Very Short Question Answer: On the Grasshopper and Cricket | English Honeydew Class 8 PDF Download

Q1: What is the meaning of the line: ‘The poetry of earth is never dead’?
Ans: The poet intended to convey that the beauty and music of nature's poetry never cease to exist. Regardless of the season, whether summer's heat or winter's cold, nature's artistic expression through sounds persists.

Q2: Where do birds take rest on a hot summer day?
Ans: Birds find refuge under the shade of trees to escape the sweltering heat of a summer day.

Q3: During which season do crickets sing?
Ans: Crickets sing during the winter season. Their shrill song breaks the silence of the cold and quiet winter nights.

Q4: 'The poetry of earth' is not made of words. What is it made of, as suggested in the poem?
Ans: 'The poetry of earth' is not crafted from words but rather from the songs of creatures like grasshoppers and crickets. Thus, it is composed of the melodic tunes produced by these insects.

Q5: What is the main theme of the poem?
Ans: The central theme of the poem revolves around the enduring nature of poetry and music found in the natural world.

Q6: Where do grasshoppers find rest when they become tired?
Ans: When exhausted, grasshoppers find respite among pleasant weeds, where they can rest comfortably.

Q7: Discuss with your partner the following definition of a poem.
A poem is made of words arranged in a beautiful order. These words, when read aloud with feeling, have a music and meaning of their own.
Ans: A poem is an artful composition that blends speech and song, often characterized by rhythm and metaphors. The arrangement of words contributes to its essence, and when recited aloud with emotion, the words create a unique melody and significance. Rhyming in poems synchronizes the poet's ideas and imagery.
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, a poem can be defined as a written piece where words are chosen for their sound and evocative imagery, beyond their literal meanings. The words are structured in lines, often with rhythmic patterns, and frequently rhyme at their ends.

Q8: 'The poetry of earth continues round the year through a cycle of two seasons.” Mention each with its representative voice.
Ans: The poetry of earth resonates in two seasons: during summer, the grasshopper takes the lead with its unending delight; during long winter evenings, when the forest is hushed, the cricket's shrill voice emerges from the stone, contributing to the continuous cycle of nature's poetic expression.

Q9: Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead.

(i) How long does the poetry of the earth live?
Ans: The poetry of the earth lives forever. It never dies.

(ii) Where do the birds hide during the hot sun?
Ans: The birds hide in the cooling trees.

(iii) Where will the voice run?
Ans. The voice will run from hedge to hedge.

Q10: Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening when the frost
Has wrought a silence, from the stone there shrills
The cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost;
The grasshoppers among some grassy hills.

(i) When does the frost wrought a silence?
Ans. The frost wrought a silence during winters.

(ii) What does the cricket’s song do?
Ans. The cricket’s song shrills out.

(iii) What does the cricket’s song seem like?
Ans. The cricket’s song seems to be lost in half drowsiness.