NCERT SOLUTIONS FOR CLASS 10 - ENGLISH NOTES - ANIMALS - WALT WHITMAN - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - CBSE

 

ANIMALS

WALT WHITMAN

 

THINKING ABOUT THE POEM

1) Notice the use of the word ‘turn’ in the first line, “I think I could turn and live with animals…”. What is the poet turning from?
Ans: The use of the word “turn” in the first line, the poet wants to turn human into an animal. This turning is representative of the poet's separation from people and their disposition and his energy for the animal kind.

 

2) Mention three things that humans do and animals don’t.
Ans: Animals don't cry and complain over their conditions. They don't commit sins and hence don't cry for them. They are extremely fulfilled animals and want to have material things. People, actually, grumble constantly, complain all the time of sins and are influenced with the madness of claiming things.

 

3) Do humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago?
Ans: Yes, humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago as it is a cultural tradition to do so.

 

4)  What are the ‘tokens’ that the poet says he may have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him? Discuss this in class.
(Hint Whitman belongs to the Romantic tradition that includes Rousseau and Wordsworth, which holds that civilization has made humans false to their own true nature. What could be the basic aspects of our nature as living beings that humans choose to ignore or deny?)

Ans: The tokens mentioned in the poem mean the symbols of the true nature of individuals. These tokens are really tokens of excellence like regulation, genuineness, honesty and any likes of it.