NCERT Textbook & Additional Questions: Poem - Geography Lesson - English Class 8

NCERT TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS SOLVED

Working with the Poem (Page 35) 

Q1. Find three or four phrases in stanzas one and two which are likely to occur in a geography lesson.

Ans. (i) scaled six inches to the mile
(ii) valleys were populated
(iii) land and water attracted man.

Q2. Seen from the window of an aeroplane, the city appears
 (i) as haphazard as on ground.
 (ii) as neat as a map.
 (iii) as developed as necessary.  
 Mark the right answer.

Ans. (iii) as developed as necessary

Q3. Which of the following statements are examples of “the logic of geography”?
 (i) There are cities where there are rivers.
 (ii) Cities appear as they are not from six miles above the ground.
 (iii) It is easy to understand why valleys are populated.
 (iv) It is difficult to understand why humans hate and kill one another.
 (v) The earth is round, and it has more sea than land.

Ans. (i); (iii) ; (v) – these are correct statements.

Q4. Mention two things that are (i) clear from the height. (ii) not clear from the height.

Ans.
(i) The earth is round and it has more sea than land.
(ii) Why men hate each other and build walls across the cities.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS SOLVED

Q1. Sum up the main ideas of the poem in about 50 words.
 Ans. The poet flew over the city in a jet plane. He found the city spread in a disorderly manner. But he knew it was unavoidable. From the height of 10,000 feet, he saw the rivers and valleys. He well understood why the valleys were populated. The land and water facility attracts people. It was the logic of geography.
From a height of six miles, he noticed that the earth was round and had more sea than land. But he failed to understand why people hated each other, divided the land into separate units and killed each other.

Q2. What lesson of Geography did the poet learn when he flew above his city?
 Ans. As the poet flies in a jet, he notices that the cities below were not properly planned. He could see why it was so. From a height of 10,000 feet he noticed that valleys were populated. It was quite reasonable and understandable. It was the compulsion of geography that people should settle down in places with flat land and plenty of water and food. It is quite illogical why people hate and kill one another. It is greatly inhuman.