NCERT Book Class 11 English Elective For Elkana

For Elkana

The warm April evening

tempts us to the breezes

sauntering across the lawn.

We drag our chairs down

                                                  the stone steps and plant them there.

                                                  Unevenly, to sit or rather sprawl 

                                                  in silence till the words begin to come.

                                                  My wife, as is her way,

surveys the scene, comments

on a broken window-pane.

Suggests a thing or two

that every husband in the neighbourhood

                                                             knows exactly how to do 

                                                             except of course the man she loves 

                                                             who happened to be me.

                                                             Unwilling to dispute the obvious fact.

UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

1. Comment on the subtlety with which the poet captures the general pattern of communication within a family.

2. Poetic effect is achieved in the poem through understatement and asides. Discuss this with examples.

3. How is the idyllic juxtaposed with the pedestrian in the poem?

4. Explain the undertones in the statement: ‘Wife and husband in unusual rapport State one unspoken thought’:

5. Comment on the capitalisation of all the words in the line: ‘Children Must be Disciplined’.

6. What makes the urgency of the child’s demand seem logical?

TRY THIS OUT

1. Paraphrase the poem and notice the change in effect. Comment on the deft touch with which the poet transforms ordinary events into evocative poetry.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 11 English Elective For Elkana