Animals Poem of CBSE Class 10 English Chapter 6, Summary, Explanation with NCERT Solutions
Animals 10th Class English First Flight Poem Detailed explanation of the poem along with meanings of stiff words. Also, the clarification is followed by the literary contrivance used and a brief of the Poetry. All the exercises and Answers and Questions given at the back of the chapter have been included.
Animals Poem Summary
In the Poem animals, the poet has described his will to become an animal because he thinks animals are far better than human beings. Human beings are greedy and full of jealousy against each other. But animals are calm and self contained. The animals are happy with what they have. They never complain about miseries. They give more importance to rich and strong people, stay restless because of wrong doings and run behind the luxurious things of the world. Whereas animals are honest about their relations and don’t give importance to a particular class. They live a life which is full of honesty and less of greed and jealousy.
Also See: Dust of Snow Class 10 CBSE English Poem Summary, Explanation
Animals Poem with Explanation
I think I could turn and live with animals, they are
so placid and self-contain’d,
I stand and look at them long and long.
Placid: calm, peaceful
Contained: keep up control
The poet says that he wants to live in the world of animals. Here we can say that the poet finds the world of animals better than that of human beings. He further says that he finds animals more peaceful than humans. He says so because animals are not running after worldly things like human beings. They are calm and have no greed for Worldly things or any kind of achievements. they are self contained means they are happy with my life and never interfere in the life of others. Humans have the habit of interfering in the lives of others. So, the poet thinks that animals are better than humans for being calm and not interfering in matters of others. The poet further says that these are the reasons why he stands still and looks at the animals for a very long time.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with
the Mania of owning things,
Sweat: here means complaint
Whine: cry
Sins: wrongdoing
Demented: mad, disturbed
The poet says that unlike humans, animals don’t complain of any Misery. They never cry out loud like humans do, to show that what they have lost. They never stay awake in the night, crying in repentance for their wrongdoings. This means that animals are different from human beings because they don’t show anger or grief if something wrong happens with them. He further says that animals are very truthful because they never boast of the good deeds done in the name of God. He says so because most human beings do this. They try to show their good deeds and religiousness to others. they do so in order to gain popularity among their fellows. so, the poet thinks that animals never irritate him by doing such things just to gain some praise from their fellow people. He feels that the animals are not dissatisfied like humans. They stay happy with whatever they have. they never run behind worldly things. They never try to possess things of comfort or luxury. He says that none of them is mad behind owning the worldly things.
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that
lived thousands of years ago,
not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole Earth.
So they show their relations to me and I accept them,
they bring me tokens of myself, the evince
them plainly in their possession
Here the poet says that he has never seen any animal showing his devotion to anyone by bowing down in front of the person. they never do so even for their ancestors. they do not show devotion towards God like humans do. no one among them is more respectable or important as we have in human society. In human beings, rich people are generally given more importance and treated with more respect as compared to the poor. but in the society of animals, they never do so. they never give more or less importance to any other animal. Everyone in the animal world is happy. they are not like human beings who find themselves the happiest are the saddest person on earth. further the poet says that animals are more honest in showing their relations with other animals. here he wants to say that animals use Other animals are their food and they never try to hide this. whereas human beings show that they have nice and friendly relations with others, though the reality is opposite for stop the poet says that he accepts the fact that animals are true towards showing their relation with other animals.
I wonder where they get those tokens,
did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently dropped them?
So at the last the poet introspects himself and says that from where the animals got good qualities. He further questions himself that where his own good qualities are gone? Did he leave them or had carelessly lost them somewhere. the qualities that were found in human beings in the past, like Innocence, kindness, truthfulness are now seen in animals. He wonders that humans gave up these qualities and they have been passed on to the animals.
Also See: A Tiger in the Zoo Poem Class 10 English Chapter 3
Animals Poem NCERT Solutions
Q1. Notice the use of the word ‘turn’ in the 1st line, “I think I could live with animals and turn …” What is the poet turning from?
A. The poet is turning far from living in the world of human beings. He finds animals much self-contained and placid and therefore, he wants to live with them.
Q2. Description 3 things that humans do and animals don’t?
A.The 3 things that humans do and animals don’t are as follows:
- Cry and Humans complain about the sorrows and miseries they face.
- Humans lie awake in the night thinking about their incorrect doings.
- Humans also keep telling others about their duties and religiousness by God.
Q3. Do people kneel to other people who lived thousands of years ago? Discuss this in groups?
A. Yes people kneel to other people who lived thousands of years ago. They could be some ancestors, saints, or the preachers whom they follow religiously. They worship them and follow their instruction.
Q4. What are the ‘tokens’ that the author says he may have dropped long term ago, and which the animals have kept for him? Discuss this in class. (Hint: Whitman belongs to the Romantic tradition that involves Wordsworth and Rousseau, which holds that civilization has made people incorrect to their personal true nature.?
A. The word tokens according to the poet is the nice qualities in people beings. The author feels that nowadays nice qualities do not exist in people’s beings. They have lost them for the sake of worldly things that they want to obtain at any cost.
Also See:
- Dust of Snow English Poem 1 Summary, Explanation
- Fire and ICE English Poem 2 Summary, Explanation
- A Tiger in the Zoo Poem 3, Summary, Explanation, Solutions
- How to tell Wild Animals Poem 4
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