Very Short Question Answer: The School Boy | English Honeydew Class 8 PDF Download

Q1: How does a child's initial happiness transform into sadness?
Ans: A child starts the day happily, enjoying the pleasant morning. However, this happiness turns into sorrow as the child is compelled to attend school, where they experience a sense of unhappiness.

Q2: Paraphrase the lines "Nor sit in learning's bower worn thro with the dreary shower."
(i) I can't sit in a classroom without a roof when it's raining.
(ii) I can't learn anything in school even though teachers keep teaching and explaining.
(iii) I can't sit in the school garden because I might get wet in the rain.
Ans: (ii) I can't learn anything in school even though teachers keep teaching and explaining.

Q3: Why might a child develop a dislike for school?
Ans: A child might develop a dislike for school due to feeling overly controlled by teachers and perceiving the environment as restrictive, similar to a caged bird.

Q4: Identify three or four phrases in the first stanza that convey the child's happiness and joy.
Ans:

• Love to rise in a summer morn
• Birds sing on every tree
• The skylark sings with me
• Sweet company

Q5: The line 'A cruel eye outworn' (Stanza 2) refers to:
(i) The classroom which is shabby/noisy.
(ii) The lessons which are difficult/uninteresting.
(iii) The dull/uninspiring life at school with lots of work and no play.
Ans: (iii) The dull/uninspiring life at school with lots of work and no play.

Q6: How does a child's initial happiness transform into sorrow?
Ans: A child starts the day happily, enjoying the pleasant morning. However, this happiness turns into sorrow as the child is compelled to attend school, where they experience a sense of unhappiness.

Q7: Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
But to go to school in a summer morn,
O’ it drives all joy away,
under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day,
In sighing and dismay.

(i) What drives away all the joy?
Ans: Going to school in a summer morning drives away all the joy.

(ii) What does ‘cruel eye outworn’ refer to?
Ans: ‘Cruel eye outworn’ refers to the teachers and uninspiring life at school.

(iii) How do the little ones spend the day?
Ans: The little ones spend the day sadly sighing.