away from the cause of frustration. At such times, I would like to be far from the noise and crowd on earth and sail in silence across the sky. I would prefer to concentrate on my own thoughts and regain my peace, and the best place for that would be up in the heavens, close to God. Flapping my wings would keep me active and busy and help me forget about my worries.
Q4.We come across many animals in our vicinity. We have also read about different animals in books. Make a list of all animals that fall under various categories. One is given to you.
|Amphibians||Mammals||Wild Animals||Aquatic Animals||Pet Animals|
Encourage students to read/use reference material to complete the activity.
|Amphibians||mammals||Wild animals||Aquatic animals||Pet animals|
Q1.(A) Match the words given in table A with their meanings in table B.
|No||A Words||B Meaning|
|(i)||whine||(a)||an offence against the religious or moral law|
|(ii)||sin||(b)||complain in an annoying way|
|(iv)||mania||(d)||failing to take proper care|
|A. Column||B. Column|
|(1) whine||complain in an annoying way|
|(2) sin||an offence against the religious or moral law|
|(4) mania||mental illness|
|(5) negligent||failing to take proper care|
Q1.(B)Find adjectives from the poem which refer to positive and negative thinking.
|1. ____________________||1. ____________________|
|2. ____________________||2. ____________________|
|3. ____________________||3. ____________________|
|(1) placid||(1) dissatisfied|
|(2) self-contained||(2) demented|
|(3) Respected||(3) unhappy|
Concept: Writing Skill
(a)The poet wishes he could _____________.
The poet wishes he could turn and live with anim
(b)Animals do not complain about _________________.
Animals do not complain about their condition.
(c)Animals do not merely discuss ______________.
Animals do not merely discuss their duty to God.
(d)Animals are not crazy about ________________.
Animals are not crazy about owning things.
Q3.State whether the following statement is true or false.
(a)Animals are self-reliant.
(b)Animals quarrel for their possessions.
(c)Animals do not worship other animals.
(d)Humans have given up many good qualities.
(e)Animals suffer humiliation.
(f)The poet has retained all his natural virtues.
Q4.With the help of the poem find the differences between animals and human beings.
|Always complain about their condition _________________||Never complain about anything|
|Always dissatisfied.||Always contented.|
|Crazy about acquiring possessions||Never interested in owning things.|
|Worship other human beings||Never worship anyone of their kind.|
|Always unhappy about earthly matters.||Unconcerned about earthly matters.|
Q5.Read the text again, and complete the web, highlighting the good values/habits which we can learn from animals.
Q6.Find outlines from the poem that are examples of the following Figures of Speech.
|Figures of Speech||Lines|
|Figures of Speech||Lines|
|(i)||Repetition||I stand and look at them long and long.|
|(ii)||Alliteration||They bring me tokens of myself.|
|(iii)||Hyperbole||No one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.|
Q7.Identify the Figure of Speech in the following line.
(a)I stand and look at them long and long.
I stand and look at them long and long – Repetation.
(b)They do not sweat and whine about their condition
They do not sweat and whine about their condition – Personification.
(c)They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God.
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God – Alitration.
(d)Not one is demented with the mania of owning things.
Not one is demented with the mania of owning things – metaphar/alitration.
(e)They bring me tokens of myself.
They bring me tokens of myself – Metaphor.
(f)No one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
No one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth – Hyperbole.
Q8.Read the poem again and write an appreciation of the poem in a paragraph format with the help of given points.
The poem ‘Animals’ has been penned by Walt Whitman.
The central idea of the poem is that animals today are better than humans.
The poet has broken away from the conventional use of a rhyme scheme and has written the poem in free verse.
The chief figure of speech used in the poem is Repetition. Lines such as “They do not sweat. Do not lie awake. “They do not make me sick.. make a strong impact. expressing the qualities that humans should possess, but do not. The other figures of speech are Alliteration, Tautology. Hyperbole, etc.
A line in this poem which is my favourite is:
They bring me tokens of myself. This is a very powerful line that shows us what good qualities human beings must have possessed when they were almost like animals in the early stages of evolution and which animals still possess, while we do not.
This is a reflective poem. The language used is simple, but the tone is subtle. By describing the qualities that animals possess today, the poet indirectly implies that we human beings too should possess these qualities. The poet has used adjectives such as ‘placid’ and ‘self-contained’ to bring out the good qualities possessed by animals.
I like this poem very much because it tells us indirectly that if we want to improve human relationships we should observe and pick up qualities that animals now possess and which we might have once possessed but had carelessly given up on the path of evolution.
Q9.Divide the class into two groups. One group should offer points in favour of (views) and the other against (counterviews) the topic ‘Life of an animal is better than that of a human being.’
Later use the points to express your own views/ counterviews in paragraph format in your notebook.
|Hold a healthy discussion on the given topic. Encourage and habituate the students to accept others’ Opinions, with respect.|
View: Unlike humans, animals are placid and self. contained. They do not try to set targets or achieve goals as humans do. Animals do not complain about their condition. They are quite satisfied with their
living conditions, whatever they are. Moreover, they do not worship things, other animals, or people as gods. Neither are they too bothered about possessions or earthly matters
Counterview: Since animals are self-contained and self-satisfied, they do not feel the need to improve their living conditions. Humans are restless, they complain about their lives. The result is that they continuously try to improve their living conditions. By setting targets humans are able to achieve all. Animals have no idea about God. Humans acknowledge a divine Creator. Animals do not worry about possessions or earthly matters. As a result, they do not possess the will to care about the future of this planet, as humans do.