CBSE Class 4 English The Swing Notes Set 01

About the poem

The Swing is a short and cheerful poem by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson. It is written in the voice of a child who loves to swing. The poem has three stanzas, and each stanza ends with rhyming sounds: blue and do, wide and countryside, brown and down.

Poem

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside,

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown;
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Stanza 1

The child asks a question: how much do you like going up on a swing into the blue sky? The child does not wait for an answer and says that swinging is the pleasantest thing a child can do. The question is a way to share excitement with the listener.

Stanza 2

As the swing goes higher, the child rises over the garden wall and can see far and wide. From that height the child sees rivers, trees and cattle all over the countryside. The child feels free and happy.

Stanza 3

When the swing comes down, the child looks at the green garden and the brown roofs below. Then the swing goes up again, and the poem ends with the lines "Up in the air and down!", which copy the to-and-fro movement of the swing.

Summary

The poem tells how joyful it feels to swing high in the air. The child enjoys the flying feeling and the wide view of the countryside, and thinks that nothing is more pleasant.

Word meanings

1. pleasantest: most enjoyable, giving the most happiness

2. wide: far, over a large area

3. countryside: land outside towns and cities, with farms and villages

4. cattle: cows, bulls and buffaloes kept on farms

5. garden green: the green grass, leaves and plants of the garden

6. roof so brown: a roof that is brown in colour

Poetic devices

1. Rhyme: blue and do, wide and countryside, brown and down.

2. Repetition: the words "up in the air" come again and again, which gives the feeling of a swing moving.

3. Question: the poem starts with a question to the reader.

Think about it

The poet shows that simple things like a swing can bring great happiness. A child at play looks at the world in a bright and joyful way.

Extra thoughts about the poem

The poem is about the joy of play and the freedom of seeing the world from a height. The poet, Robert Louis Stevenson, wrote it for children, and it comes from his collection A Child's Garden of Verses. The words are simple, and the lines move up and down like the swing.

Answer in a sentence

When you answer questions on a poem, begin your answer with words from the question. For example, if the question is "What is the speaker's opinion of swinging?", write "The speaker thinks that swinging is the pleasantest thing a child can do."

Quick Check Questions