Animals Poem Important Questions Class 10 First Flight English
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. How are animals different from humans about owning things or kneeling to one another?
Answer
Human beings are mad about possessing things. But animals do not care for possession. It is madness only for humans. Animals do not kneel to others as humans do. For them, all are equal.
Question 2. Why do the animals not ‘whine’ and ‘weep’?
Answer
The animals do not show anxiety or distress nor do they moan about the condition in which they live. The animals do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins.
Question 3. Why does the poet wish to live with animals?
Answer
The poet wishes if he could be transformed and live with animals. The poet thinks that animals are self contained, peaceful, unambitious, uncomplaining, simple and honest. He finds himself more like animals.
Question 4. Why does the poet want to live with animals?
Answer
The poet thinks that animals are very peaceful and self-confident. They do not complain about their condition. They don’t weep for their sins. That is why, he wants to live with the animals.
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What is the difference between animals and humans regarding their attitude to their condition, sins and God?
Answer
Human beings cry about their condition. They lie awake at night in the dark and weep for their sins. They make the poet sick by discussing their duty about God. But animals do not do any of these things. That is why, the poet likes them.
‘No one kneels to another, nor to his. kind that lived thousands of years ago.’ How does the poet distinguish between animals and human being in these lines?
Answer:
The poet wishes to convey that the animals do not kneel before others especially before the ones who lived thousand of years ago. But the humam beings indulge in hero worship and kneel to another human beings, who might have lived thousands of years ago.
Question 2. What is the central idea of the poem, ‘Animals’?
Answer
The central idea of the poem is the difference between human beings and animals. While they both were initially similar in their innate goodness, the man had lost it over the years, while animals remain the same. They show these tokens of goodness – peaceful, self-containment and happiness, and compel the poet to contemplate on man’s lost goodness.
Question 3. How are animals better than humans, according to the poet?
Answer
According to the poet, the animals are more humane than humans. They have no such bad qualities as humans have. In their world, all are happy, equal and content. They show their relations to the poet and he accepts them.
Question 4. How, according to the poet, have animals got the ‘token’?
Answer
According to the poet, humans have been just like animals in their basic nature a long time ago. In their march to civilization, they grew negligent towards it. Thus, they lost their basic nature Eind virtues, but animals still possess their basic nature. The poet imagines that animals got it from where humans lost it and have retained and preserved it since then.
Question 5. Why does the poet show a preference for living with the animals?
Answer
The poet says that it is better to live with animals as they show tokens of goodness. They are peaceful, self-contained and happy. Animals show innate goodness which is lacked in human beings. Animals do not grumble about their lives or cry over their sins.
Question 6. “The poem ‘Animals’ is a satirical comment on man’s way”. Justify.
Answer
Human commits sin, repents, complains about his condition; preach about his duties to God. He desires to own everything. He encourages differences and pretends to be concerned for the whole earth. The poet dislikes and is fed up of all this. So he wishes to turn away from man’s world and live with animals.
Question 7. What is the theme of the poem, ‘Animals’?
Answer
The theme of the poem is the superiority of animals’ life over to human beings. The poet, Whitman, compares animals with human beings. He finds animals far better than human beings. The poet finds the reasons for human suffering. Human beings are always dissatisfied. All their actions are with a selfish motive. But animals are far-far away from these bad qualities. So the poet wishes to turn and live with the animals.
Question 8. What is the relevance of ‘tokens’ in the poem, ‘Animals’? Who brings them to the poet?
Answer
Animals show tokens of goodness. They are self-contained, peaceful, thankful and happy creatures. Animals are not unhappy and indeed, bring out tokens of man’s good nature, lost long ago. Animals do not grumble about their lives.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What are the ‘tokens’ that the poet says he may have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him? Discuss this in class.
Answer
The poet says that long ago he might have dropped the tokens or symbols of a feeling, a fact, an event etc. or memorials of affection which the animals have kept from him. The poet holds that civilisation has made humans false to their own true nature. That is why he considers animals more natural, innocent and true as compared to human beings.
Question 2. The poem, ‘Animals’ tells us that civilisation has made humans false to their own true nature. Which values will help you revive your basic nature?
Answer
In the race of human civilisation, humans have lost their own nature. The men have dropped their innate goodness over the years. They have become selfish, jealous, restless, unhappy, cribbing and grumbling creatures. They grumble about their lives, lie awake at night, cry over their sins and discuss their duty towards God.
In a race to earn more luxuries and comfort, they have lost their sound sleep. They have become unhappy and most of the time unable to enjoy even small joys and happiness in life. On the contrary, animals are peaceful, self-contained, thankful and happy creatures. They are not unhappy and indeed bring out tokens of man’s good nature lost long ago, when he possessed qualities like love, respect, contentment and happiness.
Question 3. Mention three things that humans do and animals don’t.
Answer
The poet has drawn three comparisons between humans and animals.
- Humans sweat and work hard to make a living and later whine and sulk about the amount of work they have to do to survive. Animals, on the other hand, do not whine about their condition.
- Humans lie awake at night and cry for the wrongs they have done. Animals do not weep for anything they do and sleep peacefully.
- Finally, humans make each other sick by discussing their duties to god. However, animals do not have any god and they live and survive without any prayers or fasts.
Question 4. “The more I know of humans, the more I love my pet”. With reference to the poem, ‘Animals’, elaborate the statement.
Answer
Whenever the poet thinks about animals, he has a feeling of being one among them. The lost human qualities of being respectable, happy, contented, and peace-loving could be still found reflected in animals. They don’t whine about their condition; nor do they cry for their sins. They don’t make others sick by discussing their duty to God, are not dissatisfied nor have the craze to own things. They may not be respectable, but they definitely do not kneel before others or be unhappy as a whole.
For the poet, they bring the tokens of human qualities like love, respect, contentment and happiness, which they themselves exhibit plainly. He thinks that perhaps the animals possessed these qualities naturally. The poet also wonders whether these tokens could have been negligently dropped by humans long ago. Whatever the case may be, while thinking about the overwhelming negativity of human beings, anyone may start loving his pet the more.
Question 5. It is not complaining but accepting a situation is the key to happiness in life. Elaborate in context of the poem “Animals”.
Answer
The greatest quality which a person can posses is to accept the situation quietly. If we learn to do things quietly then earth will sure become nice place to live on. We have dropped certain token of love, fellow feelings, sympathy, respect, co-operation, friendship, these qualities will only make us accept the things as they are and not to lose our identity. A person who has lived in a given situation peacefully, has always strived to the top.
The poem ‘Animals’ gives very important- messages. We human beings are gripped with feelings of ill- will, hatred, despise but animals are faraway from these ideas. We should learn from animals to be happy and let others live happily.
Question 6. “Human beings are called the most civilised species in the entire world. But sometimes they lack the values which are better exhibited by the animals”. Elucidate the statement with reference to the poem, ‘Animals’.
Answer
Human beings are called the most civilised species in the entire world. But sometimes, they lack the values which are better exhibited by the animals. Human beings lack the qualities of being respectable, happy, contented and peace-loving which is still reflected in animals. Animals do not grumble about their lives, lie awake at night, cry over their sins or discuss their duty towards God as humans do. Animals do not have a mania for “owning things”, nor do they kneel before others like humans. Moreover, the tokens of goodness, love, respect and happiness have been dropped by human beings.
Question 7. How is the poem ‘Animals’, a contrast between humans and animals?
Answer
Humans can be described as selfish, jealous, restless, unhappy, cribbing, and grumbling creatures. In contrast, animals are peaceful, self-contained, thankful and happy creatures. They do not grumble about their lives, lie awake at night, cry over their sins or discuss their duty towards God as humans do. Also, they don’t have a mania for “owning things; nor do they kneel before others. Animals, on the whole, are not unhappy and indeed bring out tokens of man’s good nature lost long ago, when he possessed qualities like love, respect, contentment and happiness.