Unseen Poem for Class 8 English
Type 1
Unseen Poem for Class 8 – Poem 1
Read the poems given below and answer the questions/complete the statements that follow:
Be the Best
If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill,
Be a scrub in the valley—but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill,
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree
If you can’t be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway happier make;
If you can’t be a muskie then just be a bass
But be the liveliest bass in the lake!
We can’t all be captains, we’ve got to be crew,
There’s something for all of us here
There’s big work to do and there’s lesser to do,
And the task we must do is the near.
If you can’t be a highway then just be a trait
If you can’t be the sun, be a star,
It isn’t by size that you win or you fail
Be the best of whatever you are!
Questions:
- What is the poet’s tone in the poem ? (1×5 = 5)
- What should be our attitude towards our work ?
- What is the message of the poem ?
- Winning does not depend on…………………….
- Which word in the poem means the same as “piece of work is difficult”.
Answer:
- Optimistic
- Whatever we do, we should do it whole-heartedly.
- One should try to do one’s best with whatever one is.
- Size
- task
Unseen Poem for Class 8 – Poem 2 – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions complete the statements given below:
Oh! Defenders of borders
You are great sons of my land
When we are all asleep
You still hold on to your deed.
Windy season or snowy days
Or scorching sun’s sweltering rays
You are there guarding all the time awake
Treading the lonely expanses as Yogis.
Climbing the heights or striding the valleys
Defending the deserts and guarding the marshes
Surveillance in seas and by securing the air
Prime of your youth given to the nation!!
Wind chimes of my land vibrate your feat
We pray for you brave men!!
May the Lord bless you all!!
– Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
Questions:
- The poem is dedicated to………………… (1×5 = 5)
- What do they sacrifice for the nation?
- Which figure of speech is used in the last line of the second stanza ?
- What does Dr. Kalam express through the last two lines ?
- ”Scorching’ in the poem means……………………………….
Answer:
- The soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation.
- Their lives, their youth and everything.
- simile
- Kalam expresses his tribute through the last two lines.
- burning
Unseen Poem for Class 8 – Poem 3
Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions complete the statements given below:
Whenever I see Gas balloons go up I wonder where we’d end up If we’re balloons.
Would we go far away To some unknown destiny ?
Or will it be carefully decided goal We would work our way to ?
Balloons! How much they’re
like human beings-
so different from each other
in colours, shapes, design and sizes
Some live long and some don’t
Just like us some find
A pair of loving hands and some don’t
They get lost, burst or destroyed
Like we do
At times
They rub cheeks affectionately
Occasionally you can hear
them whisper secrets
As only friend will
And once in a while, in the chill
of the night, or mist of dawn
you may find one tear
flowing down
silently
Questions:
- The poem describes the similarities between………………………..
- Just as we are unaware about the fate of balloons, we are also……………..
- Outwardly balloons are different from each other in…………………
- The line used to describe die rustling sound of balloons is………………………
- The word from the poem that comes closest in meaning to ‘fate’ is
Ans.
- balloons and human beings
- unaware of our destiny
- colour and size
- ‘They rub cheeks affectionately’
- ‘destiny
Type – 2
Unseen Poems for Class 8 -Poem 4
Read the following passage carefully: 5
SEPTEMBER 11
Once there were two magnificent towers,
Where lived and worked so many of ours.
It took seven long years to build them straight They stood near the Empire State.
This event happened on the eleventh of September,
It’s an occurrence that generations will remember.
Because thousands of people have died,
Not only of US, but the world’s pride.
Everyone saw with awe and fright,
Twin towers crash in broad daylight.
None quite knows what will happen now,
When ? Where ? And how ?
May God give wisdom to those,
Who are devils in gentlemen’s pose.
Now let us all remove hatred and vice,
And let the world be happy and nice.
1. The title implies that the poem is about………………….
(a) a day in the month of September
(b) a tragedy that occurred on the 11 th of September
(c) the importance of number eleven
(d) the wonderful events of the month of September
2. The pronoun ‘them’ in the third line refers to………………………
(a) people (b) Empire State building (c) towers (d) seven years
3. The expression’ Who are deznls in gentlemen’s pose’ can be replaced by………………..
(a) dogs which look like cats
(b) snakes in the grass
(c) horses with zebra stripes
(d) wolves in lamb’s clothing
4. What can we infer from this line—‘None quite knows what will happen now’ ?
(a) The future appears certain
(b) No one knows about the twin towers
(c) We must be prepared for everything
(d) None but we know about what is to come
5. In the end, the poetess hopes that…………………
(a) God forgives the wrong doers
(b) we seek forgiveness for all of our sins
(c) we join hands in replacing evil with good intentions
(d) we watch whatever is happening in silence
Answers:
- (b) a tragedy that occurred on 11 th of September.
- (c) towers
- (d) wolves in lamb’s clothing
- (c) We must be prepared for everything
- (d) we join hands in replacing evil with good intentions
Unseen Poems for Class 8 -Poem 5
Read the following passage carefully:
SYMPATHY
I lay in sorrow, in deep distress;
My grief a proud man heard;
His looks were cold, he gave me gold, But not a kindly word.
My sorrow passed—I paid him back The gold he gave to me;
Then stood erect and spoke my thanks And blessed his charity I lay in want and grief and pain;
A poor man passed my way,
He bound my head, he gave me bread He watched me night and day How shall I pay him back again For all he did to me ?
Oh, gold is great, but gr eater far Is heavenly sympathy.
Answer the following questions by choosing the most appropriate option
1. How did the proud man help the poet when he was in deep distress ?
(a) He gave him jewels (c) He gave some money
(b) He took him home (d) He pitied the poet
2. What did he not give to the poet:
(a) money (c) food
b) gold (d) sympathy
3. How did the poor man take care of the poet:
(a) The poor man gave him some food and money
(b) The poor man gave him good and kind words
(c) The poor man gave him food and took care of him day and night
(d) He took the poet home and bound his head which was hurt
4. Which of the following statements is not true:
(a) The poet repaid his debt to the proud man only by thanking him
(b) The poet blessed the charity of the rich man
(c) When the poet was in sorrow, he was given money
(d) The poet says, he cannot repay the poor man for his sympathy
5. Which word in the poem means “giving money to a person who is in need”:
(a) charity (b) sympathy
(c) kindness (d) distress
Answer:
- (c) He gave some money
- (d) sympathy
- (c) The poor man gave him food and took care of him day and night
- (a) The poet repaid his debt to the proud man only by thanking him
- (a) charity
