Class 9 Beehive Poem Chapter 5 Important Question Answers - A Legend of the Northland

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Why does the poet say that the hours of the day are few ?

Ans: In the poem, the poet refers to Northland, where the nights are longer and the days are shorter. This results in very few hours of daylight.

Q2. Who came knocking at the door of the old woman? Why was he there ?

Ans: In the Northland, an old lady lived in a cottage. While she was baking cakes, Saint Peter knocked at her door. He was weak from fasting and travelling, and he was looking for food.

Q3. Is this a true story? Which part of the poem do you think is really important ?

Ans: This is a legend, not a true story. The poet also suggests that it is fictional. The most significant part of the poem is when we discover that the old woman is very greedy. She refuses to share her cakes with a hungry man, highlighting her selfishness.

Q4. Is this poem correct in being known as a legend? Explain.

Ans: A legend is a story that is partly true and has been shared through generations. It carries significant meaning or symbolism for the culture it comes from. A legend often includes elements of truth or is based on historical facts, but it also has mythical qualities. In this poem, the saint curses the old woman, which adds to its legendary nature. Additionally, this poem can be seen as a folktale, as it is a story passed down from one generation to another.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. What are the poetic devices in the ballad ‘A Legend of the Northland’?

Ans: The major poetic devices in A Legend of the Northland by Phoebe Cary include assonance, which is the repetition of vowel sounds. This is evident in the opening line: “Away, away…”. Another notable element is the structure of the quatrain stanzas, which consist of four lines each and lack end punctuation. This creates a flow between lines through enjambment. While this technique is effective in most instances, there are a few awkward moments, such as in the lines: “Where a little woman was making cakes / And baking them on the hearth / And being faint from fasting…”.

The poem features both an explicit speaker, who says, “tell me a curious story,” and an explicit addressee, indicated by “yet you might learn.” The rhyme scheme alternates between unrhymed and rhymed lines, following an abebdefe pattern. A significant literary technique used is sensory imagery, which appeals to the senses of sight, taste, and sound. This is illustrated when Saint Peter approaches the cottage and observes the baking of the cakes. Ultimately, he transforms the woman into a woodpecker, which can be heard tapping on a tree.

Q2. What is a dramatic narrative? Is our poem a form of dramatic narrative ?

Ans: A dramatic narrative is a type of poetry that tells a story with a clear plot. These poems can vary in length and often feature the voices of characters and a narrator, typically written in metered verse. The poem in question is indeed a dramatic narrative, as it unfolds a tale from a specific perspective.

The story begins with a good Saint wandering in the cold Northland, feeling faint from hunger after fasting. He arrives at a cottage where he sees an old woman baking cakes. Desperate for food, he asks her for a small cake. However, the old lady, despite baking a tiny cake, refuses to give it to him. Angered by her selfishness, the saint curses her, transforming her into a woodpecker. To this day, she can be seen in the forest, pecking at trees for sustenance.

This poem has a clear beginning and end, starting with a simple narrative tone and concluding with a dramatic twist.

Value Based Questions

Q1. Why did the woman bake a little cake ?

Ans: The woman in the poem is depicted as stingy and greedy. When she baked a cake for Saint Peter, she thought it was too large to give away, even though it was very small. She kneaded another cake, but it still seemed too big. Finally, she took a tiny scrap of dough, rolled it flat, and baked it thin. However, she couldn't bring herself to part with it.

She believed that her cakes, which appeared too small when she ate them, were still too large to share. Consequently, she placed them on a shelf. This behaviour angered Saint Peter, who was hungry and faint. He felt that her selfishness was enough to provoke a saint.

As a punishment, he declared that she would live like a bird, struggling to find food by boring into wood all day. This transformation left her as a woodpecker, forever searching for sustenance.

Q2. Greed is a quality which God does not like. Discuss it in the context of the poem.

Ans: Greed is viewed as a sin, a theme clearly illustrated in the poem. In the legend of the Northland, greed is limitless. This is shown through the old lady's actions when St. Peter asked her for a cake. Instead of sharing, she refused to even give him a wafer-thin slice. Her selfishness angered St. Peter, leading him to curse her, transforming her into a woodpecker. This story teaches us the importance of sharing, as God has generously provided for us all.