The portrait of a lady -by Khushwant Singh

About the author:

Khushwant Singh is an Indian author,novelist, lawyer, diplomate journalist and politician. His famous literary contribution is'Train to Pakistan', in 1956,most well-known novel relates his experience in 1947 partition of India. 

He was born on 2nd February, 1915,Hadali in Punjab which is gone under Pakistan government on February 2nd, 1915. He died on March, 2014,Sujan Singh Park in New Delhi. 

The name of his spouse is Kanwal Malik, 1939-2001.

He studied at Delhi Modern School from1930 to 1932.He completed intermediate of arts from St. Stephen's College in Delhi in 1934.He received ll. B. from King's College and from the university of London. 

He was the editor of some well- known newspapers, periodicals and magazines:

The Hindustan Times

The National Herald

The illustrated  weekly of India

'The portrait  of a lady' is an autobiographical episode included in his book of Collected Stories published in the year 2013,is a collection of stories which revealed khushwant Singh's literary skill as a modest, restrained, well-crafted story teller in a wonderfully peculiar descriptive style. 

Summary of the story:

Khushwant Singh draws the pen-picture of his grandmother in his story 'The Portrait of a Lady'. In this story the author describes his relation with his grandmother from his very childhood to his adulthood and also describes how the passege of time has an gradual impact in their close relationship and in their affection for each other. 

The reader's involvement:

He starts telling the story of his grandmother in a wonderfully peculiar narrative style. He involves his readers by saying 'like everyone's grandmother' and starts  drawing his grandmother's portrait in everyone's mind through his vivid description of his grand mother's personality.  

 

The style of his description:

His grandmother was like everyone's grandmother. 

His grandfather's portrait was also hung above the Chimneys in the wall of the drawing room. His grandfather didn't only look like hundred years old but he looked like the husband of many wives and had many grandchildren. His long beard covered almost the best part of his chest. 

The grandmother's physical features:

Khushwant Singh's grandmother was an old lady and her face bore  too many criss cross of wrinkles  and for which she looked terribly old. She was short and slightly bent forward in her posture. In her one hand she always carried  a wooden bead of rosery which she was counting silently.Another hand was seen rested on her back to balance Her stoop. Her lips was seen moved in an inaudible prayer. She was seen hobbled about her house in her spotless white clothes with her grey hair scattered on her shoulder. 

Difficult for the author to believe:

People said, which khushwant Singh also heard, that his grandmother was once a pretty young lady.For him it was hard to believe as he had seen her terribly old with so many criss-cross of wrinkles since his very childhood till he became an adult.

Physical appearance:

 She was fat, short and slightly bent.She always carried a wooden beads of rosery  which she counted in a silent way.Her another hand was always rested on her waist only to balance her stoop. Her silvery grey hair was scattered on her pale puckered face.

Devine qualities

She always wore spotless white clothes and walked slowly from one room to another room exerting  an environment of peace and contentment. The author compared her appearance with the white serenity  of the wide expanse of snow covered mountain landscape.

Noble qualities of the grandmother:

According to the author, his grandmother, though looked not pretty, she looked beautiful. Her noble qualities and her devine appearance made her looked beautiful. 

At the village home:Khushwant Singh's parents left him with his grandmother, as they had to go to the city to establish and settled properly in the city.

Early education:

 Khushwant Singh's early education started at the village school which was not so far from his grand mother's home. His grandmother accompanied him to his school with great satisfaction. The village school was attached to a temple. While her grandson read alphabets in the verandah of the school she sat inside the temple and read scriptures. The village prist taught them alphabets. 

The author and the grandmother are good friends:

At the village home the author had a close relationship with his grandmother.Both they were good friends because they were constantly with each other.

Motherly care:

 His grandmother took every responsibilities of him like a mother. She wake him up in the morning, bathed him, and get him ready for the school. She collected all his needs such as the slate, pencil, and inkpot, tie them in a bundle  to go for school. While she bathed him she sang her prayer monotonously as if she wished him to learn them by heart. But khushwant sing had paid no attention to it.

 

Grandmother served him breakfast and accompany to school:

She served him breakfast with stale chapattis, a small butter and sugar spread on it. 

The grandmother liked to go with her grandson to the village school as because the school was attached to a temple. She liked to read holy scriptures inside the temple. 

Grandmother's love for animals:

She also packed some chapattis with them and took them with her to feed the village dogs while they were returning to home. She threw it to them and the dogs followed them to their home hauling and growling for the chapattis. The grand mother had a great love for animals. 

Grandmother amused her grandson:

The grandmother used to entertain him by telling him about the games which she used to play in her childhood,which  the author found quite insignificant. 

At the city home:

Khushwant Singh's patents were well settled in the city and they sent for the author and the grandmother to live with them in the city. 

A turning point :

A turning point came into their relationship:

The author and the grandmother went to live  in the city with his parents. In the city home they were given a room to share with each other. But the author had less time to spent with his grandmother. Their closeness of their relationship had gone.Because they saw less each other and had less time to spent with each other.

 The time had changed their attachment.

 Khushwant Singh was admitted in an English school which was far away from his city home. The grand mother couldn't accompany her grandson to the school  as the author went to the school by motor bus. 

Grandmother  became less responsible: 

The grandmother's responsibilities to her grandson were reduced. She began to feel lonely. As there was his mother to take care of him. 

Grandmother's behaviour changed at the town home:

. In the city home the grand mother had no opportunity to feed the dogs. So she used to feed the sparrows. She made herself busy with her spinning wheel to pass her times. 

Grandmother became lonely:

Sometimes the grandmother wake him up on the morning as she did it before.  But she couldn't accompany her grandson to his school and couldn't help him in his studies as she didn't know english. Sometimes she asked him about his studies. But when she  had learnt that her grandson had lessons on science and maths and lessons on music also she became very upset.she was most upset when she had learnt that there was no learning on God and scriptures.In the city home she had no other work to do except to take care of herself. 

 

Grandmother, a religious and conservative lady:

She was a religious conservative lady and she had a wrong notion about learning. She was quite upset when she had learnt that he had lessons on music in that school she became silent.she had a wrong notion about the learning on music that learning on music was not for gentleman but for the baggers and harlots.

Grandmother accepted her seclusion silently:

 From then she stopped asking anything to the author because the grandmother didn't want to be bothered by new information from her grandson.

she silently accepted her resignation to a life of seclusion. 

Grandmother became more busy with her spinning wheel:

She used to pass her time with her spinning wheel more than before. From sunrise to sunset she was busy with her spinning wheel and only in the afternoon she took some rest and sat in the backyard to feed the sparrows. 

Grandmother's love for sparrows:

Hundreds of birds came and accepted their breadcrumbs thrown to them by the grandmother. The sparrows were so confident with the grandmother's company . Some of them took their feed from the grandmother's hand and some of then sat on her shoulder and amused  her with confidence. 

At the university:

Khushwant Singh went to the university for higher studies. Then he had given a room for himself. The common link of their friendship had gone. Both they were given separate room because the author had to busy himself with studies more then before. 

Time had changed their attachment but not their affection for each other. 

Grandmother's  strong personality:

When khushwant decided to go abroad for higher studies for five years.He thought his grandmother might be upset and worried. But to his surprise nothing such happened. The grandmother neither became upset nor showed any emotional reaction. She had the strength to restrain her emotion and went to the railway station to see off her grandson and kissed on his forehead by praying for his safe return. 

Responsible grandmother:

The kiss on his forehead  was ever memorable for the author as he thought that moist imprint of her kiss might be the last sign of the physical contact between them. Because his grandmother was so old at that time and perhaps he wouldn't see her alive after five years again. 

The grandmother's responsibilities and her affection to her grandson remained as same as before. Their relationship didn't change a bit. 

After five years:

When khushwant Singh returned from his higher studies from abroad he met his grandmother at the railway station. She welcomed her grandson with a warm embrace. 

His grandmother was over excited :

The grandmother, to celebrate her grandson's home-coming, invited some of her neighbouring women and that evening she started singing with them by beating a drum continuously for hours. They sang the songs of home-coming of warriors.

 

Grandmother fell I'll:

The authors family tried to prevent her from doing that as they thought that due to overstrain she might fell I'll. But she didn't listened to anybody. 

That day was an exceptional day to her that she forgot to pray and in the afternoon she feed the sparrows with some frivolous rebukes. 

Grandmother was a religious lady: 

At last she fell ill. The doctors came and declared that it was a mild fever. The grandmother was lying in her bed in praying and counting her beads of rosery. She told to the author's family that her end was near so that she requested them to leave her alone. Suddenly the rosery fell from her hand and her lips stopped moving and she died. 

The sparrows came to show their tribute:

Her dead body was lying down to the ground and covered with a red shroud. 

The last ray of sunshine entered. Suddenly the thousands of sparrows appeared and they gathered around her shrouded body silently. They were not creating any noise. The author's mother threw some breadcrumbs like the grandmother but the birds gave no notice at them. After spending sometime around the covered body  in silent way they flew away again silently.As if it was their tribute to the grandmother they loved. 

The author's mother had cleaned the breadcrumbs away in the next morning. 

Questions and answers:

1.Mention the three phases of the author's relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad. 

Ans:The three phases of the author's relationship with his grandmother was:

At the village

At the village home both the author and the grandmother were enjoyed a very close relationship. Because both of them were constantly with each other. The author was left with the grandmother at the village home because his parents had to settle properly in the city. 

In absence of the mother the grandmother took every care of the small kid who was the author. She entertained him by telling stories of some games she used to play in her childhood. But for the author they were quite absurd and insignificant. 

The grandmother woke him up in the morning, bathed him and get him ready for the school. She served him breakfast with stale chapattis with little butter spread on it. She also accompanied her grandson to the village school which was attached to a temple. 

At the city home

At the city home both the grandmother and grandson were given to share the same room. Though they shared the same room the closeness of their relationship had gone. The author had less time to spend with his grandmother. The grandmother's responsibilities had been reduced. She begun to feel lonely. She occaisonally woke him up in the morning and asked him  about his learning The author had to go to school by motor bus far away from the city home. The grandmother neither accompany him to school nor could she help him in his studies. The grandmother stopped talking with her grandson when she had learnt that her grandson had lessons on science, maths and music in his new english school. She was highly upset to know that there was no learning on God and scriptures. The grandmother had no good opinions on music lessons. For her music should be learnt  by  baggers amd harlots. It was not the subject to be learnt by gentle people. She remained silent in quite disapproval. 

She stopped asking more to her grandson about his learning at the  new school because she didn't want to be bothered by new things. 

 

At the university

The author and the grandmother were seperated as khushwant Singh was given a seperate room to live in. The common link which was the common room they enjoyed had gone. Because khushwant Singh had to study more as he get admitted in the university. The grandmother became more lonely then before. She made herself busy in spinning wheel and in feeding the sparrows . Time had changed their relationship physically but the affection and responsibility of the grandmother to her grandson never changed. 

The grandmother went to see off her grandson to the railway station for abroad  with a warm kiss on his forehead and with a prayer for his safe return.she wouldn't be able to see her grandson for five years which couldn't make her sad Or emotional but made her more responsible. The grandmother showed her affection and responsibility even at that time also. 

2.Mention the three reasons why the author's grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school. 

Ans:-The author's grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school for three reasons. 

First, khushwant Singh was admitted in a English School in the city. The grandmother couldn't accompany her grandson to the school as he went to the school by motor bus because of the distance of the school from the city home. The grandmother couldn't help him in his studies as she didn't know English words. 

Second, the grandmother was highly upset by her grandson's learning at that  English school as he was taught science, maths and music. There was no learning on God and scriptures which upset his grandmother most. 

Thirdly, the grandmother's opinion on music lessons was not good. For her music is not for the civilized people but for the baggers and harlots. She stopped asking the author more about his school as she decided not to be bothered by any new information. 

3.Mention the three ways in which the author's grandmother spent her days after he grew up. 

Ans:-The author's grandmother's responsibilities to her grandson were reduced at the city home. Because there was his mother to do all the work for him. The grandmother begun to feel lonely. 

She made herself busy with her spinning wheel. Secondly, as there was no dogs she started feeding the sparrows in the afternoon. She developed an unique relationship with the sparrows. 

Thirdly, she regularly prayed with her rosery as before and spent her time by reading holy books. 

4.Mention the odd way in which the author's grandmother behaved just before she died. 

Ans:-The grandmother behaved quite an odd way just before she died.She celebrated her grandson's homecoming with great enthusiasm by singing and beating a dilapidated drum with some neighbouring women.The author's family prevented her from doing that. But she never listened. 

That day, it was an exception that the grandmother feed the sparrows with some frivolous noises. 

That day she even forgot to pray which was an exception. 

Late in the afternoon she fell ill and according to the doctor it was a mild fever. She was lying on the bed in constant prayer. She told everyone to leave her alone and said that her end was near. After that she died peacefully in praying. Her dead body was lain on the ground covering with a red shroud as a ritual. 

5.Mention the way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author's grandmother died. 

Ans:-The sparrows loved the grandmother in an unique way. Thousands of sparrows appeared in that afternoon and gathered around the covered body of their beloved one without any noise. The author's mother threw some breadcrumbs to them but to their surprise the sparrows took no notice of them. They spent sometime  silently and flew away without making any noise. That was their unique way of expressing their sorrow as well as their tribute to their beloved one. 

6.How do we know that the grandmother was a religious person? 

Ans:-The grandmother was a religious person which can be known by her appearance, her lifestyle, her views on learning and by her great devine personality. 

The grandmother wore spotless white clothes and hobbled about her home exerting an environment of peace and contentment. Her appearance was like a wide expanse of snow covered mountain landscape which is shrine. 

The grandmother always carry a wooden beads of rosery  counting with a constant prayer in an inaudible way. Her lips were seen constantly moving in an inaudible prayer. 

The grandmother was highly upset by her grandson's learning in his new English School because there was the teachings on science, maths and music but was no teachings on God and religion. Her views on music was quite conservative. She believed that music should be learnt by baggers and harlots but not by gentle folk.

The grandmother died in constant prayer peacefully which ultimately proved that the grandmother was a strongly religious person. 

7.Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother. Did their feelings for each other change? 

Ans:-The relationship between the author and grandmother changed time to time. At the village the author was completely under the supervision of the grandmother because his had to go to the city to settle them properly in the city. 

At the village both they were good friends as they were constantly with each other. The grandmother took all the responsibility as a mother. She entertained him with games and stories she used to play in her childhood. She not only got ready him to school but accompanied him to school also. 

But at the city their closeness with each other had gone. Though they enjoyed the same room the author had found less time to spend with her. The grandmother's duty to her grandson was reduced. Both of them were to busy by their work. While her grandson became busy in studies the grandmother would've to busy her with the spinning wheel. She couldn't accompany him to school and couldn't help him in his studies as she didn't know English.Although the grandmother was upset by her grandson's learning in that English School. She stopped talking with her grandson as she didn't want to be worried by some new facts from the author's new school. 

When the author got admission in the university he was given a seperate room to study and live. The common link of their friendship had been taken away by time. The grand became more busy in her spinning work and in feeding the sparrows. 

The time had changed their relationship physically but by heart and soul both of them remained the same as before. The grandmother's affection and responsibilities  to the author remained same as before. Time had no impact on their emotional relationships. 

8.Would you agree that the author's grandmother was a person strong in character? If yes, give instance that show this. 

Ans:-Yes, the author's grandmother was a strong person in character. Though she was  highly religious and conservative in character she had the conscience to maintain a good environment in her home. She was remained silent in quite disapproval of her grandson's learning on music at his new school. She couldn't bear the fact that the author's new English School didn't provide education on religion and scriptures. But she remained silent and decided to resign to a life of seclusion. 

When the author gave her the news that he would go abroad for five years for higher studies the grandmother didn't become emotional and didn't outburst in emotion. She went to see off her grandson at the railway station and bade farewell with a warm kiss on his forehead. The grandmother only prayed for his safe return. 

After five years again she went to welcome her grandson at the railway station and embraced him with love and happiness. But she fell ill after her celebration of the homecoming of her grandson. The doctor told that the grandmother suffered from a mild fever but the grandmother told the author's parents that her end was near. She told her families to leave her alone. She started praying constantly and her rosery fell from her hand. Her lips stopped moving and she died in prayer peacefully. All these confirmed that the grandmother was a strong religious person in character. 

 

'The Voice of The Rain' by Walt Whitman

 

Whitman's Poem

The Voice of The Rain

About the poet:

Walt Whitman is the significant writer of the 19th century American literature. He is considered as the greatest American poet in the 19th century.

 The renaissance of American literature begins with his writings as a poet. Free verse in poetry was introduced by him for the first time in American Literature. 

His book on poetry "Leaves of Grass" Is considered as the masterpiece of American Literature, first published by himself in 1855 with twelve poems. 

Whitman was born on May 31 1819, in Long Island, New York.

He died on March 26, 1892,camden, New Jersey. 

His family moved to Brooklyn and the poet Whitman lived there almost 40 years of his life.

Walt Whitman had limited formal education. He attended Public ko in Brooklyn. At the age of 12 Whitman had to earn his livelihood to support his family. He became an apprentice printer in Brooklyn, a teacher in a rural school in Long Island and  became a journalist later on. 

Whitman worked as a reporter, wrote stories and himself delivered his own founded local newspaper. He became the editor of Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1840 and his political views were aligned with the Free Soil Party, the upstart of that time. His writings were of no literary importance at that time. 

In 1850 , Whitman frequently went to the theatre and highly influenced by William Shakespeare's poetry. From then Whitman started writing poems on nature and on some subject matter of his daily experience. 

Walt Whitman self-published his book on poetry "Leaves of Grass" , contains only twelve poems, all the poems are untitled and there is no author's name. The poems are more like  prose then poetry. Throughout his life  Whitman worked and expanded his book "Leaves of Grass" , and produced ninth editions. In 1892, his year of death the ninth edition was published. 

The poems of the "Leaves of Grass" were highly appreciated and encouraged by the poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. The poems were not acclaimed any literary reputation in his lifetime due to controversial subject-matters, but achieved high recognition after his death.

Walt Whitman introduced a new trends of Free Verse in his poetry for which his "Leaves of Grass" was considered as a monumental work in American literature. 

The Voice of The Rain :Summary

The poet's dialogue with the rain:

The poem "The Voice of the Rain" is a dialogue between the poet and the rain. The poet asks the soft-falling shower, "who art thou? ".The rain gives him an answer which is a strange experience for the poet . The poet hears that answer and translates it into a verse form for his reader. 

The poet hears the voice of the rain:

It is a strange experience for the poet that the rain, which is a natural phenomenon, can give  him reply like a human being. The poet hears the rain's reply in his deepest core of his heart and feels the urgency to deliver it to the reader into his own language. 

The poet translates the answer of the rain into his own language and presents it to us in the form of a poem.

The poet's explanation of the rain's answer in his own verse:

The rain replies to the poet that she is the poem of the earth and she borns out of the "bottomless sea"of the earth, rises invisibly in the form of vapour, upward to the sky where it takes a vague form cloud and again comes back to it's own origin in the form of shower. The rain herself tells the poet that she hasn't changed by her original quality which remained  unchanged . She has changed only  her form in the sky.

The rain performs it's duty towards the planet:

 The rain, while descending to the earth,laves away all kinds of  impurities in the air, taken away the drought of the soil, makes it fertile and helps in germinating the seeds, laying hidden under the soil. The poet says without rain the seeds would remain unborn. 

The rain has rejuvenated the soil on the earth.The seeds laying hidden under the soil starts germinating, otherwise the seeds remain unborn and lay hidden under the soil. So, the poet says the rain makes the planet green and pure. 

The rain -a scientific cyclical pattern explained in a verse form:

The rain is a scientific cyclical pattern, a natural phenomenon, of the planet. The water bodies of the earth evaporated by the heat of the sun and rises upward "impalpable" In the form of vapour to the sky and there it takes the form of the cloud.After wandering for sometime in the sky When it cools down it comes down to the earth as rain.

The rain nourishes the earth:

The rain gives life back to the earth. It washes away all kinds of impurities from the air and makes the soil fertile for sprouting  the latent seeds that the whole natural environment becomes clean, pure and green.

Thus the rain performs it's duty eternally to make the whole planet green and pure. 

The rain is the song of the earth:

The rain is the song of the earth. As the poetry is the expression of the poet the rain is the expression of the earth. The poetry or the music  nourishes the creator, just like that the rain nourishes the earth.In that sense the poet makes a comment on the role of the rain that it originates from the earth and again comes back to the earth to nourishes and nurture the earth.This process is continued day and night, eternally, without caring of being noticed or unnoticed. The poet explains it as an unique role of the rain towards the planet. 

The rain and song: a parallelism:

The poet draws a parallelism between the song and rain. As the song or music soothes and nourishes the mankind the rain does also performs the same duty towards the planet earth. The rain makes the whole planet green and pure.

The last two lines of the poet are the the poet's observations and comments on the unique identity of the rain:

The last two lines are put in brackets by the poet, which is the poet's own comment on the rain. The poet has given the rain an unique identity, a personified figure, to elaborate it's cyclical functions on earth which has the scientific explanations.

The rain as a responsible entity:

The poet has brought out the image of the rain as a responsible entity who performs many responsible functions towards it's origin.The poet here presents us an image of a responsible child to a mother. 

The rain is the poem of the earth. 

The rain gives back life to the earth. 

The rain cleanse the air and makes the soil fertile. 

The rain helps to germinate the seeds hidden under the soil. 

The rain makes the planet green and beautiful. 

Without rain all these are not happened. 

The rain nourishes the planet, like the poetry to the mankind:

The rain is the song of the earth, as it is the expression of the earth.The rain nourishes the planet as the song or the poem nourishes the mankind. Day and night the rain does it's duty without being cared or noticed. 

The role of the rain towards the planet:

The rain does fertile the land helps the seeds  to sprout and grow into plants. Without the rain the seeds which lay "unborn" under the soil, wouldn't germinate. 

The rain performs it's duty responsibly:

Thus  the rain has fulfilled it's duty towards the earth from where it is born, makes the earth green and beautiful. 

The Theme of the poem:

The poet establishes the unique  quality of the rain through his poem that the rain performs it's duty with utmost responsibility and makes the planet green and pure. 

The poet establishes the fact that the rain has the ethical obligations to it's origin- that it gives back life to the earth. Though there is a scientific reason of it's occurance on the earth the poet explains the rain as an unique entity who performs it's duty continuously, ignoring whoever care it or not.

 The poet deals with an unique subject, that is, there is a similarity between the poetry and the rain as  both of them are the expression of the  creator, preforms the same duty that is to nourish and nurture. As the poetry nourishes and nurtures the mind of the mankind the rain nourishes and nurtures the earth similarly. 

The poetic devices used in the poem:

Personification:

The poet has imagined the rain as a personified figure and asks a question . The rain answers to the poet like a human being and the poet hears it in the deepest core of his heart. 

Lines from the poem:

"Who art thou? "

"I am the Poem of Earth"

"Eternal I rise... ..... "

Metaphor:

The poet makes a comparison of rain with the Poem. It is a metaphorical use of  comparison between two objects in which qualities are transferred with each other. 

"I am the Poem of Earth"

The rain is like the poem of the earth as the rain and the poem both have the same impact on mankind. 

Hyperbole:

The poet use the exaggerated phrases to create the poetic impact. 

"bottomless sea" Is the example of hyperbole. 

Oxymoron:

The poet uses some contradictory terms to imply a deep poetic impact. 

Examples from the poem:

"day-night", "reck'd and unreck'd".

Paradox: 

The poet in his poem presents seemingly opposite situation. The rain which originates from the water bodies of the earth can gives back life to it's own origin. Example:

" I give back life to my own origin".

Parallelism:

The poet draws a parallelism between rain and song. 

("For song,........ ") 

The rain and song both have the same qualities that is to nourish and entertain. 

Imagery:

The poet presents rain as a gentle figure and an unique entity. The lines which shows this imageries:

" I rise impalpable out of the land...... "

"I descend to lave the droughts.......... 

Major questions and answers:

1.There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? Which lines indicate this? 

Ans:-The two voices in the poem are, the voice of the poet and the voice of the rain. 

"Who art thou? " is the voice of the poet. The questions to the rain about it's identity. And last two lines in the bracket are also the voice if the poet. 

("For song, issuing from it's birth-place, after fulfillment, wandering/Reck'd Or Unreck'd, fully with returns.) is the poet's observations and comments on the rain. 

2.What does the phrase "strange" to tell mean? 

Ans:-The poet hears the answer of his question from the rain, which is a strange fact as the rain an inanimate object,gives him reply like a human being. 

3.There is a parallel between the rain and music. Which words indicate this? Explain the similarity between the two. 

Ans:-The poet draws a parallel between the rain and the music. The lines which indicate this are:

"I am the Poem of the Earth"- here the rain is compared with a poem or a music as the raining is like a soft music. 

(" For song, ----------with love returns".) -here is the poet's comment on the role of the rain as the rain soothes mankind with soft music of rain and nourishes and nurtures the planet.

 

The draws a parallelism between the rain and music. The poet calls the rain as soft falling shower, which is like a soft melody. Just like the rain the music has also the soothing impact on mankind.

 The rain comes back to the earth as soft falling shower which soothes and rejuvenate the infertile soil and taken away the drought of the earth.The rain nourishes the planet and makes the planet green and pure.

 The music also soothes and nourishes the mind of the mankind which makes the human being spiritually alive and makes more productive. 

4.How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem? Compare it with what you have learnt in science. 

Ans:-The poet has perfectly versed the cyclic movement of rain. The poet uses a poetical sense in explaining the cyclical pattern of rain in the form of the voice of the rain. In the rain's voice the poet explains that the rain is the poem of the earth which rises from the water bodies from the earth and rises invisibly to the sky, forms cloud, and after wandering sometime in the sky,again comes back  to lave the droughts, atomic and dust-layers of the earth and makes the soil fertile which helps germinating the seeds hidden under the soil.The poet says in the voice of the rain that without it the seeds will remain latent and unborn. The rain has been performing it's duty eternally day and night to make the planet green and beautiful. 

5.Why are the last two lines put within brackets? 

Ans:-The poet puts the last two lines in the brackets because in these lines the poet makes comments after the observations of the functions played by the rain towards the planet. The whole poem is the translated version of the rain's reply into the poet's own language. 

6.List the pair of opposites found in the poem. 

Ans:-The pair of opposite words in the poem are:

day and night, 

Reck'd and Unreck'd. 

7.Write the prose form of the sentences from the poem below. 

1.And  who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower. 

2.I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain. 

3.Eternal I rise

4.For song........... duly with love returns. 

Answers:

1.The poet asks the soft-falling shower who she is. 

2.The rain replies to the poet that she is the Poem of the Earth. 

3.The rain says that she rises from the earth eternally. 

4.The rain rises from the earth for the song for soothing and nourishing the planet and to return it's love to the earth.