CBSE Class 9 English Wind by Subramania Bharti Worksheet

Wind, come softly.
Don’t break the shutters of the windows.
Don’t scatter the papers.
Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.
There, look what you did — you threw them all down.
You tore the pages of the books.
You brought rain again.
You’re very clever at poking fun at weaklings.
Frail crumbling houses, crumbling doors, crumbling rafters,
crumbling wood, crumbling bodies, crumbling lives,

crumbling hearts —
the wind god winnows and crushes them all.
He won’t do what you tell him.
So, come, let’s build strong homes,
Let’s joint the doors firmly.
Practice to firm the body.
Make the heart steadfast.
Do this, and the wind will be friends with us.
The wind blows out weak fires.
He makes strong fires roar and flourish.
His friendship is good.
We praise him every day.

WORD-MEANING
poking fun: making fun of something
weaklings: a person who is weak
crumbling: falling or to cause something to break
rafter: sloping beam which support the roof of the building
winnows: to broke grain free of chaff, separate grain from husk by blowing on it
steadfast-firm
flourish: grow

SUMMARY
The present poetry piece "Wind" has been composed by Subramania Bharti. This poem consists of a total of 23 lines. These lines are not separated into stanzas. Here they are divided into meaningful segments for ease of comprehension.
Subramania Bharati has drawn the living picture of wind which makes fun of the weak people or things.
The poet teaches us how we should stand against our oppressors. In the poem he presents the wind-God who destroys everything weak. He wonders why the mighty God is fond of poking fun only with the weak. The poet therefore advises the weak people to make them strong. He suggests them to be strong physically and mentally. Actually the wind is the symbol of difficulties or obstacles that humans have to face for their survival.
The poem can be summarized in following ways to prove the fact represented by Subramania Bharti: -
◘ Violence and destruction - Although the poet requests the wind to blow gently but it does not accept the plea. The wind blows violently and causes destruction.
◘ Result of storm - The wind breaks the shutters of weak windows. It scatters the papers and throws down books on the shelves.
◘ Fun of almighty wind God - The poet has regarded wind as God. He says that he makes fun of the weak persons and things. The fast blowing wind destructs weak houses, weak doors and weak bodies.
◘ Suggestion - Subramania Bharti suggests us to build strong houses and strong doors. We must be healthy physically and mentally. It will help the wind to be friend.
To sum up the poem, people with strong physique and mind are able to stand and face odds or obstacles of life.

LEARN AND WRITE THE ANSWERS IN YOUR COPY.

Extract based question answers

Read the extracts and answer the following questions

1. Wind, come softly.
Don’t break the shutters of the windows.
Don’t scatter the papers.
Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.
There, look what you did – you threw them all down.
You tore the pages of the books.
You brought rain again.

Question. How does the poet want the wind to behave?
Answer : The poet wants the wind to behave softly and peacefully, without breaking his shutters, without scattering the papers and without throwing down the books on the shelf.

Question. What is the poet’s tone?
Answer : The poet’s tone is authoritative. He is not pleading to the wind. He commands the wind to come swiftly.

Question.What has the wind done to the poet?
Answer : The wind has broken the shutters of the poet’s windows, scattered the pages on which he writes and threw down the books on his shelf.

2. Do this, and the wind will be friends with us.
The wind blows out weak fires.
He makes strong fires roar and flourish.
His friendship is good.
We praise him every day.

Question.With whom does wind become friendly?
Answer : Wind becomes friendly with fires that are not ready to give up.

Question.What happens to strong fires when wind blows into them?
Answer : Strong fires become stronger every time wind blow into them.

Question.In what sense is the friendship of wind good?
Answer : Wind and its friendship is good because wind is able to make us strong. The more the wind blows on us, we try to resist and every time we resist, we become stronger.

Question.What does this poem teach you personally?
Answer : The poem teaches us a great lesson. In the society or in schools we meet people who are more powerful than us. If we are too weak in front of them, they tend to overpower us some way.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS 

Question. What are the things the wind does in the first stanza?
Answer : In the first stanza, the wind shutters breaks the shuttersof the windows, scatters the papers, throws down the books from the shelf, tears the pages of the books and brings showers of rain.

Question. What does the poet say the wind god winnows?
Answer : The poet says that the wind god winnows the weak crumbling houses, doors, rafters, wood, bodies, lives and hearts, and then crushes them all.

Question. What should we do to make friends with the wind?
Answer : To make friends with wind we need to build strong homes with firm doors. We should also make ourselves physically and mentally strong by building strong, firm bodies and having steadfast hearts.

Question. What do the last four lines of the poem mean to you?
Answer : In the last four lines, the poet inspires us to face the wind, which symbolises the hardships of our lives,courageously. He tells us that the wind can only extinguish the weak fires; it intensifies the stronger ones.
Similarly, adversities deter the weak-hearted but make stronger those who have unfaltering will. In such a case, befriending the wind or the hardships of life makes it easier for us to face them.

Question. How does the poet speak to the wind — in anger or with humour? You must also have seen or heard of the wind “crumbling lives”. What is your response to this?
Answer : The poet speaks to the wind with anger. Yes, strong winds are known to cause plenty of damage and destruction to both life and property. Storms, cyclones, gales and strong winds cause havoc on land. They uproot trees,bring down houses, tear down electric posts and claim lives. They also cause damage to boats and frighten the poor sailors and fishermen out at sea. Yet, I do not agree with the poet that the wind only 'crumbles lives'. The wind is responsible for bringing rain; it cools the land and makes the climate pleasant. Today, wind energy is harnessed for several useful purposes including turning windmills, wind turbines and generating electricity.

READ THE EXTRACT AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS IN YOUR COPY.
So come Let’s build strong homes,
Let’s joint the doors firmly.
Practise to firm the body.
Make the heart steadfast.

QUESTIONS:
1.What does the people ask people to do?
2.What will happen if you do what the poet says?
3. According to poet, how can you make our body strong?
4. What is the poet’s suggestions for you?

ACTIVITY--COMPOSE A POEM ON THE TOPIC ‘HOW USEFUL IS THE WIND’.

Read the following extracts given below and answer the questions that follow in one or two lines only.

Q1. And draw them all along, and flow

      To join the brimming river
      For men may come and men may go,
      But I go on for ever

1. What does ‘them’ refer to?
2. What does the word brimming signify?
3. Which poetic device is used in last two lines?

Q2. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

      And sorry I could not travel both
      And be one traveler, long I stood
      And looked down one as far as I could
     To where it bent in the undergrowth;

1. Why does the poet feel sorry?
2. What is the poet talking about in this stanza?
3. “…., long I stood’ what does this line mean?
4. Why is the wood yellow?

Q3 “She gave me a gift of a frock material. Then she did something unusual”.

1. What was the occasion of the gift?
2. What was ‘unusual’?
3. She performed two acts - one expressing love and the other showing respect, respectively. What were they?

Q4 Answer the following questions in about 50-60 words each.

1. How does onomatopoeia help in the poem ‘The Brook’?
2. Why do you think the poet lets the brook describe its journey rather than describing it himself?
3. What is the dilemma faced by the poet-traveller?
4. In what manner did the second road had a better claim?
5. Why is Kashi Yatre important for Hindus?
6. Describe grandmother as a student?

Q5 Answer the following question in 100-120 words (VALUE BASED QUESTION)

“Elders never touch the feet of youngsters. We have always touched the feet of God, elders and teachers. We consider that as a mark of respect. It is a great tradition but today the reverse had happened” What had happened? Discuss the values you imbibe from this episode?

Q6 Long reading text (Novel)

Montmorency is portrayed almost the fourth member of the group. What does the writer say about him?