Page 138 - English Expedition Class 6

2. Let us hasten away in the track of the seagull’s call,
a. Whom does ‘us’ refer to?
b. What is the ‘track of the seagull’s call’?

c. Why must they hasten?
3. He who holds the storm by the hair, will hide in his breast our lives.

a. Who is being referred to as ‘he’?
b. What does the phrase ‘holds the storm by the hair’ imply?
c. How does he hide the speakers’ lives in his breast?

4. Row, brothers, row to the edge of the verge, where the low sky mates with the sea.
a. Who are the brothers?
b. What is being referred to as the ‘verge’?

c. What happens at the verge?

C. Answer the following questions.
1. What time of the day is being referred to in the fi rst stanza? How do you know?

2. What is compared to the wind in the poem? Is the comparison appropriate?
3. How do the fi shermen see the sea, the clouds and the waves? Why?

4. Which four things are sweet according to the speaker? Why are they sweet?

D. Refl ect and answer.
1. Why do the fi shermen think of themselves as the kings of the sea? Give reasons for your answers.

2. Why do you think the fi shermen are unafraid of fi shing in the dark?

Appreciation

Personifi cation

When we attribute human characteristics to non-human or abstract things, we use personifi cation.
Here is an example from the poem:

The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn like a child that has cried all night.
The wind is compared to a child in this line. And, what does a child do after crying all night? It sleeps
in the arms of its mother. The dawn personifi es a mother with all her motherly qualities.

Pick out at least three instances of personifi cation from the poem and write what they personify.

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