Poem – 08
THE CLOUD
(Memorization)
P. B. Shelley
A. Answer the following in a sentence or two each:
1)
Who is the “I” in the poem?
Ans: “I” in the poem is referred to the
cloud.
2)
What does the cloud do when leaves are laid in their dreams?
Ans: The cloud provides light shade for the
leaves when leaves are laid in their dreams.
3)
How is the cloud related to earth, water and sky?
Ans: The cloud is the girl of the earth and
water and infant of the sky.
4)
What happens after the rain?
Ans: The structure of Paradise gets uncovered. The breezes and the beams of
the sun develop a blue vault of air.
B.
Answer the following in about one hundred words each:
1)
The cloud is personified throughout the poem. Explain.
Ans: The cloud is personified throughout the
poem wherein human characteristics are credited to non-living things. The cloud
is a nonliving article. In the sonnet, the cloud determines what it is and what
it prefer an individual. It brings downpour and gives conceal, it makes the
sweet buds bloom. It employs the fall flat of hail like the man who sifts the
grain with a come up short. It disintegrates the hailstones. It giggles as it
goes in tempests. It is represented as the little girl of the earth and water
and an infant who is dealt with by the sky. After the downpour the sky turns
out to be clear and the cloud emerges again like a youngster from the belly of
its mom, similar to a phantom from the burial place.
2)
The poem “The Cloud” is rich in imagery. Explain.
Ans: Poets use symbolism to increase the
impact of the poem. They use analogies, allegories to create word pictures in
the psyches of the readers. This poem is wealthy in such word pictures. The
picture of blossoms sitting tight for downpour, the cloud giving light shade to
the leaves resting around early afternoon are the word pictures in the main
verse. The dew drops arousing the buds, the image of the cloud employing the
come up short of lashing hail, the image of a little infant, the reasonable
blue sky without the mists and the cloud steadily developing again are
different pictures that strike a chord when we read it.
II.
Appreciation Questions:
1)
The first stanza tells us about the cloud’s activity. What does the cloud bring
with it?
Ans: The cloud brings rain from the seas and
the streams with it.
2)
The cloud is said to have wings and it shakes its wings. What happens when the
wings of the clouds are shaken?
Ans: When the wings of the clouds are shaken
then the dew drops fall on the sweet buds and the buds begin blossoming. They
wake up the buds that have nodded off on the branches when the plant influences
about in the sun.
3)
In the third stanza, Shelley talks about the earth as a planet. The “fail” is
an instrument which is used to separate grain from the husk. How does the poet
compare hail striking the earth and fail hitting the wheat?
Ans: Man utilizes a neglect to sift grain.
Much the same as the grains that get isolated from the husk and fall on the
ground, the cloud utilizes the fizzle and spreads the hailstones over the green
fields.
4)
The cloud says, “I change but I cannot die”, though the sky appears clear after
rain. Explain.
Ans: Cloud is a white or dim mass of
consolidated water fume coasting in the sky. After the downpour these mists
vanish and the sky turns out to be clear. The cloud changes into water and
tumbles down. Once more, the warmth of the sun causes water to dissipate into
the environment. This water fume frames the mists. Consequently, the cloud says
I change, yet I can't bite the dust.
5)
In the last stanza, after the rain, the convex gleams of sun make the sky look
like a blue dome of air. The poet calls the blue clouds “Cenotaph”. Give
reasons.
Ans: The cloud is only a mass of dense water
fume. At the point when it rains, all the consolidated water tumbles down to
the earth and the cloud vanishes. The sky turns out to be clear and resembles a
blue arch of air. A cenotaph is a commemoration underlying honor of warriors
slaughtered in a war. In the sonnet the cloud gets murdered subsequent to
shedding its water. The away from vault of air appears to the cloud like a
'cenotaph' worked in its honor.
III.
Annotate:
1)
“I wield the fail of the lashing hail
And whiten the green plains under.”
Ans: The cloud in the poem says that it utilizes
the come up short of the lashing hail to spread the solidified pellets of
downpour over the green fields on the substance of the earth. Much the same as
the people who utilize the neglect to sift grain from the tumult, the cloud
guides the pellets of solidified downpour to fall on the green fields.
2)
“I am the daughter of earth and water,
And the nursling of the sky. ”
Ans: The cloud believes it to be the girl of
earth and water. As we as a whole know, the water on the earth gets dissipated
by the warmth of the sun into the environment. The water fume gets dense and
begins framing a cloud in the sky. The sky deals with the cloud till it sheds
water. Thus, it professes to be the girl of the earth and water and an infant
of the sky.
3)
“I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores.
I change, but I cannot die.”
Ans: These lines are taken from the poem 'The
Cloud'. The cloud guarantees that it is godlike. It has no demise. In a manner
what it views itself as is valid. The water vaporizes by the beams of the Sun
and gets into the air. It goes through the openings in the seas and shores till
it arrives at the sky and turns into the cloud. After downpour, the cloud
vanishes. It has changed into water. It steadily modifies itself once more. Along
these lines, it says it can't pass on.
P.S. you might also want to check out: