Comprehension

I. Answer these questions in one or two words.

Q1. Where was the speaker on that spring day?
Answer: In a grove.

Q2. What was the speaker doing?
Answer: He sat reclined.

Q3. What kind of thoughts overpowered the sweet mood of the speaker?
Answer: Sad thoughts.

Q4. What grieved the speaker’s heart?
Answer: “What man has made of man”.

Q5. What kind of sound did the speaker hear?
Answer: A “thousand blended notes”.

II. Answer these questions in a few words.

Q1. What is linked to the fair works of Nature?
Answer: The human soul that runs through the speaker.

Q2. What is the speaker’s faith about the flowers?
Answer: It is his faith that “every flower enjoys the air it breathes”.

Q3. What did the birds do around the speaker while he sat reclined?
Answer: The birds “hopp’d and play’d” around him.

Q4. What did the budding twigs do?
Answer: They spread out their “fan” to catch the “breezy air”.

Q5. What is the significance of the primrose tufts and periwinkle in the poem?
Answer: They symbolize the perfect harmony and bonding that exist in nature.

III. Answer these questions briefly.

Q1. What does Wordsworth mean when he says ‘What man has made of man’?
Answer: He is lamenting the misery, sorrow, and transgressions that men have brought upon themselves and their fellow men by alienating themselves from nature’s “holy plan” of harmony and peace.

Q2. What conclusion does the poet draw from the movement of the birds?
Answer: He concludes that although he cannot “measure” the birds’ thoughts, he believes that “the least motion which they made” seemed to be a “thrill of pleasure”.

Q3. What is Wordsworth’s belief regarding Nature’s holy plan?
Answer: He believes that Nature’s “holy plan” is one of harmony and pleasure. He believes that all of nature, from the flowers to the birds, enjoys its existence in perfect “consonance” with this divine plan.

IV. Answer these questions in detail.

Q1. What is the reason behind Wordsworth’s lamentation?
Answer: Wordsworth’s lamentation stems from the sharp contrast between the harmony of nature and the disharmony among human beings. He sees that while all of nature lives in a state of happiness and mutual enjoyment, men have brought misery and sorrow upon themselves and each other. He feels that mankind has failed to live up to nature’s “holy plan” and has “betrayed his failure to act in tandem” with the symbiotic relationship between man and nature. He finds a “sweet mood” in nature but “sad thoughts” come to his mind as he thinks about the state of humanity.

Q2. What in nature made Wordsworth feel happy on that spring day?
Answer: Wordsworth felt happy because of the “thousand blended notes” he heard in the grove, a mixture of musical sounds from the breeze, birds, and leaves. He saw the harmonious relationship between the primrose tufts and the periwinkle. He also felt a deep sense of pleasure in the birds hopping and playing around him and the budding twigs spreading out their fans to catch the air. All these elements of nature seemed to be in a state of perfect harmony and pleasure, which made him feel happy and connected to the natural world.