NCERT Textbook: Poem - When I Set Out For Lyonnesse Notes | Study English Class 8 - Class 8

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As a young apprentice architect, British poet and novelist
Thomas Hardy once visited a parish to supervise the restoration
of a church. On his return from the parish, people noticed two
things about him — a new glow in his eyes and a crumpled
piece of paper sticking out of his coat pocket. That paper, it is
recorded in one of his biographies, contained the draft of a poem.
You are going to read that very poem inspired by a visit to a
place which the poet calls Lyonnesse.
When I set out for Lyonnesse
A hundred miles away,
The rime was on the spray;
And starlight lit my lonesomeness
When I set out for Lyonnesse
A hundred miles away.
What would bechance at Lyonnesse
While I should sojourn there,
No prophet durst declare;
Nor did the wisest wizard guess
What would bechance at Lyonnesse
While I should sojourn there.
When I returned from Lyonnesse
With magic in my eyes,
All marked with mute surmise
My radiance rare and fathomless,
When I returned from Lyonnesse
With magic in my eyes.
THOMAS HARDY
2019-2020
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As a young apprentice architect, British poet and novelist
Thomas Hardy once visited a parish to supervise the restoration
of a church. On his return from the parish, people noticed two
things about him — a new glow in his eyes and a crumpled
piece of paper sticking out of his coat pocket. That paper, it is
recorded in one of his biographies, contained the draft of a poem.
You are going to read that very poem inspired by a visit to a
place which the poet calls Lyonnesse.
When I set out for Lyonnesse
A hundred miles away,
The rime was on the spray;
And starlight lit my lonesomeness
When I set out for Lyonnesse
A hundred miles away.
What would bechance at Lyonnesse
While I should sojourn there,
No prophet durst declare;
Nor did the wisest wizard guess
What would bechance at Lyonnesse
While I should sojourn there.
When I returned from Lyonnesse
With magic in my eyes,
All marked with mute surmise
My radiance rare and fathomless,
When I returned from Lyonnesse
With magic in my eyes.
THOMAS HARDY
2019-2020
Honeydew 106 106 106 106 106
Lyonnesse: (in Arthurian legend) the mythical birthplace of Sir Tristram, in
England, believed to have been submerged by the sea; here an
imaginary place.
rime: frost
the spray: leaves and branches of trees; foliage
durst: (poetic word for) dared
bechance: happen/chance to happen
sojourn: stay
radiance: glow
fathomless: so deep that the depth can’t be measured
1. In the first stanza, find words that show
(i) that it was very cold.
(ii) that it was late evening.
(iii) that the traveller was alone.
2. (i) Something happened at Lyonnesse. It was
(a) improbable.
(b) impossible.
(c) unforeseeable.
(ii) Pick out two lines from stanza 2 to justify your answer .
3. (i) Read the line (stanza 3) that implies the following.
‘Everyone noticed something, and they made
guesses, but didn’t speak a word’.
(ii) Now read the line that refers to what they noticed,
Question: Why is it unsafe to walk about in spring?
Answer: Because the grass has blades, the flowers
have pistils and the trees are shooting.
Springtime
2019-2020