Class 7 English Honeycomb Poem 1 Question Answers - Poem 1 - The Squirrel

Q1: What does a grey overcoat refer to?
Ans: The squirrel’s body is being referred to as a grey overcoat.

Q2: How do squirrels usually sit
Ans: The squirrel usually sits and runs with a bent back.

Q3: Why does the poet say the squirrel ‘wore a mark for tail’? Draw a squirrel or find a picture of a squirrel sitting on the ground. How would you describe its tail?
Ans: The poet said that the squirrel “wore a mark for a tail” because its tail is twisted and appears like a mark.

Q4: “He liked to tease and play”. Who is teasing whom? How?
Ans: The squirrel is teasing the poet and his friends. When the poet and his friends ran around the tree on which the squirrel was sitting, it went the other way, teasing and playing with them.

Q5: What kind of creature is a squirrel, according to the poet?
Ans: The squirrel is very playful, innocent, naughty, and intelligent. She describes the tail of the squirrel as a question mark because of its curved shape.

Q6: How does a squirrel eat a nut?
Ans: The squirrel sits up straight to eat a nut.

Q7: What did the squirrel do if someone came too close to his tree?
Ans: The squirrel would run away instantly if someone tried to come too close to his tree.

Q8: Do we usually say that an animal ‘wears’ a tail? What do we say? (Think: Does an animal wear a coat? Consult a dictionary if you like, and find out how ‘wear’ is used in different ways.)
Ans: No, we do not usually say that an animal ‘wears’ a tail. We usually say that an animal ‘has’ a tail.

Q9: Where was the squirrel sitting, and what was he doing?
Ans: The squirrel was sitting on the ground and eating nuts because he loves to eat nuts.

Q10: The poet talks about a small creature with sensitivity. Do you agree or not?
Ans: The poem is a reflection of the poet’s observations we come across in our day-to-day surroundings. A squirrel is the most commonly found animal that we see around us. Yet, very few of us would have thought of it as a subject matter.

Q11: He wore a mark for tail,
An overcoat of grey,
He sat up straight to eat a nut.
Explanation
The tail of the squirrel is twisted like a mark. Its colour is grey, and while eating a nut, it sits straight on its legs and holds the nut in its forearms.
(i) Does a squirrel wear an overcoat?
(ii) What is the shape of the squirrel’s tail?
(iii) How does it eat a nut?
(iv) What is its skin colour?
(v) Choose the past tense of wear from the above lines.
Ans:
(i) No, it does not.
(ii) Its shape is twisted into a mark.
(iii) It eats a nut by sitting on its hind legs
(iv) Its skin colour is grey.
(v) Wore.

Q12: Describe the nature of the squirrel.
Ans: The poet Mildred Bowers Armstrong describes a squirrel as a very naughty but innocent kind of animal. The poet observes the squirrel in his garden. His tail seems like a question mark because when he sits, the tail is shaped like a curve. His body is covered with a grey coat. He likes to play and tease others. Again, the squirrel likes to eat nuts. Whenever the poet runs to catch him, he goes to the other side of the tree. There, according to the poet, the squirrel is a fun-loving and also and intelligent creature.

Q13: He liked to tease and play,
And if we ran around his tree,
He went the other way.
Explanation
The poet loves the game of hide and seek between him and the squirrel. If he went too close to the squirrel, the squirrel would go and hide in the other direction.
(i) What does he like to do?
(ii) Why does he go the other way?
(iii) Why is the squirrel scared?
(iv) Name the poem.
(v) Name the poet.
Ans:
(i) He likes to tease and play.
(ii) He went the other way when he saw a human being around the tree.
(iii) The squirrel is scared because of the poet.
(iv) The poem's name is ‘The Squirrel’.
(v) The poet's name is ‘Mildred Bowers Armstrong’.