Maharashtra Board Class 11 English Solution Chapter 2.4 – Upon Westminster Bridge
Balbharati Maharashtra Board Class 11 English Solution Chapter 2.4: Upon Westminster Bridge. Marathi or English Medium Students of Class 11 get here Upon Westminster Bridge full Exercise Solution.
Std |
Maharashtra Class 11 |
Subject |
English Solution |
Chapter |
Upon Westminster Bridge |
ICEBREAKING
Q.) You might have visited a bridge. Complete the web describing the sights you could see from the bridge.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
Q.) The garment is compared with…….
Ans. The garment in the poem is compared with the beautiful morning.
Q.) The morning looks beautiful because…………
Ans. It is still silent without any noise of people around and moving vehicles and without any smoke which looks absolutely stunning. The poet has personified the beautiful morning as if it wearing beautiful garments and ornaments.
Q.) Guess the meaning of ‘glideth’.
Ans. Here in the poem the word means, to swim’.
Q.) Guess what is referred to as the ‘mighty heart’.
Ans. William Wordsworth wrote this poem to show the beauty of the city of London, especially in the morning, so the word ‘mighty heart’ refers to the people of London.
BRAINSTORMING
A1.) For preparing questions based on the poem, an overall understanding of the poem is a must. Discuss with your partner and prepare a set of five questions.
Ans. For example:
a.) What is the name of the bridge?
b.) Where is the bridge located?
c.) What can be seen from the bridge?
d.) How important the bridge is for the people of London?
e.) How did the river swim as described in the poem?
f.) Why does the poet feels the air is smokeless early in the morning?
A2.) Choose the correct alternative for the given lines. Focus on the inference of the poet.
(a) ‘Earth has not anything to show more fair:’ The line means-
(1) The poet thinks that the place was not so good.
(2) The poet thinks that there is another place which is more beautiful than this.
(3) The poet thinks that there is no place on the earth which is as beautiful as this one.
Ans. The poet thinks that there is no place on the earth which is as beautiful as this one.
(b) ‘Dull would he be of soul who could pass by’. The line means-
(1) One can walk over the bridge and ignore the surrounding beauty.
(2) One can halt at the place to enjoy the beauty.
(3) Anyone with an appreciative mind would not be able to ignore the beauty.
Ans. Anyone with an appreciative mind would not be able to ignore the beauty.
ii.) ‘Earth has not anything to show more fair.’ This line expresses the poet’s feelings. The sight he saw from the bridge is beautiful. There are a few more lines similar to the above. With the help of your partner find them and discuss what they express.
Ans. “Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:”
- Poet feels that the sight he gets standing at the Westminster Bridge is so breath-taking that no one will be able to ignore it.
“This city now doth, like a garment, wear.”
- This line beautifully personifies the city as a beautiful lady who is busy in make- over and is changing her attire, with the passing day.
“All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.”
- Poet here feels that the morning looks more beautiful because it is devoid of any pollution from the fast pacing vehicles and people rushing to their works. The city is silent and glittering because it is looking fresh and without any pollution.
“Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm, so deep!”
- The poet is spell-bounded seeing the beauty of the city in the early morning. It was very calm and serene, which was very relaxing for him.
iii.) The poem creates a delightful picture of the city, rich in its natural beauty. Work in pairs, groups and pick out the lines from the poem which give the pictorial effect to the poem. Write it in your own words.
Ans. The lines from the poem which give the pictorial effect to the poem-
1) “A sight so touching in its majesty:”
The poet witnesses something beautiful, standing at the bridge which he feels is majestic.
2) “The beauty of the morning;
silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres,
and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky;”
William Wordsworth admires the beauty of the London’s morning, standing at the bridge and the things he sees like ships, towers, domes etc. all seems to be beautiful at this time of the day.
3) “All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.”
In the morning, when there is no vehicles in the road, the air is pollution free, which makes it feel more beautiful, as if is glittering in the fresh, serene morning.
4) “The river glideth at his own sweet will:”
The beautiful river flows at its own pace, no one is interrupting its flow, which gives very easy on the eye.
A3.) Find out the words and phrases which describe the following. One is done for you.
Ans.
Sight | Touching in it’s majesty |
Air | Smokeless |
River | Glideth at his own sweet will |
House | Seems asleep |
Morning | Bare and silent |
Sun | Steeping beautifully |
A4.) Read the line ‘The city now, doth, like a garment wear’. The poet imagines that the city is wearing a beautiful garment. Hence, the figure of speech is personification. Find out more examples of personification from the poem.
Ans. Some more examples of personification from the poem are-
1) “In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;”
2) “The river glideth at his own sweet will:”
ii.) ‘Dull would he be of soul who could pass by.’
This line of the poem can be rewritten as:
Ans. His soul would be dull.
‘He would be of dull soul.’ The figure of speech is known as ‘Inversion’.
Find out one more example of Inversion from the poem.
Ans. 1) “Never did sun more beautifully steep”
2) “Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm, so deep!”
iii.) This is a Petrarchan Sonnet. Complete the given table by giving examples from the poem.
Ans.
Features | Examples / Lines |
Objects used | sky, sun, fields, river, air, houses |
Praise / blames | ‘The river glideth at his own sweet will’/ ‘A sight so touching in its majesty’/ ‘The beauty of the morning; silent, bare’ |
Metaphor | ‘all that mighty heart is lying still’/ ‘the very houses seem asleep’ |
Simile | ‘This city now doth, like a garment wear’. |
Personification | ‘This city now doth, like a garment, wear’/ ‘In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill’ |
Number of Lines | Fourteen |
Rhyme-Scheme | abbaabbacdcdcd |
A5.) There is a common belief that cities have always flourished only after human intrusion over nature. Write a speech expressing your opinion about it.
Ans. A very good morning to all the Respected dignitaries present here and my dear friends,. Today, I am given a topic to talk about, i.e. ‘Flourishing of cities because of human intrusion over nature.’ I somewhat agree to this statement and why I feel so that I am going to share with you all.
Very often we read in newspapers or see in the news channels that many wild animals like leopards, tigers, elephants etc. always try to intrude in the villages or towns that are near the forests in search of food or might be any reason. Who do you think the wild animals, leaving their own territory enter places where human beings reside? What is the reason behind it? The reason is quite simple but we neglect to see it, we have intruded in their region, their territory that’s why now they are intruding in ours. Slowly people are cutting down forests to accommodate the growing population. With this the natural resources are coming to an end, we are playing havoc with the nature.
Yes we do agree that to make a big city we need a lot of resources and space as well because it will provide accommodation to lakhs ad lakhs of people..The coming generation knows nothing about the nature and natural resources, which have been helpful to us since ages. They are so much engrossed within the city lives that they can’t think of coming out and spend a day or two with nature. The question is how will they get to know nature, if there remains none nearby?
With these modern and megacities, we got modern facilities and modern technologies as well, which have made our work easier, but at what cost? By destroying the nature? By playing havoc with nature and its creatures.One thing is for sure, if we keep on cutting down forest like this and keep on intruding into the nature, the days are not far, when our own lives will be in danger and the human race will extinct soon.
ii.) Compose a poem on an imaginary village. Try to maintain the rhyme scheme in the poem.
You may begin like this….
Ans. Settled on the bank of a river
Like a queen.
Is my beautiful village
Full of bushes green.
Where we prepare for tillage,
Life, that you have never seen.
I admire its beauty, standing at this bridge,
Our life ends here, and here’s it begin.
iii.) Write an appreciation of the sonnet. Refer to the earlier poems for the points to be covered for appreciation.
Ans. The Poem ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’, written by William Wordsworth, is one of the best examples of his romantic poem. ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’ is a Petrarchan Sonnet beautifully portrays the serene morning scene of London, when the whole city is quite and smokeless. The poet was enthralled by the panoramic landscape, beauty, calm and quiet nature before him.
William Wordsworth, born on April 7, 1770, was a major English Romantic poet, who was an honoured ‘Poet Laureate’ of the United Kingdom in the court of Queen Victoria, from 1843 until his death on 23 April 1850. He is a leading English Nature poet. His collection of poetry ‘Lyrical Ballads’ is considered to be the central work of Romantic literary theory.
The title of the poem The Westminster Bridge, gives the readers the beautiful image of the bridge where the poet wasstanding and enjoying the eye pleasing scene of the city early in the morning. The title seems to me apt as the poet was standing on that very bridge and the thought of this beautiful poem stuck him standing over there only and he realized how imperative it is to connect the readers with the content of the poem.
The major theme of the poem is man vs nature. How powerful and imperishable the beauty of nature is and we humans stand so tiny in front of nature, but still we are trying to vie with nature, thinking that mankind will win. Though in the poem the poet specifically talks about the beauty of the city of London early in the morning, but as a whole William Wordsworth evinces the beauty of nature everywhere in the world, not just in the city of London.
The poet is awe-struck as he never thought that London can display such beauty as well. Wordsworth was just passing by the Westminster Bridge but he stopped there to admire the eye catching beauty which he feels is more attractive than valley, rock or hill, the natural landscape, at this time of the morning. The city in its slumber appears majestic as he is not used to seeing London this way. Even the river is flowing on its own will as if there is no one to disturb it and the other noises are not there to intervene into the beautiful noises of nature and the flowing river.
The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet having fourteen lines which are divided in two sections. The octave presents the beauty of the city London in the early morning, and the bonding of nature with man, and how man is trying to obliterate the nature. The sestet shows the astonishment and disbelief of the poet seeing the calmness and serene beauty of the sleeping city. The ninth Line, ‘Never did sun more beautifully steep…’ is called ‘Volta’ where the poet gives reason for his astonishment. The rhyme-scheme of the poem is that of a traditionalPetrarchan sonnet — abbaabba, cdcdcd.
It is a descriptive poem where the poet has used imagery beautifully expressing the panoramic view of London. I personally liked the simplicity of the language where these is no ornamentation with hefty words or hyperbole. The poem’s simplicity and vivid imagery makes it stand out.
iv.) Write a summary of the sonnet. Refer to the earlier poems for the points to be covered for writing the summary.
Ans.The poem Upon Westminster Bridge starts up having the readers with an image of the poet crossing the Westminster Bridge over River Thames early in the morning. The sun is just starting to rise and the city of London seems to have bathed in the beautiful sunlight at this early hour. The poet is deeply moved by the beauty of this scene. He feels that nobody can spurn this splendid sight. And William Wordsworth feels, if at all there is someone who can ignore this beautiful sight he definitely lacks the sense admiring the beauty of nature or lacks that depth within.
The city seems to be bathing in the golden sunlight. The city wasstill in its slumber and the noiselessand smokeless city’s beauty is unmatchable to the other times of the day. Everything around is very is very calming and soothing to the eyes and heart. All the buildings of the city such as towers, domes, theaters, temples etc. seems to have an absolute different image at this time of the morning. All are majestically shining in the golden rays of the rising sun. Here the poet feels that he has visited number of valleys, villages, other landscapes rock and hills, but this beauty is something else. A city can look this beautiful, he never thought. But the city of London is the loveliest. The river was flowing freely. Its course is not obstructed by the movements of boats or ships. The whole city is sleeping.
It is a descriptive poem where the poet has used imagery beautifully expressing the panoramic view of London. The poem is simple, displaying vivid images and makes the readers imagine the beautiful morning of London.
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