NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Chapter 6 The Brook
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Chapter 6 Free PDF Download
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Q. Since centuries, human beings have always been drawn to rivers, streams and other natural sources of water. Can you think of some characteristics of a river that make it fascinating to mankind?
Ans: Do it yourself.
Q. Here is a list of a few things. Can you tell how long each of them can live/exist?
(a) a dog
(b) an elephant
(c) a tree
(d) a human being
(e) a star
(f) a mountain
(g) a river
Ans.
(a) a dog 20 years
(b) an elephant 80 years
(c) a tree 50 years
(d) a human being 75 years
(e) a star millions of years
(f) a mountain thousands of years
(g) a river thousands of years
Note: Read the poetry, The Brook, given in the book.
Q. After reading the poem, answer the following questions.
The poet has used a number of words which indicate ‘movement’ and ‘sound’. Working with your partner make a list of these words from the poem and complete the web chart.
Ans:
(b).
Ans:
(c) A word or a combination of words, whose sound seems to resemble the sound it denotes (for example: “hiss”, “buzz”, “etc.) is called onomatopoeia. From the words that you have filled in the blurbs above point out these words.
Ans.
(a) Murmur
(b) Babble
(c) Chatter
Q. The following is a flow chart showing the course of the brook. Can you fill in the blank spaces with help from the phrases given below?
Q. Match the words in the boxes with their explanations given below:
(a) This is the other word for trembling.
(a) passes under fifty bridges;
(b) comes from the place where coots and herons live;
(c) passes lawns filled with flowers;
(d) crosses both fertile and fallow land;
(e) goes through wilderness full of thorny bushes
Ans:
Q. On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.
(i) The message of the poem is that the life of a brook is __________ .
(a) temporary
(b) short-lived
(c) eternal
(d) momentary
Ans. (c) eternal
(ii) The poet draws a parallelism between the journey of the brook with __________.
(a) the life of a man
(b) the death of man
(c) the difficulties in a man’s life
(d) the endless talking of human beings
Ans. (a) the life of a man
(iii) In the poem, the below mentioned lines suggest that __________ .
“And here and there a lusty trout , And here and there a grayling”
(a) the brook is a source of life.
(b) people enjoy the brook.
(c) fishes survive because of water.
(d) the brook witnesses all kinds of scenes.
Ans. (a) the brook is a source of life.
(iv) Select the option that matches the given words/phrases with the appropriate literary device used by the poet
| Words | Literary Device |
| (i) Chatter; Babble; Murmur | 1. Alliteration- the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words |
| (ii) Men may come and men may go but I go on forever | 2. Onomatopoeia-the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. |
| (iii) fairly foreland; with willow seed; foamy flake; golden gravel | 3. Inversion- reversal of the normal order of the words and phrases in a sentence. |
| 4. Refrain- a word, line or phrase that is repeated within the lines or stanzas of the poem itself. |
(a) (i)-2, (ii)-1, (iii)-4
(b) (i)-4, (ii)-2, (iii)-3
(c) (i)-2, (ii)-4, (iii)-1
(d) (i)-1, (ii)-2, (iii)-3
Ans. (c) (i)-2, (ii)-4, (iii)-1
(v) The first-person narration of the brook allows the reader to:
(a) appreciate Tennyson’s use of symbols.
(b) realise the ultimate goal of the brook.
(c) experience the soothing effect of the sound of water.
(d) understand the brook’s experience as a living organism.
Ans. (d) understand the brook’s experience as a living organism.
Read the given extracts and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct options.
A.
With many a curve my banks I fret
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.
(i) Choose the option that best describes the brook’s journey in the given stanza. It is a jour
ney full of__________.
(a) comfort and luxury
(b) trials and tribulations
(c) sorrow and misery
(d) joy and laughter
Ans. (a) trials and tribulations
(ii) The poet has used the pronoun ‘I’ to refer to the brook and thus employed a literary device in his depiction. Choose the option that uses the same literary device as used in the first line.
(a) The magnitude of the bottomless ocean was divine.
(b) The angry walls echoed his fury.
(c) A mother is like a lioness protecting her cubs.
(d) I felt the power of the gushing stream.
Ans. (b) The angry walls echoed his fury.
(iii) The brook seems to be fretting in the given stanza. This word has been used by the poet to depict the ________ of the flowing brook.
(a) force
(b) kindness
(c) silence
(d) beauty
Ans. (a) force
B.
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;
And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.
(i) Choose the option that includes words that best describe the characteristics of the brook, as revealed in the given extract.
(1) perpetual
(2) silent
(3) twisted
(4) unbound
(5) interrupted
(a) 1, 3 and 4
(b) 1, 2, 4 and 5
(c) 1, 2, and 3
(d) 1, 2 and 4
Ans. (a) 1, 3 and 4
ii) The line, ‘men may come and men may go’.
(a) mocks the shortness of the brook’s life as it goes through its journey.
(b) highlights the eternal nature of human life as opposed to its own.
(c) contrasts the eternal nature of brook against short-lived human life-span.
(d) highlights the eternal story of men that the brook comes across during its journey.
Ans. (c) contrasts the eternal nature of brook against short-lived human life-span.
(iii) What do the words, ‘linger and loiter’ show about the brook?
(a) Its continuity
(b) Its slow movement
(c) Its powerful force
(d) Its ultimate purpose
Ans. (b) Its slow movement.
Q. Answer the following questions briefly :
(a) Why does the brook ‘sparkle’ ?
Ans. The brook starts as a small stream with forceful flow and as it moves, it tends to splash and sprinkle its water at every curve and stone. This creates a ‘sparkle’ under sunshine which makes it appear that the brook is glittering.
(b) ‘Bicker’ means ‘to quarrel’. Why does the poet use this word here?
Ans. Here the poet depicts the sound of the flowing water with the word bicker.
(c) Why has the word ‘chatter’ been repeated in the poem?
Ans. By using the poetic device of repetition, the poet wants to evoke a sense of a lot of noise made by the flowing water
(d) ‘I wind about, and in and out’. What kind of a picture does this line create in your mind?
Ans. This creates a picture of a stream going in and out of bushes and flowing in an undulating manner.
(e) What does the poet want to convey by using the words ‘steal’ and ‘slide’?
Ans. By using the words ‘steal’ and ‘slide’, the poet wants to convey that the water is just flowing past smoothly and silently without noise.
(f) ‘I make the netted sunbeam dance’. What does ‘the netted sunbeam’ mean? How does it dance?
Ans. ‘Netted’ here means something coming through a net. The sun’s beams seem to be coming through a net that is the foliage on the banks of the brook. The sunbeam appears to dance as the water on which it shines moves.
(g) What is a ‘refrain’ in a poem? What effect does it create?
Ans. For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever’---This is the refrain in the poem. It means that the brook is eternal and it will flow forever, however many generations go by.
(h) Why has the poet used the word 'brimming' in the line, 'to join the brimming river?
Ans. The river that the brook joins is overflowing with water because of the additional water coming from the brook as a tributary, hence the word ‘brimming’ is used to describe the river. When the waters of the brook merge with the river, it signifies the afterlife when human soul merges with heaven.
Q. Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem, The Brook.
Ans. ABAB is the rhyme scheme.
Q. The poem is full of images that come alive through skilful use of words. Describe any two images that appeal to you the most, quoting the lines from the poem.
Ans.
“I make the netted sunbeam dance,
Against my sandy shallows.”
“And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling.”
Netted sunbeam imagery has been beautifully used by the poet. It appears to be dancing on the clear waters of the brook to portray its liveliness. The poet has also used the imagery of trouts and graylings.
Q. The brook appears to be a symbol for life. Pick out examples of parallelism between human life and the brook from the poem.
Ans. The poem is full of examples of parallelism. Its origin symbolizes birth and its vivacity, strength, zeal and enthusiasm depict youth. The Brook’s varied experiences and leisurely pace stands for maturity .The Brook’s union with the brimming river is the culmination of life.
Q. This poem describes the journey of a stream from its place of origin to the river that it joins. The poem has been written in the form of an autobiography where the brook relates its experiences as it flows towards the river. In Literature, such a device by which an inanimate object is made to appear as a living creature is called Personification. Just as the brook has been personified in this poem, write a poem on any inanimate object making it come alive. You could begin with a poem of 6-8 lines. The poem should have a message. Maintain a rhyme scheme. Try and include similes, metaphors, alliteration etc. to enhance the beauty of the poem. You could write a poem on objects such as a candle/a tree/ a rock/a desert etc.
Ans. Poem – The Mirror
I show you not what you want to see, But what you ar
e in reality. I have borne the brunt for your vices,
Like a beggar in a shop blaming prices.
I may be bitter but at least I am honest,
And I will never betray you, for that is promised.
