Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Warming up!

Chit-chat (गप्पा गोष्टी)

Share this chat with your classmate

(1) Where did you go for a picnic recently?(तुम्ही सध्या सहलीकरीता कोठे गेला होतात?) 

Ans. Recently I went to Mahabaleshwar.

(2) Who all accompanied you? (तुमच्या बरोबर सर्व कोण गेले?)

Ans. My family members accompanied me.

(3) Why did you select that picnic spot? ( तुम्ही सहलीचे तेच ठिकाण का निवडले?)
Ans. It is very close to Mumbai. We could enjoy the scenic beauty, invigorating and refreshing climate so we selected that picnic spot.

(4) What games/food/sights did you enjoy there? ( तुम्ही कोणत्या प्रकारचे खेळ /अन्नपदार्थ / प्रेक्षणीय ठिकाणांचा आनंद घेतला ?)
Ans. We enjoyed Antakshari on the way. We also enjoyed veg, non-veg food. We visited different points, Venna lake, Panchgani and Pratapgarh

(5) What did you feel when it was time to return home? (घरी परतण्याची वेळ झाली तेव्हा तुम्हाला काय वाटले?) 

Ans. The memories of our pleasant picnic were unforgettable. The picnic was a nice change in our dull routine life. We returned home happily with refreshed minds.

(Note : Students may share their own experience with classmates based on the above guidelines.)

(1) Look at the picture given on textbook page 101 and frame questions:

(a) Where are the trekkers trekking?

(b) Which season is it?

(c) What equipment do you think they are carrying?

(d) In which area of India do you find such trekkers?

(e) What is the role of mountaineers in such trekking?

(2) Form group of 4 to 6 students. Every student should close his/her eyes. As the group leader reads aloud the following lines, the students try to create a picture in his/her mind. Later, each one gives a heading for each description.

(a) Bright blue sky - soft white clouds sweeping by tiny specks of birds flying high-sun playing hide and seek behind the clouds.

Ans. Heading The Enchanting Beauty of the Sky.

(b) Miles of smooth barren land sparkling sand stretched till the horizon, in wave-like forms - thorny, cacti propping here and there - an occasional cluster of palms provide a shady spot - a carvan of camels moving in a line in the distance.

Ans. Heading Life in the Desert

(3) Compose in your group, a four to six line poem, which contains imagery.

- A Lost of golden daffodils,

 Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

 Fluttering and dancing in the breeze,

Continuous as the stars that shine 

And twinkle on the milky way.

Q. Read the poem carefully and complete the activities :

A1. Simple Factual Activities :

*(1) Put (✓) mark in front of True statement or (×) mark in front of False statement :

(a) The speaker stops to watch rain falling among the trees.

(b) The owner of the woods is known to the speaker.

(c) The horse is worried about the cold

and wants to keep going.

(d) The speaker doesn't emphasize upon the beauty of woods he is passing through.

(2) Complete the following sentences :

*(i) The speaker stops in the woods.

*(ii) Winter season of the year is described in the poem

*(iii) The day described in the poem is evening.

(iv) The speaker is riding on his little horse.

(3) Fill in the blanks: 

(i) The person who owns the woods lives in the village. 

(ii) The speaker stopped his horse at a place between the frozen lake and the woods.

(iii) The speaker was really captivated by the lovely, dark and deep woods.

(iv) The little horse gives a shake to its harness bells attached to its neck.

*(4) List the sounds mentioned in the poem.

Ans. harness bells, sound of wind, sound of soft feathers like snowflakes falling.

(5) On what date every year is the darkest evening?

Ans. On 21st December

A2. Complex Factual Activities :

*(1) Find out line/lines from the poem as a proof for the following explanation: ( स्पष्टीकरणांकरिता पुरावा म्हणून कवितेमधून ओळी शोधून लिहा :) 
(a) There is no one to catch the speaker trespassing.

Ans. He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.

(b) The little horse draws his master's attention.

Ans. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake.

(c) His horse seems anxious to keep going.

Ans. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near.

(d) The speaker prefers to stay but is forced to move onwards.

Ans. But I have promises to keep And miles to go before I sleep....

(e) The poem is set in bygone era.

Ans. He gives his harness bells a shake. Shows that the poem is set in the bygone era.

(2) Why does the traveller have to leave the lovely woods? ( त्या प्रवाशाला ते सुंदर उपवन का सोडावे लागले?) 
Ans. The traveller was really captivated by the lovely woods. He is supposed to discharge his duties on time. He promises himself to keep his word. So he has to leave the lovely woods to keep his word.

A3. Activities based on Poetic devices:

*(1) Tell whether the rhyming scheme of the following stanzas is right or wrong. Give the correct rhyme scheme for the wrong one:

Ans. (a) stanza 1-aaba: right 

(b) stanza 2-bbcb: wrong it is 'aaba' 

(c) stanza 3-ccde: wrong - it is 'aaba' 
(d) stanza 4-added wrong - it is 'aaaa

Write your answer in comment box with question no.

*(2) Match the lines of the poem with their figures of speech :

Group A		Group B
1. Whose woods these are      I think I know		(a) Alliteration
2. The woods are lovely dark     and deep		(b) Personification
3. And miles to go before I sleep		(c) Inversion
4. My little horse must think     it queer		(d) Repetition

3. The poem is believed to have a reference to the poet’s life itself. What could the following signify? Choose from the bracket below :

(duties and responsibilities/old age/life/death/everlasting peace)

(a) The speaker’s journey --

(b) Snowy Evening --

(c) Lovely, deep, dark woods --

(d) Promises --

(e) Sleep --

➤Write an Appreciation of the poem.