Odisha State Board CHSE Odisha Class 11 Approaches to English Book 2 Solutions Poem 3 The Fog Textbook Exercise Questions and Answers.
CHSE Odisha 11th Class Alternative English Solutions Poem 3 The Fog
Pre-reading Activity
It’s not always that we see the Fog when do we see this phenomenon? Certainly, the fog hits one eye straight and makes us nearly blind. If you happen to be walking through the fog, how would you go ahead? Feel your way through? In a situation like this, do you think a blind man could be a good guide?
Questions For Discussion
Question 1.
How can affect a person’s vision?
Answer:
The thick fog makes a man almost blind. One can see anything. The sight deceived him. It made the boys look like tall men and tall men looked like giants.
Question 2.
What example does the poet offer to illustrate his error of judgement?
Answer:
The street lamps and the lights upon the halted cars whether earthly or heavenly stars are the examples offered to illustrate his error of judgement.
Question 3.
What simile does he use to express how his eyes felt in the Fog?
Answer:
Actually, simile refers to a comparison between two dissimilar objects by means of ‘like’ or ‘as’. The poet’s eyes in the % felt like balls of burning dead.
Question 4.
At what stage of the poem is the poet completely overpowered by the Fog?
Answer:
The poet is completely overpowered by the Fog when he lost all judgement of distance and space.
Question 5.
How does he describe the street scene in the fog?
Answer:
The street lamps and the lights upon the halted cars in the street seemed to be either earth or heavenly stars.
Question 6.
What was the poet’s reaction to the offer of help?
Answer:
When the poet became helpless in the intense fog and unable to feed his way, he asked a person passing by him to tell him the way. The man he asked to was also a blind man to whom the Fog made no difference. The blind man offered to help but the poet felt hesitant about whether to follow him or not.
Question 7.
Do you find the last line of the poem paradoxical? And why?
Answer:
However, the last line of the poem is entirely paradoxical. The line goes “A blind man led me home”. A man who happens to be blind needs the help of others to be led about. But here the blind man leads a man that is the poet who has eyes. The poet is all of a sudden blinded by the thick Fog. He had not grown accustomed to the blindness and the act of feeling his way. But the blind man had been acquainted with blindness and the act of feeling his way. He, therefore, led the poet home.
Question 8.
In an otherwise dark scene, words like “burning”, come across “lamps and the light” and “heavenly stars”. What purpose do these expressions serve in the poem?
Answer:
The expressions “burning”, “lamps and lights” and “heavenly stars” stand in sharp contrast with the otherwise dark scene in the poem. These expressions are the light-giving sources which are made dim with the thickening fog. The glaze and glamour of these things have been lost in the Fog and they look dim and faint.
Question 9.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, what would you do? Follow the blind man as the poet did? Or wait till the Fog clears.
Answer:
If I find myself in a similar situation, I would do neither of the things the poet did, i.e. not follow the blind man ad the poet did not would wait till the Fog clears. I would try to feel my way in the blinded situation in whatever trouble comes that way. So that it would give the understanding of the troubles of a blind man when he tried to that fog must disappear some time or other, l would not bother about this and continue the process of finding my way home.
Composition
Question 1.
The poem “The Fog” by W.H. Davies describes the narrator’s experience of a fog. The situation is introduced in stanzas its effect on the narrator is described in stanzas 2-4, and in the last two stanzas, the narrator’s problem is resolved. Now write an elaborate note on how ideas are structured ‘in the poem including an analysis of the poetic device used, such as similes, metaphors and paradoxes.
Answer:
In fact, the opening stanza of the poem provides a vista of introductory ideas to the poem. The lines in the stanza reveal the ocular deceptions of an approaching thick Fog. Eyes are blinded by the intense fog on the exterior. It makes the short appear tall and the tali 8iant This stanza is structured with Poetic devices such as metaphors. Metaphors are the means t6 brin8 about the similarity between two dissimilar objects without any use of “like” or “as”. comparative devices.
The last two lines of the first stanza, “it made tall men of boys/and giants of tall men” bring about a comparison between boys looking tall and tall men looking giants. Stanza 2-4 enumerate the effects of fog. They centre around the chilling throat and choking respiratory tract due to intense Fog. He felt nothing in his heart except the presence of his two eyes. The Fog grew thick that the poet was unable to feel his way. He lost all judgement of distance and space. Stanza 4 is structured on a metaphor which is designed to bring about the similarity between dissimilar objects.
The street lamps and the lights upon the halted cars seemed to be either on earth or the heavenly stars. the appearance of a man who happens to be The fifth and sixth stanzas speaks of blindness. He offers him help which the poet hesitatingly accepts. The man tells them to follow him. He followed him where he led him i.e. the poet. They finally reached the poet’s home. The last two stanzas deal with the solution to the problem.
Question 2.
In pairs, write down at least twenty words which you associate with a Fog. Then, using some of these words try to write a short poem describing an experience in a Fog.
Answer:
Air, south, cold, lamps, sun, mist, head, lights, last, smoke, eyes, vehicles, west, silence, moon, celestial, north, dawn? stars, visible. The Poem – In a Foggy Dawn
1. I moved about in a foggy down when the cold air was thick with mist Shrouding the sun in the east Nothing was visible to the eyes.
2. The east, west, north and south Breathing smoke in the silent acres The dying moon, disappearing stars, And other celestial objects.
3. Street lamps, the light of moving vehicles Deemed dim, dusty and dark Making heads heavy and haste To back home for rest.
4. Fingers feel no way at once Feet fed fastened in the Fog. Finding a glowing fire and fresh food. I groped in grief and gloom.
Detailed Summaries
Paraphrase: Stanza – 1
The poet explains the thickener Fog. It intensified and blinded the poet’s sight very soon- made the boys look tall Again the tall men looked like giants. Hence the stanza tells about the unreal and deceptive appearance of the ethereal world.
Stanza – 2:
Actually, the thick and dense Fog hides a billing effect on the human body. It held the speaker’s throat and deposited cough there. So, he coughed and coughed. He felt that nothing was there in his head. He only felt the presence of his two eyes which looked like balls of burning dead.
Stanza – 3:
The thickness of the Fog gradually intensified blackening the atmosphere all around. When it assumed impenetrable darkness, the speaker was unable to make out anything. He could not identify the places and to treed: He lost all judgement of ways distance and space.
Stanza – 4:
The Fog was very thick and dense. So the poet could not perceive anything from a distance. The street lamps and the lights upon the halted cars could either be earth or heavenly stars. It was again a deceptive feature.
Stanza – 5:
The poet was in bewilderment. At that time a man arrived on the spot. He became very close to him. He asked him the way. He told me to follow him. He followed him where he led him.
Stanza – 6:
The man told the poet to take him to confidence to make him reach his home very safely. The poet followed him like a child. The man was none other than a blind man. Both of them were not able to see anything. But the second one was capable of leading the first one as he had grown accustomed to the blindness for a long time.
Notes to the Poet and Poem:
William Henry Davies (1871-1940) is chiefly remembered for expressing natural beauty in his short, simple verses. Important among his volumes of poetry are “The Soul’s Destroyer and other poems” (1907) and “Love Poems” (1930). His poems mainly touch upon “odds and ends of things”.“The Fog” is about one of life’s ironies.
The Fog Summary in English
The narrator of the poem saw the fog grow very thick and dense. It became too thick to make everyone blind that is things were hardly visible. Boys looked like tall men and tall men looked like giants. It gripped his throat and he kept coughing. There was nothing in him except the two little heavy eyes Which continued rolling like two balls of burning bad when they thickened more and more, it assumed darker.
It became so black that he could make out nothing. He was not able to identify the places, he lost his judgement then as to the exact distance and space. The speaker was even unable to make out whether the street lamps and the lights upon the halted cars could be either on earth or be the heavenly stars. Aman passed close by him. He asked him the right way to his house. The man asked to follow him. He followed him where he went. He followed him as a child after his parents. It was a blind man who ultimately led him home.
Analytical outlines of the poem:
- The narrator of the poem saw the Fog.
- It grew very thick and dense.
- It became too thick to make everyone blind.
- It is blind as things were hardly visible.
- So boys looked like tall men.
- The tall men looked like giants.
- It gripped his throat.
- So, he kept coughing.
- There was nothing in him.
- He had only two little heavy eyes.
- These continued rolling like two balls of burning bed.
- The fog thickened more and more.
- It is assumed darker.
- It became too black to make out anything.
- He was not able to identify the places.
- He lost his judgement.
- He could not judge the exact distance and space
- The speaker was even unable to make out the street lamps.
- It also could not make out the lights upon the halted cars.
- They appeared to him like heavenly stars
- A man passed close by him.
- He asked him the right way to his house.
- The man asked to follow him.
- He followed him where he went.
- He followed him as a child after his parents.
- It was a blind man.
- He ultimately led him home.
Meaning Of Difficult Words
ken – a range of knowledge here, sight
clutch – to grasp tightly, to hatch, snatch, to hold.
rapped – knocked sharply, striking.