CBSE Class 10 English Dust of snow VBQs

Choose the correct answer.

Question. In the poem, ‘Dust of Snow’, the poet is walking by a:
(i) cottage
(ii) river
(iii) hill
(iv) tree
Answer. D

Question. Hemlock tree is regarded as a/an:
(i) lucky tree
(ii) auspicious tree
(iii) poisonous tree
(iv) sweet tree
Answer. C

Question. The crow and Hemlock tree symbolize:
(i) sorrow
(ii) happiness
(iii) celebration
(iv) death
Answer. A

Question. What does “Dust of Snow” represent?
(i) Healing power of nature
(ii) Particles of snow
(iii) Cool weather
(iii) None of these
Answer. A

Question. Name the poetic device used in the line “Has given my heart”.
(i) Alliteration
(ii) Metaphor
(iii) Oxymoron
(iv) Simile
Answer. A

Read the extracts below and answer the questions that follow:

1. Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

Questions:

Question. The falling of dust of snow on the poet:
(i) upset his mood.
(ii) lifted his mood.
(iii) irritated him.
(iv) None of these
Answer. B

Question. The rest of the day was saved by the:
(i) hemlock tree
(ii) crow
(iii) Both (i) and (ii)
(iv) Neither (i) nor (ii)
Answer. C

Question. Generally, hemlock tree and crow are considered to be:
(i) inauspicious things.
(ii) auspicious things.
(iii) good things.
(iv) sweet things.
Answer. A

Question. According to the poet, even inausipicious things can bring:
(i) joy
(ii) happiness
(iii) Both (i) and (ii)
(iv) Neither (i) nor (ii)
Answer. C

Question. The stanza belongs to the poem:
(i) Fire and Ice
(ii) The Ball Poem
(iii) Fog
(iv) Dust of Snow
Answer. D

2. The way a crow,
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Questions:

Question. What season of the year does the poet refer to in the above lines?
(i) Summer
(ii) Winter
(iii) Autumn
(iv) Spring
Answer. B

Question. What is the rhyme scheme of the above lines?
(i) aabb
(ii) abbc
(iii) abcd
(iv) abab
Answer. D

Question. Who is the poet of the above lines?
(i) John Berryman
(ii) Robert Frost
(iii) Leslie Norris
(iv) Ogden Nash
Answer. B

Question. What fell on the poet from the hemlock tree?
(i) Leaves
(ii) Broken twigs
(iii) Snow dust
(iv) None of these
Answer. C

Question. What is the effect of the incident on the poet?
(i) He is sad.
(ii) He feels happy.
(iii) He is indifferent.
(iv) He is angry.
Answer. C

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

(a) Why does the mood of the poet change?
(b) What does the poet mean when he says and saved some part of the day?
Answer. (a) The mood of the poet changes because he saw a crow sitting on a hemlock tree shook off the dust of snow on him. Thus, the falling of dust of snow changed his mood.
(b) The poet has saved some part of the day as he did not waste the time in repenting and
regretting.

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

(a) How does the poet observe nature in the poem, ‘Dust of Snow’?
(b) What side of nature do ‘crow’ and ‘hemlock’ represent?
Answer. (a) The poet observed nature as a positive medium of change for him. The poet had been the sorrowful and depressive mood throughout the poem. But then a crow shook snow dust off and this changed his mood. Nature gave him the inspiration to be positive and optimistic.
(b) ‘Crow’ is a black, harsh-voiced bird and ‘hemlock’ is a tree with poisonous bitter fruit. 
Both the crow and hemlock represent dark, depressive, sorrowful and bitter side of nature. 

Short Answers Type Questions 

Question. Explain the symbols used in the poem ‘Dust and Snow’.
Answer. The hemlock tree depicts the poet’s heart. The crow’s shake is needed to remove the dust of snow, which is the sadness in the poet’s heart.

Question. In the poem ‘Dust of Snow’, how does the poet’s mood changed? 
Answer. The falling of the dust of snow changes his mood completely. He was initially feeling sad but when he saw the dust of snow falling, his perspective changed. He then started taking it in a positive way and started appreciating the beauty of nature. He considered that the fall signaled something good and full of joy. Thus, he felt his mood getting brighter and he started thinking of the day in positivity ahead.

Question. What is the gist of the poem ‘Dust and Snow’?
Answer. The poem shows us that sometimes even a small incident may prove to be of a larger significance.
Like the crow shakes off the dust of snow from the tree, the poet also shakes off his sorrow and changes his mood for the day.

Question. Where do you think the poet was? What happened to him?
Answer. The poet was once under a hemlock tree. He was in a sad mood. The weather was very cold since it had been snowing. Soon a crow came. It shooked the dust of snow on the poet. This signaled a change of mood in him.

Question. Describe the scene in the poem ‘Dust and Snow’.
Answer. The poet is standing under a hemlock tree with a lot of sadness in his heart. A cross on the tree shakes off some snow onto the poet. This makes the poet shake off the sadness and save the day from being morose and full of sadness.

Question. What happened when the dust of snow fell on the poet? What mood was the poet in before it?
Answer. The crow sat on the tree. The dust of Snow began shaking and then it fell on the poet. When the dust of snow fell on the poet, his mood underwent a change.
Earlier he was a in a sad mood, but this fall changed it into a joyful mood.

Question. What is the underlying message for us in our hectic life with reference to the poem, ‘Dust of Snow’ ?
Answer. With reference to the poem ‘Dust of Snow’, the underlying message for us in our hectic life is that we should enjoy nature to the utmost and we should have a positive outlook even towards simple acts because they can lead to the learning of greater lessons of enjoying life.

Question. In the poem ‘Dust of Snow’, how does the poet’s mood get changed?
Answer. While sitting under a tree, dust of snow falls from a poisonous hemlock tree. A seemingly upsetting incident proved a blessing in disguise for the poet.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question. No matter how ordinary or unimportant an incident may be, it’s the reaction or the response that matters.
Taking inspiration from the poet’s reaction, write how inherent values can be picked up and learnt.
Mention any two lessons for students like you that could be useful. (Dust of Snow)
Answer. Yes, response matters a lot. Inherent values can be picked up by adopting a positive attitude towards nature.
Since nature is a great teacher, each little thing in nature can teach us some important lessons at times.
Even a small flake of snow has its own significance. We should not judge anything by its appearance even crow and hemlock, tree known as bad omen, could bring cheerfulness in uplifting the poet’s mood. So nothing is useless in nature. Nature is very beautiful. One should live his present cheerfully. Students can  pick these qualities from nature that could be useful for them. Flowers and chocolates bring happiness to us, but not always. At times even little dust of snow could prove to be useful in cheering up our moods or most importantly someone’s innocent smile can also change our mood and day, which is of course free of cost. We can cheer our near and dear ones with our precious smile.

Question. A simple moment proves to be very significant and saves the rest of the day of the poet from being wasted.
Explain on the basis of the poem ‘Dust of Snow’.
Answer. (i) Nothing is good or bad only our thinking makes it so
(ii) Best things in life are free
(iii) Life is full of problems we should solve them rather than sitting and regretting
(iv) Sometimes unimportant things change the meaning of life
(v) Like a lesson taught by the crow and the hemlock on how to take adverse season in stride and work for the better life.