English X - Chapter No.7 - Questions-Answers and Text Book Exercise

Go To Index
FROM A RAILWAY CARRIAGE (POEM)
Questions-Answers and Text Book Exercise

B.Questions And Answers:

Q.1: What does the poet see from a railway carriage?
Ans. The poet sees a variety of charming sights while travelling by a railway carriage. Houses, hedges, ditches, bridges, meadows, a cart, a child, a tramp, the cattle, a mill, a railway station, a river, hills and mountains etc. He carried a lot of pride by travelling through a speedy train.

Q.2: What pleasures does the railway journey give to the poet?
Ans. The railway journey brings a lot of joy and gives pleasure to the poet. It proves to be an exciting and pleasure experience to him. When so many things which includes the sights of meadows, daisies, mill, river, hill plain etc running backwards, each a glimpse and gone forever. He is pleased because a thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Q.3: What type of experience has been described in this poem?

Ans: In this poem, the poet has described a very exciting experience. He tells us what we see and how we feel when we travel by a train. It sounds so good that one enjoys every bit of travelling. Over all it was a tremendous journey which forced the poet to express it poetic form. The reader too enjoy every bit of it.

Q.4: What is a tramp? What was he doing when the railway carriage passed by?

Ans: A tramp is a homeless person who goes from place to place and does no regular work. He was starring at the carriage as he was looking for some one to come.

Q.5: Who wrote the poem " From a railway carriage"? What do you know about the poet of the poem?

Ans: The poem " From a railway carriage" is written by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). He is a Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist He was born in Edinburgh. His formal education was greatly interrupted by illness, and was frequently taken for holidays. He tried to study engineering, then law. But in 1873, he decided to embark upon a literary career. His novels "Treasure Island" and "Kidnapped" are well known. In another one, "Dr. Jekytt and Mr. Hyde," he shows how every individual has tendencies to do both good and evil He really loved children and understood them. This poem shows his skill as a poet.

Q.6: What was child doing?
Ans: The child was clambering and scrambling. He was alone. He was busy gathering brambles.

Q.7: What was the cart's scene?

Ans: The cart was running away on the road. It had a load and a man was also sitting in the cart. The cart was lumping along due to heavy load on it.

Q.8: What is the message of the poem 'From a railway carriage'?
Ans: The message of the poem is that a railway carriage is a source of happiness. It presents a constant changing scene.  It provides a chance to see natural beauty and to enjoy watching them. As " A beauty of nature is a joy forever".

C. Idiomatic Structures:
1. In all
"We are six children in all." means
The total number of children is six.

2. All at once
"All at once a light began to shine." means
Suddenly a light began to shine.

3. All the same
"It's all the same to me". means
It makes no difference to me.

4. All alone
"He's all alone in the world". means
He has no relatives or friends.

5. All about 
"What is all about". means
What's the matter.


D. Words / Meanings
1. Fairies: beautiful imaginary beings who have magical power.
2. Witches: wicked old women who could work magic and fly through the air.
3. Hedge: a row of bushes or tall plants, forming a boundary.
4. Ditch: a narrow channel dug in or between fields, or at the side of a road, to hold or carry off water.
5. Charge: to attack; here if means to rush forward, move fast.
6. Meadow: a grassy field.
7. Fly as thick: pass so quickly as if there was no distance between them.
8. Driving rain: hard, slanting rain.
9. The wink of an eye: the time it takes to shut one eye for a very short time.
8. Whistle by: when the fast train goes past a station, a whistling sound is produced.
10. To clamber: to climb with some difficulty.
11. To scramble: to move with difficulty over rough or steep ground.
12. Brambles: thorny bushes which bear the fruit called black berries.
13. Tramp: a homeless person who goes from place to place and does no regular work.
14. To string: to make a garland of
15. Daisy: it is one of the commonest wild flowers in Britain.
16. The green: a grassy common land in a village.
17. To lump: to move heavily and awkwardly.
18. A glimpse: a brief look.