English - Poetry Chapter 5: An Epitaph Long Answer Questions
Long Answer Questions
Question 1. ‘Ambiguity’ is a poetic device that is used to suggest more than one meaning and attitude. Comment on the ‘ambiguity’ in the use of the word ‘light’ in the second line of the poem?
Answer: ‘Ambiguity’ is a poetic device that is used to suggest more than one meaning and attitude. It commonly used in the sense of light. But in the second line of the poem, the poet has used it for the beautiful lady moving here and there. Usually, the word light means brightness, but the use of the word light in the second line of the poem is “The habit of moving”.
Question 2. Write a note on the philosophical meaning of the poem.
Answer: The poet ‘Walter De La Mare’ who has written the poem ‘An Epitaph’ has most philosophically expressed his deep concern over the death of most beautiful lady of the west country. He is also mentally upset that who will remember the lady (lying in the grave) after his death. The philosophical meaning of the poem is
(i) mortality of human life
(ii) the short-living of beauty and glamour which is bound to vanish and
(iii) Lust for life.
Question 3 What makes you feel that the poem is ‘ironical’ in meaning?
Answer: The feelings about the poet that how he loved his beloved makes me feel that the poem is ironic. He loved her so much that when his beloved died he mourned her death but could not save her from the cruel hands of the death. The beautiful lady turned into a dead body and was burned. It is but the irony of life.
Question 4. Write a summary of the poem “An Epitaph”.
Answer: Walter de la Mare in her poem “An Epitaph” describes a beautiful lady, who after her death is lying in a grave. He is highly aggrieved by her death. The lady lies in the grave-yard in the West Country. She looks most beautiful to the poet, as he is in love with her. The poet thinks that he is being deceived by her death. The poet feels that beauty is not eternal. Beauty vanishes and passes with age. The poem has an ironic tone also, which the poet expresses-‘Light of step and heart was She”. Actually the poet is meant that the lady has deceived him, as she died leaving him alone. In this way the poem deals with the transitoriness of human life and human relationship. Even love and beauty lose their charm in the course of time, in spite of the fact that it is extra-ordinary and rarely found. He also becomes sad to think that nobody will remember her after he dies.
Question 5 All that glitters is not gold explain briefly.
Answer: It is a very well said statement that all things that dazzle are not pure or real. Gold is the symbol of purity and real glitter. We should have the eye for real or unreal things. Even artificial or unreal things can dazzle so much that we are misled from our sense of understanding. Human beings should not be honored for their show-offing. We should try to see the inner beauty and purity of the heart. Glitters can sometimes be fake. Human beings should be recognized for their inner dazzle and not the take emotions. Gold dazzles. It is we who should understand and see the real shine remembering that all the things that glitter is not gold.
