The Clothesline Q & A
Q.1. Read the poem aloud. Recite any stanza of your choice from memory
Q.2. Answer the following questions with reference to the poem.
(a) What is described in the poem?
Ans.The poet’s hankerchief is described in the poem.
(b) What are the clothes compared to? Give two examples.
Ans.The clothes are compared to the restive horses and fairy-tale witches (Fluttering creatures and birds).
(c) What do the restive horses do?
Ans.The restive horses caper and prance.
(d) What do fairy-tale witches do?
Ans.Fairy-tale witches dance wildly.
(e) What did one of the fluttering creatures do?
Ans.One of the fluttering creatures danced wildly,Free herself by struggling and then flew away.
(f) What could have happened to the one who flew away?Who was she?
Ans.The one who flew away could have hidden in a ditch or drowned in the sea,she was the poet’s hankerchief.
Q.3. Form groups and discuss the following questions:
(a) Why are clothes compared to living things?
(b) The events described in the poem take place at a certain place, at a certain period of the year, under specific weather conditions. Describe the place, the time and the weather conditions.
Q.4. When we say that two or more words rhyme, we mean that they end with the same sound or syllable. For example, ‘ring – sing’. Rhyming words are often used in the verse at the end of the lines. List the rhyming words from the poem. Note the words ‘behind’ and ‘wind’. They have similar spellings, that is they look the same. But they are pronounced differently, that is, they do not ‘sound’ the same. This is known as ‘eye rhyme’. Separate the examples of eye rhymes from the following list.
Rhyming Words | Eye Rhyme words |
cry- try | none – shone |
stronger – longer | shut – put |
laughter – daughter | imply – simply |
won – done | |
known – grown | |
beat – feat |
Q.5. List all the phrases from the poem in which two or more words are joined with ‘and’.
Ans. hither and thither,caper and prance,shiver and skip,flipping and flapping and flopping.
Q.6. Form groups and discuss what must have happened to the handkerchief. Write the story in your own words.
Q.7. Wash your handkerchief clean. Hang it with a peg to dry in the wind. Watch how it flutters.
Q.8. Complete the following comparisons.
1. as white as snow
2. as green as grass
3. as red as cherry
4. as blue as sky
5. as black as coal
6. as bright as stars
(a)Rewrite these comparisons using the comparative degree.
Example: Whiter than snow
(b)Find suitable objects for each comparison.
Example: Petals or flowers or feathers whiter than snow.