Maharashtra Board Class 9 English Unit One Chapter 1.1 Life PDF Download

Unit One - 1.1 Life

Warming Up!

There are many popular lines like:

'Life is a game - play it well'.

'Life is a journey - keep going ahead'.

Discuss and write down a few such metaphorical lines about 'life'. You can make them up yourselves.

(1) _______________________________________________________________________________

(2) _______________________________________________________________________________

(3) _______________________________________________________________________________

(4) _______________________________________________________________________________

(5) _______________________________________________________________________________

Prepare as many 'acrostics' using the word LIFE, as you can. Two examples are given below.

Live Liberty

In Integrity

Freedom Fraternity

Ever Equality

You can turn it into a game, using a time-limit. Make sure your acrostics are related to 'life'.

Listen carefully and write the word in the appropriate column.

Teacher: hopeful, lonely, happy, jealous, surprised, shy, loving, proud, cheerful, anxious, nervous, excited, embarrassed, scared, silly, comfortable, peaceful, depressed, enthusiastic, motivated, inspired, threatened, crushed, angry

Note that it is possible to feel both kinds of emotions at the same time. Have you experienced it? Try to describe the situation in short.

Teacher's Note

Feelings are important in our life. When we watch a sad movie, we feel sad and happy at the same time. Just like eating ice cream on a sad day.

Exam Trick

Remember: Positive means good feelings like happy. Negative means bad feelings like sad. Think of a traffic light - green is positive, red is negative.

Points to Remember

Positive feelings make us feel good inside.
Negative feelings make us feel bad or sad.
We can feel both at the same time.
All feelings are normal and okay.
We should learn to understand our feelings.

Life

Life, believe, is not a dream,
So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day:
Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower will make the roses bloom,
Oh, why lament its fall?
Rapidly, merrily,
Life's sunny hours flit by,
Gratefully, cheerily,
Enjoy them as they fly.
What though death at times steps in,
And calls our Best away?
What though Sorrow seems to win,
O'er hope a heavy sway?
Yet Hope again elastic springs,
Unconquered, though she fell,
Still buoyant are her golden wings,
Still strong to bear us well.
Manfully, fearlessly,
The day of trial bear,
For gloriously, victoriously,
Can courage quell despair!

- Charlotte Bronte

transient: temporary

sway: controlling influence

lament: express grief or regret

buoyant: that which can rise upwards

quell: end, suppress

What do the sages say?

What does the rain often foretell?

What should we do during joyful times in life?

Who does 'our Best' refer to?

Why are the wings of hope 'golden'?

Teacher's Note

This poem teaches us to stay hopeful. Even in rain, new flowers bloom. In India, farmers wait for monsoon rain to grow crops.

Exam Trick

Remember: 'transient all' means sad times don't stay forever. Like clouds in the sky, bad times also pass away and sun comes back.

Points to Remember

Life has good days and bad days both.
Rain helps flowers bloom, so all things have purpose.
We should enjoy happy times while they come.
Hope never gives up even when things are hard.
Courage helps us face any problem in life.

English Workshop

Pick out from the poem, two lines each that reflect an optimistic (positive) attitude and pessimistic (negative) attitude.

Optimism: (1) ________________________ Pessimism: (1) ________________________

(2) ________________________ (2) ________________________

Give other '-ly' adverbs of similar meaning for the following. Use a thesaurus if needed.

(a) rapidly → ________________

(b) merrily → ________________

(c) gratefully → ________________

(d) cheerily → ________________

(e) manfully → ________________

(f) fearlessly → ________________

(g) gloriously → ________________

(h) victoriously → ________________

Pick out three examples of interrogation (rhetorical questions) from the poem.

Explain in your own words the point that each one makes.

Explain the metaphor in the following lines:

(1) Oft a little morning rain Foretells a pleasant day

_________________________________________________________________

(2) Sometimes there are clouds

_________________________________________________________________

(3) ... the shower will make the roses bloom

_________________________________________________________________

(4) Life's sunny hours flit by

_________________________________________________________________

Pick out four examples of personification. Write what is personified in each:

(1) _________________________________________________________________

(2) _________________________________________________________________

(3) _________________________________________________________________

(4) _________________________________________________________________

'And calls our Best away' is a gentle way of expressing the unpleasant idea of a loved one dying. It is an example of euphemism. Think and write down 3 or 4 ways in which we can express the idea of 'death' in a tactful and gentle manner.

(1) _________________________________________________________________

(2) _________________________________________________________________

(3) _________________________________________________________________

(4) _________________________________________________________________

'..... and that's how I realised that courage and hope can help me overcome any major mishap/problem in life.' Write an episode/experience from your own life that leads to the above conclusion.

Read: 'The Psalm of Life'- a poem by H. W. Longfellow.

Teacher's Note

Poetry teaches us to think in a deep way. Metaphors are like shortcuts to understand big ideas. Like in Hindi poems, simple words carry big meanings.

Exam Trick

Remember: Personification = giving human qualities to non-human things. 'Hope springs' means hope is a person jumping. Metaphor = comparing two things directly without 'like' or 'as'.

Points to Remember

Metaphor compares two different things to explain something.
Personification means giving human qualities to things.
Interrogation is a question that makes you think.
Euphemism is a soft way to say something hard.
Adverbs ending in '-ly' tell us how something is done.

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