SUMMARY ON : THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his poem "The Village Blacksmith" which was published in the year 1840. And in this poem, he presents the character of the village blacksmith who is someone who works hard and still maintains a balance between his work, family, and social life.

The summary of the poem-

The poet talks about the village blacksmith who works in his smithy "under a spreading chestnut tree". He is a large man with strong arms, long, black hair with tan skin but proud of his work for he owes no man. His work takes him "week in, week out", keeping him occupied with the work which is audible all throughout the village. When the children return home from school, they used to poke their noses into the smithy to watch the "flaming forge" and hear the "bellows roar".

But when the weekends come, he goes to church and rejoiced at the songs and prayers and preaching. This then reminds him of his own mother which then led to his sorrows, once again revisiting her death and shedding a tear or two.

On and on goes the cycle of him "Toiling, --rejoicing, -- sorrowing", living life working on his profession. Mornings will see hi start something and evenings close the work, "Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose".

And in the last stanza, the poet thanks the blacksmith for ' the lesson thou hast taught!". We should all work like the smith, working with determination and hard labor which will then eventually lead us to success.

Short type of Questions & Answers.

1.Where does the smithy stand?

Ans :Under a spreading chestnut-tree the village smithy stands.

2 .How do you describe the blacksmith?

Ans: The smith, a mighty man is he, with large and sinewy hands; and the muscles of his brawny arms are strong as iron bands.

3. What does the poet compare the smith’s arms to?

Ans: The poet compares the blacksmith’s arms to an iron-rod.

4. How does the poet describe the blacksmith’s hair?

Ans: His hair is crisp, and black, and long,.

5. What do you understand about the race of the blacksmith from the expression – his face is like the tan?

Ans: From this expression, we can assume that the blacksmith is an African or Afro American.

6. Which line suggests that the blacksmith is a man of character and self esteem?

Ans: “And looks the whole world in the face, for he owes not any man.”

7. Explain, “he owes not any man.”

Ans: The village blacksmith is a man of strong personality. He doesn’t take anyone’s help. He works works very hard for his earning. As he has not accepted any free help from anyone, he doesn’t owe anyone anything.

8. Write a character sketch of the blacksmith?

Ans: The blacksmith is a man of great character.

9. What are the hours of the blacksmith’s work?

Ans: The blacksmith works all the days of the week. He starts working in the morning and ends at night.

10. How does the blacksmith swing his sledge?

Ans: The blacksmith swings his heavy sledge in a slow rhythm.

11. Who is a sexton?

Ans: A sexton is a person who looks after a church.He has to ring the huge bell in the evening

Accumulated by

Sir : Ashish Rai

Asst. Teacher RMA

      ELDER BROTHER - By -Munshi Premchand

Class : VIII

SUMMARY

Date :28/09/2020

The story begins with two brothers and how they are very different from each other. The younger brother tells the story from his perspective and lets us inside his life with his elder brother. The narrator is five years younger than his older brother. Similarly, the elder one is three grades ahead of the younger ones.The brothers live together in a hostel and have very contrasting opinions. The elder brother is a hardworking fellow who studies hard. He wishes to build a strong foundation through his education. On the other hand, the younger one prefers playing all day long and doesn’t give much time to his studies. Thus, the elder brother always scolds his little one to be more sincere. Moreover, he shows himself as an example of a disciplined student.
However, in a turn of events, the younger brother secures the first position in class while the elder brother fails. This makes the younger brother too proud of himself. Even then, the elder brother keeps trying to discipline him and make him work hard. The big brother works harder this time while the little one does the opposite. To everyone’s surprise, the younger one scores first position again while the elder one failed again. The little one got prouder while the elder one started working harder. One day, the younger one starts running after a kite when the elder brother gets angry. He scolds him for being too careless and gives him a lecture. The elder one tells him that even though the younger one may catch up to him in studies, he will never be able to catch up experience-wise.The elder brother tells him that that grade gap can be erased but the five years age gap cannot be. The younger brother then realizes that his elder brother will always remain older to him. Thus, he will always scold him and help him get on the right path. Finally, the younger brother realizes the importance of his elder brother and they start running together after the kite.

This story teaches us that no matter how intelligent we become, we must not forget to respect our elders and listen to their scolding if it is for the right reason as they want our goodwill.

Answers the questions in a few lines.

1. Where did the narrator and his brother live? How old were they?

Ans : The narrator and his brother lived in school hostel and narrator was nine years and his elder brother was 14 years old.

2. Why did the elder brother remind his sibling about Ravan?

Ans : Elder brother reminds his sibling about Ravan because he was trying to explain him that pride will completely finish anyone the way Ravan lost his life too.

3. What did he say about the difficulties of studying British history and Geometry?

Ans: He said .... God help you with British History and as for geometry, if you write 'acb' instead 'abc'  your whole answer is marked wrong.

4. How did he prepare for the ninth grade exam?

Ans : He always spend his time to understand the book knowledge and  always kept himself busy with studies to promote next class with good marks.

5. Why did both the brother cry when he failed?

Ans : According to the sorry narrator was getting promoted in school based exam but somehow he was unable to pass real life test but elder brother made him understand about the reality of life.

Answer the following questions (descriptive type).

a. The elder brother was not good at academics. How does the narrator convey this ?

Ans: The speaker’s brother is not very good at academics. Though his brother was five years elder to him, in school he is only three years ahead of him. The speaker justifies it by saying that maybe his brother wanted strong foundation and hence studied each class for more than a year. The speaker says that often he would find drawings of cats, dogs and birds on his brother’s books which could mean he takes breaks in between studies.

b. What was the difference in the routines of the two brothers ?

Ans : While the narrator’s brother slogged every day in front of books and stayed away from the playground, the narrator would have lot of fun, throwing pebbles in the air, flying paper butterflies, riding the hostel gate like a motor car, climbing up and down the staircase etc.

c. Describe the timetable drawn up by the narrator. How were the intent and reality completely different ?

Ans : After his brother scolds him hard one day, the narrator draws up a rigorous time-table for himself without including any games and sports that he loves so much. But he doesn’t keep to the new schedule even for one day as the playground beckons to him with all the fun and frolic which makes him forget his books and run back to the ground.

d. What was the impact of the elder brother's lectures on the narrator ?

Ans : Whenever his brother gave his sermons, the narrator would feel guilty that he was committing some grave mistake by playing and having fun. He would also feel like going back home and not bother about studies at all and lead a happy life without having to go to school again.

e. How did the elder brother's sermons change when he failed for the first time ?

Ans : His brother was depressed when he heard that he had failed while his younger brother had passed. For some time he stopped giving his sermons. But soon he started bullying his younger brother by scaring him how hard each class was going to be than before. He also cautions him not to feel too proud of himself lest his pride will make him feel arrogant.

f. What was the elder brother's reaction to failing for the second time ?

Ans : When he failed a second time, his elder brother stopped bothering him much. He also stopped pulling his ears and generally kept to himself.

Accumulated by 

Sir : Ashish Rai

Assistant Teacher of

Roshan Memorial Academy