Maharashtra Board Class 8 English Unit 2 Chapter 2.3 The Worm Solutions

Std 8 English Lesson 2.3 The Worm Question Answer Maharashtra Board

Class 8 English Chapter 2.3 The Worm Textbook Questions and Answers

Warming Up:

Question 1. 'Worms play a very important role; in maintaining ecological balance. They are friends of farmers.' Form groups and discuss the significance; of worms in the above two roles.
Answer: Worms play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance and are considered friends of farmers. They help by loosening the soil, which improves aeration and water penetration. Additionally, worms bring up fertile soil from deeper layers, enriching the topsoil. They also turn organic garbage into valuable organic fertilizers, providing essential nutrients for plants and contributing to a healthy ecosystem.
In simple words: Worms are important for nature because they make the soil healthy by loosening it, bringing up good soil, and turning waste into plant food.

🎯 Exam Tip: When discussing ecological roles, always mention specific actions like soil aeration, nutrient cycling, and decomposition to show a comprehensive understanding.

2. Think and write down how the following creatures can be useful:

Question a. DragonFly:
Answer: eats mosquitoes and flies; controls unwanted insects. Dragonflies are natural predators that help maintain ecological balance.
In simple words: Dragonflies are helpful because they eat mosquitoes and flies, which keeps the number of these unwanted insects down.

🎯 Exam Tip: When asked about the usefulness of creatures, always mention their primary beneficial actions, like what they eat or how they help the environment.

Question b. Spider:
Answer: keeps insect population under control. Spiders are important predators in many ecosystems.
In simple words: Spiders are useful because they help manage the number of insects, preventing them from becoming too many.

🎯 Exam Tip: For questions about natural pest control, remember that predators like spiders play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance.

Question c. Ants:
Answer: turn and aerate the soil; help; in seed dispersal. Their tunneling activities improve soil structure and water penetration.
In simple words: Ants are helpful as they dig tunnels, which loosens the soil, and they also carry seeds to new places, helping plants spread.

🎯 Exam Tip: When discussing soil health, remember that creatures like ants and earthworms are natural aerators and contribute to nutrient distribution.

Question d. Honeybees:
Answer: provide honey; help in pollination. Their role in pollination is crucial for the reproduction of many plants, including food crops.
In simple words: Honeybees are very useful because they give us honey and are essential for helping plants make fruits and seeds by spreading pollen.

🎯 Exam Tip: Always highlight the dual benefits of honeybees: their direct product (honey) and their vital ecological role (pollination).

Question e. Earthworms:
Answer: loosen the soil; turn organic garbage into fertilizer. They are vital decomposers, enriching the soil with valuable nutrients.
In simple words: Earthworms are beneficial because they make the soil loose and airy, and they also break down waste into rich plant food.

🎯 Exam Tip: Earthworms are often called 'farmer's friends' due to their significant role in improving soil structure and fertility.

3. Little creatures in nature can also be your teachers. Think and write: what we can learn from the following:

Question a. Bees:

Question b. Ants:
Answer: Ants are known for their strong sense of team work, hard work, and discipline. These qualities allow them to build complex colonies and gather food efficiently.
In simple words: Ants show great teamwork, work hard, and follow rules, which helps their colony thrive.

🎯 Exam Tip: When asked about qualities of animals, identify 2-3 key characteristics that are widely associated with them and explain their significance briefly.

Question c. Spiders:
Answer: Spiders are characterized by their patience and perseverance. They patiently wait for their prey and persistently rebuild their webs if damaged.
In simple words: Spiders are patient hunters and never give up, even when their webs are broken.

🎯 Exam Tip: Focus on observable behaviors when describing animal characteristics; for spiders, web-building and hunting are key.

Question d. Caterpillars:
Answer: Caterpillars embody patience and acceptance of change. They patiently eat and grow, eventually accepting the transformation into a butterfly or moth.
In simple words: Caterpillars are patient as they grow and accept the big change of becoming a butterfly.

🎯 Exam Tip: For animals undergoing metamorphosis, highlight the qualities related to their life cycle, such as patience and transformation.

Question 4. Breeding worms to convert organic waste into fertilizer is called Vermiculture or Vermicomposting. Find out more about Vermiculture and how you can carry out the same in your garden/backyard to fertilize your plants at home. (Students can attempt this on their own as a project.)
Answer: Vermiculture, or vermicomposting, is the process of using various species of worms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and other earthworms, to create a heterogeneous mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vermicast. This vermicast, also known as worm castings, is a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and soil conditioner. To carry out vermicomposting at home, one can set up a worm bin using a container with drainage holes, adding bedding like shredded newspaper, food scraps (excluding meat, dairy, and oily foods), and a starter population of composting worms. The worms break down the organic matter, producing valuable compost for plants.
In simple words: Vermiculture uses worms to turn food waste into super-rich plant food called vermicompost. You can do this at home by putting worms and food scraps in a special bin to make natural fertilizer for your garden.

🎯 Exam Tip: When explaining a scientific process like vermiculture, define the key terms, describe the main steps, and mention the benefits or practical applications.

Question 1. Read the poem aloud and you ill find some old outdated words that we do not use in everyday language now. However, some writers poets use them to impart an old-fashioned flavour to suit the background of their write-up. Such words are called Archaic words. Give the modem words for the archaic words from the poem.
Answer: The modern words for the archaic words from the poem are:
1. thy: your
2. being: existence
3. bestow'd: given
4. thee: you
In simple words: Archaic words are old words not used much today, but poets sometimes use them to make their writing sound old-fashioned. For example, 'thy' means 'your' and 'thee' means 'you'.

🎯 Exam Tip: When identifying archaic words, try to understand the context in which they are used in the poem to deduce their modern equivalents. Practice recognizing common archaic pronouns and verbs.

Read Any Poem I Sonnet By William Shakespeare. Pick Out Archaic Words And Guess What They Mean.

Question 2. The poet uses a device where he directly addresses someone absent or abstarct. Such a device is the Figure of Speech called 'Apostrophe'. For example: Turn, turn, thy, hasty, foot aside. Pick out any two other lines from the poem that on1uin an Apostrophe.
Answer:
(i)Turn, turn thy hasty foot aside
(ii) Let them enjoy their little day
(iii) O do not lightly take away
The life thou canst not give. These lines directly address the worm or life itself, which is characteristic of an apostrophe.
In simple words: Apostrophe is when the poet talks directly to something that isn't there or can't answer, like a worm or life itself.

🎯 Exam Tip: When identifying figures of speech like Apostrophe, look for direct address to an absent person, an abstract idea, or an inanimate object.

Think And Answer In Your Own Words In Your Notebook:

Question a. Why does the poet appeal to us to respect the life of worms? OR Why should we take care even of small worms?
Answer: The poet urges us to remember that every creature on this earth is created by God. Therefore, all life, no matter how small, deserves our respect and care.
In simple words: The poet wants us to respect worms because they are also God's creation, just like us.

🎯 Exam Tip: When answering questions about a poet's message, always connect it back to the core theme or moral lesson presented in the poem.

Question b. Why had God created worms? What is their ecological importance?
Answer: Every creature on this earth is created by God for some purpose. Worms play a very important role in maintaining ecological balance. They loosen and aerate the mud and bring up fertile, nutrient-rich soil. They turn organic garbage into organic fertilizers. Their bodies provide proteins. Their tireless work beneath the soil is crucial for plant growth and overall ecosystem health. Thus, though they are so small, they play a huge role in maintaining ecological balance, and this is the purpose for which God created them.
In simple words: Worms are important because they make the soil healthy by loosening it and turning waste into food for plants, helping nature stay balanced.

🎯 Exam Tip: When asked about ecological importance, focus on specific actions and their impact on the environment.

Question c. Live and let live' is a famous proverb. Which lines from the poem support this proverb?
Answer: The lines from the poem that support the proverb 'Live and let live' Eire:
(i) Turn, turn thy hasty foot aside Nor crush that helpless worm
(ii) Let them enjoy their little day
(iii) Do not lightly take away The life thou canst not give
These lines beautifully convey the message of compassion and respect for all forms of life, regardless of their size.
In simple words: The poem tells us to be kind to small creatures like worms and let them live their lives, because we can't bring them back once they're gone.

🎯 Exam Tip: When asked to identify supporting lines, quote them accurately and ensure they directly relate to the proverb or statement given.

Question d. Does the poem urge us to protect I only worms ? What is the general message conveyed through the poem?
Answer: Though the poem is about the worm, the general message is that God has created all the creatures on earth, big and small, and every creature has a role to play. All beings have equal rights over the bounties of the earth. No one can take away a life that he/she cannot give. This universal message encourages empathy and responsibility towards the entire natural world.
In simple words: The poem teaches us that all living things, big or small, are important and have a right to live, not just worms. We should respect all life.

🎯 Exam Tip: When asked for the 'general message' of a poem, look beyond the specific subject and identify the broader moral or theme the poet is trying to convey.

Question 4. Find from the library or internet other poems composed on tiny Hing creatures. Try to understand the message in each of them.
Answer: This question requires external research and creative effort, as no specific poems are provided in the source text. Students should explore various resources to find suitable poems and analyze their messages.
In simple words: You need to look up poems about small creatures online or in books and understand what they mean.

🎯 Exam Tip: When asked to find external information, always cite your sources if possible and focus on understanding the core message of the poems you choose.

Question 5. 'Even small things in nature play a big role. So protect nature!' Frame some solgans based on the above topic. Draft a short speech on the abose topic, which you could give at your school assembly. Use the following steps while drafting.
(1) Greeting
(2) Salutation
(3) Self-introduction
(4) Introduction of the topic
(5) Body of the speech
(6) Conclusion
(7) Expression of gratitude to audience
Answer: Small But Important
Respected Principal, teachers and my dear friends, Good morning. Today is 5th June, World Environment Day, and on this important day I, Smruti Kamath, would like to say a few words on the huge role played by the small things in nature. These tiny creatures, though often overlooked, are vital for maintaining ecological balance.
Let me begin with the earthworm. The earthworm is rightly called the friend of the farmer for it helps the farmer in immeasurable ways. It not only loosens and turns up the soil, it converts garbage into organic fertilizer too. Those minute creatures, ants, help in aerating the soil and in seed dispersal. Bees, in addition to providing honey, are indispensable in pollination. We owe our food to the work done by these little insects. Dragonflies and spiders keep down the insect population by eating insects. Frogs and fish eat the larvae of mosquitoes.
I could go on and on, extolling the virtues and the uses of every little being on this earth. However, time does not permit me to do this, and I end my speech by requesting all of you here to understand and respect the importance and the place of every little creature on this earth. Thank you.
In simple words: This speech highlights how small creatures like earthworms, ants, bees, dragonflies, spiders, frogs, and fish are crucial for our environment, from helping farmers to controlling pests and pollinating plants. It reminds us to respect and protect all living things.

🎯 Exam Tip: When drafting a speech, ensure you follow the given structure (greeting, introduction, body, conclusion, gratitude) and use clear, engaging language to convey your message effectively. Remember to also include slogans if specifically asked, even if not provided in the example answer.

Question 6. Puruphrase the poem in your own simple language. Write it down in your notebook.
Answer: In this poem, the poet tells the reader, who is in a hurry, to turn his foot aside so that he does not crush the helpless worm. The reader may be filled with scorn and hatred for the worm, but it was created by God. The poet reminds us that all life, no matter how small, is precious. The same God who made human beings and all other things that move has also given a portion of His unlimited love to the poor worm. God has given the sun, the moon and the stars free to all the creatures He created. The grass that grows over the earth was made for worms as well as for human beings. The poet urges the reader to allow the worms to enjoy their brief life with its humble pleasures. He tells us not to take away a life which we cannot give.
In simple words: The poet asks us to be kind to worms and not step on them, reminding us that God created all living things, big or small, and they all deserve to live their short lives peacefully.

🎯 Exam Tip: When paraphrasing a poem, focus on explaining the main message and key ideas in simple, clear language, as if you are telling the story of the poem to someone else.

Question 7. Frame a pointwise Analysis of the poem 'The worm'. Use the following points.
Answer:
(a) Poem and poet: 'The Worm' by Thomas Gisborne.
(b) Theme: Respect every creature big or small, for each has its own role to play in this universe. This theme encourages empathy towards all living beings.
(c) Tone: Serious and thought-provoking in the imperative.
(d) Structure and stanzas: Stanzas of four lines each short lines.
(e) Rhyme and Rhythm: Rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, and so on. The last words of the first and third line and second and fourth line of every stanza rhyme, Rhythm is smooth.
(f) Language and Imagery: Archaic language; no imagery.
(g) Figures of Speech: Apostrophe, Inversion.
In simple words: This answer breaks down the poem "The Worm" by looking at its author, main message, serious tone, how it's structured, its rhyming pattern, the old-fashioned language used, and the literary devices like apostrophe and inversion.

🎯 Exam Tip: For a pointwise analysis, ensure each point is addressed clearly and concisely, using specific terms related to poetry analysis like 'rhyme scheme', 'tone', and 'figures of speech'.

Class 8 English Chapter 2.3 The Worm Additional Important Questions and Answers

Complete the Following:

Question 1. The other creations of God that are mentioned in the poem are the sun, ____.
Answer: The moon, the stars, the earth, blades of grass and humans are all wonderful examples of God's artistry.
In simple words: The poem mentions the moon, stars, earth, grass, and people as things God created, besides the sun.

🎯 Exam Tip: When asked to list creations, ensure you include all items mentioned in the poem to score full marks.

Question 2. The thought in the last two lines is that ____
Answer: We have no right to lightly take away a life that we cannot give back. This emphasizes the sanctity of all life.
In simple words: The poem suggests we shouldn't easily end a life because we can't bring it back.

🎯 Exam Tip: Focus on the core moral message or lesson conveyed in the concluding lines of a poem.

Question 3. Pick out examples of Inversion from the poem.
Answer: Inversion is when the usual word order is changed for poetic effect.
(i) On that poor worm bestow'd
(ii) The sun, the moon the stars He made To all His creatures free.
In simple words: Inversion means changing the normal sentence order, like saying "On that poor worm bestow'd" instead of "bestowed on that poor worm."

🎯 Exam Tip: To identify inversion, look for phrases where the verb comes before the subject or object, or where adjectives are placed unusually.

Writing Skills

Question 1. Even small things in nature play a big role. So protect nature Frame some slogans based on the above topic.
Answer: Protecting nature is crucial for everyone's well-being.
(i) Nurture nature and get/nurtured by nature.
(ii) All creatures great and small. The good Lord made them all.
(iii) Take care of one and all. All creatures great and small.
In simple words: Small things in nature are important, so we should protect it. Slogans encourage caring for nature and all its creatures.

🎯 Exam Tip: When framing slogans, use short, catchy phrases that convey a clear message and are easy to remember.

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