CBSE FREAK

AUNT JENNIFER’S TIGERS                                                  – Adrienne Rich In the poem, Aunt Jennifer knits an alternate world for herself, which is free from the patriarchal constraints of her real life. She is knitting a green forest with prancing tigers, embroidered in bright yellow colour. The fearless, ferocious and gallant tigers seem unaffected by the presence of the men standing beneath a tree. Aunt Jennifer, who had grown quite old and weak, struggles with her needle and wool to create the scenes. The trembling of her fingers indicates her oppressed, timid and terrified mental condition. Her fingers are burdened by the ‘massive’ weight of her wedding ring that makes it difficult for her to even pull the ivory needle. The reference to the weight of her wedding ring indicates the obligations and ordeals of her married life. E...

A THING OF BEAUTY                                          – John Keats The poem explains how beauty, found in every part of life, gives a never ending joy and solace. The poet says that a beautiful object leaves an ever-lasting impression. Its appeal never fades in our mind but increases with each passing day. Its memory refreshes the mind and makes our life easy, healthy and serene. It instills sweet dreams in our sleep. With each following day, the pleasure derived from the beautiful object builds our bond with the earth as with a flowery band. In this melancholic world, full of depression, despair and paucity of noble souls, the joy of having experienced the beauty provides relief. The poet believes that there are innumerable elements of beauty in nature that help us escape pessimism and give us hope and optimism to live such a dim, unhealthy and mysterious lif...

KEEPING QUIET                                – Pablo Neruda This poem advocates the importance of silence and self-analysis and that of universal peace and harmony. The poet asks the people to keep still to the count of twelve. He urges the people throughout the world to stop speaking and keep still during this time. The moment will be extraordinarily tranquil with no hustle bustle of the frenzy world.  Although it may seem a little strange in the beginning, it will eventually bring us all together. This silence will be free from the disturbing sounds of engines and people rushing to get their work done for some time. He feels contended imagining the change that will be brought about in those moments. The whales in the sea will get a little more time to live with the fishermen’s activity put on hold. The men who hurt their hands while collecting salt will get a little rest. Even the pe...

AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM IN A SLUM                                                                                     – Stephen Spender In this poem, the poet showcases the plight of the children studying in a slum school and the necessity to bring about a change in their lives. The poem begins with a dreary sketch of the children sitting in the class. There is a tall girl sitting in the class whose head is bent down due to illness and exhaustion. The poet observes a skinny boy, thin like paper, whose eyes seem scared and hungry like that of a rat’s. Another...

MY MOTHER AT SIXTY-SIX                                                       – Kamala Das This poem expresses the anguish of a daughter over the fast-approaching end of her mother’s life. While driving for airport from her parent’s home, the poetess notices her mother’s pallid face that resembles a corpse. She is gravely pained to realise that her mother, who is sleeping beside her in the car, has grown old and is nearing her death. The natural radiance of her body has desiccated. Troubled with the thought, she tries to console herself with the view outside the car that is full of youthful vim and vigor. She watches the trees ‘sprinting’ past their speeding car and the children, full of life and activity, running out of their houses to play. At the airport, after the security check, she again glances thoughtfully at her mother. Her...

GOING PLACES                        – A.R. Barton Future plans of Sophie Sophie and her friend Jansie are two friends, about to complete school. They belong to working-class households. One day, on their way back home, Sophie expresses her desire to open a boutique or to become an actress or a fashion designer. She wishes to rise above her middle class status and to obtain sophistication. Jansie, however, being more realistic, shuns her friend’s ambitions. This is because Jansie is aware of the fact that they have been ‘earmarked’ for the biscuit factory. Sophie’s family and its opinion of her dreams Sophie lives in a small house with her parents and two brothers, Geoff and Derek. Her parents are not pleased to hear her unrealistic career goals. Her father feels that a decent house of their own is what they need and not fantastical dreams about owning sophisticate...

INDIGO                              – Louis Fischer The author visits Sevagram Fischer visited Sevagram, the ashram of Gandhi, in 1942. There, Gandhi revealed the reason behind the decision to urge the departure of the British, in 1917. A Champaran peasant and his request In 1916, Gandhi attended the annual convention of the Indian National Congress in Lucknow. During the proceedings, an illiterate peasant, Rajkumar Shukla, approached Gandhi and requested him to visit his district. He was one of the sharecroppers of Champaran, who had come to appeal against the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar. The peasant accompanied Gandhi everywhere he went and unrelentingly begged him to ‘fix a date’ for his visit to Champaran. In due course, Gandhi, impressed by the determination and the woeful tale of the peasant, consented to his request and asked him to meet in Calcutta. Gandhi’s visit to Ra...

THE RATTRAP                                 –Selma Lagerlöf A ‘philosophical’ rattrap seller Once there was a man who made rattraps of wire and went around selling them. However, occasionally he had to turn to begging and stealing. He looked at the world with vengeance for being unkind to him. He entertained himself with the idea of the world being “nothing but a big rattrap” where the riches act as baits to lure and trap people for life. Crofter’s thirty kronor bills stolen One evening the rattrap peddler took shelter in an old man’s cottage, who had been a crofter at Ramsjö Ironworks. The amiable and generous man offered him dinner and tobacco. He even showed him the thirty kronor bills, earned by selling his cow’s milk, kept in a leather pouch that hung near the window. However, the next morning, the rattrap p...

DEEP WATER                –William Douglas Douglas decides to learn swimming amidst fears When Douglas was about ten or eleven years of age he decided to learn swimming at a pool at the Y.M.C.A. in Yakima.  While the Yakima River was considered dangerous for swimming, the pool was safe.  The pool had a gradual slope with just a two or three feet depth at the shallow end and nine feet at the other. Equipped with a pair of water wings, he went to the pool. At this point, Douglas recalls a surfing experience with his father at the California beach when he was two or three years old. He was knocked down from his surf by a wave.  This mishap terrified him and created in him an aversion to water. When Douglas joined the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool, his fear of water was revived. But he managed to gather his confidence and, imitating other boys, started to paddle with his water wings. As he st...

LOST SPRING (Stories of a Stolen Childhood)                                                   –Anees Jung ‘SOMETIMES I FIND A RUPEE IN THE GARBAGE’ Saheb - the rag-picker Saheb is a rag-picker who scrounges the garbage deposits to sustain his living. He and his family, refugees from Bangladesh, have come to the big city “looking for gold”. He is unable to study due to the lack of schools in his neighbourhood. The narrator jokingly makes a false promise to open a school for him but is later left embarrassed when he keeps approaching her enquiring about the school. Saheb’s full name, Saheb-e-Alam meaning ‘lord of the universe’, is ironical because he, along with others like him, is outright downtrodden. The author wonde...

THE LAST LESSON                                               –Alphonse Daudet Franz’s apprehension Franz was hesitant about going to school that particular morning; not only was he late, he had not even prepared his lesson on participles. Nevertheless, he managed to curb the temptation to miss the class, and hurried off to school. Bulletin-board at the town hall Franz came across a crowd in front of the infamous bulletin-board at the town hall. He walked past it wondering what could be the matter. The board was the standard mediator between the public and the government, conveying news, orders and other declarations from Berlin. The queer silence at the school The school was unusually silent that morning. The customary commotion at t...