Class 12 English A Voyage Chapter 7 A Prayer for My Daughter Questions and Answers
In this article, we will share MP Board Class 12th English Solutions Chapter 7 A Prayer for My Daughter Pdf, These solutions are solved subject experts from the latest edition books.
A Prayer for My Daughter Class 12th Question Answer
Word Power
A. Find words from the text for the following expressions:
1. A condition of mind and body in which one is lost in dreamy, pleasant thoughts.
2. A state or condition of knowing nothing of evil or wrong.
3. Virtue relating to good manners and politeness in behaviour.
4. Warding off evil or misfortune by one’s own ability.
5. God’s grace or blessing.
Answer:
- reverie
- innocence
- courtesy
- self-affrighting
- Heaven’s will.
B. Make nouns from the following verbs:
imagine, excite, approve, prosper, reveal.
Answer:
Verbs – Nouns
- imagine – imagination
- excite – excitement
- approve – approval
- prosper – prosperity
- reveal – revelation
C. Make adjectives from the following nouns:
intellect, arrogance, storm, murder, courtesy.
Answer:
Nouns – Adjectives
- intellect – intellectual
- arrogance – arrogant
- storm – stormy
- murder – murderous
- courtesy – courteous
D. Make nouns from the following adjectives:
kind, intimate, merry, angry, ceremonious
Answer:
Adjectives – Nouns
- kind – kindness
- intimate – intimacy
- merry – merriment
- angry – anger
- cefemonious – ceremony
E. Match the words with their meanings:
| Word | Meaning |
| flourish scream obstacle gloom accustomed assault |
hindrance feeling of sadness and helplessness habitual attack grow in a healthy manner loud cry or shriek |
Answer:
| Word | Meaning |
| flourish scream obstacle gloom accustomed assault |
grow in a healthy manner loud cry or shriek hindrance feeling of sadness and helplessness habitual attack |
Comprehension
A. Answer in about 60 words each:
Question 1.
Narrate how the storm outside is reflected in the poet’s mind.
Answer:
The weather outside is a reflection of poet’s inside feelings and fear. The poem ‘A Prayer for My Daughter’ is a personal poem but we can understand poet’s mind by closely reading his earlier work, ‘The Second Coming’ where Yeats anticipates the gloom and doom which will engulf the future years. The poem is set in post-world war time, so the real-devastation is symbolised in terrible, violent and ‘frenzied’ storm. There is also a reference of Irish war through poet’s indication to storm rising from the Atlantic. The external unrest is a concretization of the poet’s internal trauma.
Question 2.
What do the words ‘the future years had come’ symbolize in the poem?
Answer:
The expression ‘the future years had come’ symbolises Yeats’s vision about the coming days a and times. The poet’s usage of ‘had come’ draws our attention that the future has
already creeped in and has created worse conditions in the present time even. The future visioned by Yeats is apocalyptic: The days of future are full of violence and bloodshed and has emerged from the murderous innocence of the sea. The future has arrived creating hard times and will be harder in coming times.
Question 3.
What is the poet’s opinion about ‘overmuch beauty’? Does he want his daughter to possess it? (M.P. Board 2009)
Answer:
The poet’s opinion about ‘overmuch beauty’ is not positive. He wants his daughter to be beautiful but should not possess excessive beauty. He doesn’t want his daughter to turn into a paragon of beauty. Yeats believes that too much beauty is dangerous as it will not only distract strangers but also bore negative outcomes for his daughter who will spend most of her time looking and praising herself. Extremely beautiful women become boastful and are filled with pride and arrogance. Such women forget their ‘natural kindness’ and reject sincere lovers. We find an implicit reference to Maud Gonne.
Question 4.
What is meant by the line, ‘May she become a flourishing hidden tree’? Explain.
Answer:
Here in the given line, the poet wishes that his daughter should become a ‘flourishing
tree’. This line envelope a lot of symbols inside it. Poet’s wish that his daughter should be of flourishing tree indicates that he wants his daughter to be rooted in traditions. She should grow and flourish in virtue and modesty. He wants her to be fresh, calm and soothing like a tree. His wish of ‘hidden tree’ symbolises her hidden thoughts, views and opinions unlike Maud Gonne who was too open about her views and was highly opinionated. Also he wants his daughter to be ‘hidden’ away from gloom, danger, destruction and turmoil that has enveloped the world. The image of tree shows poet’s wish for his daughter’s safety and stability.
Question 5.
What are the evil effects of ‘hatred in mind’?
Answer:
The poet in these words ‘hatred in mind’ expresses his own viewpoints and experiences. He regards ‘hatred’ as the worst kind of evil which consume the nobility of mind. He considers ‘hatred in mind’ lead’s to negative thoughts which leads to suffering and destruction. The stanza from which this line is taken constructs this idea that even Maud Gonne, Yeats’ girlfriend was turned stubborn due to this flaw and acted in a highly opinionated manner. We also find an undercurrent of thought that runs in this stanza that beauty is one of the reasons for hatred.
Question 6.
Explain the symbol ‘Horn of Plenty’. (M.P. Board 2010)
Answer:
‘Horn of Plenty’ is a mythological symbol used by the poet. It is a symbol of abundance
and nourishment. The mythological horn belongs to the goat Amalthea (Nourishing Goddess) whose one of the horns was broken accidentally by Zeus and had unending nourishment The horn overflows with produce, flower and nuts. Thus, it also symbolises prosperity and plenty. Yeats uses this symbol for Maud Gonne who had abundant beauty and charm but she exchanged it for ‘bellows!, drastically affecting herself and doomed in her misfortune.
The bellows’ full of opinions and pride took away her ‘horn of plenty’. Through this symbol,’poet wishes that his daughter should also possess ‘horn of plenty’ which will not only catty beauty but also kindness and modesty. Unlike the opinionated beautiful women like Helen of Troy, Venus and Maud Gonne, Anne should always remain nourishing like Amalthea, the goat. Her goodness should always remain intact.
Question 7.
What qualities grow when the mind is without hatred? (M.P. Board 2011)
Answer:
Hatred is termed as the most evil quality by the poet. So, the qualities that would grow when the mind is without hatred will be positive thinking and nobility of mind devoid of any kind of negativism. Hatred takes away the innocence, so the absence of it will make the person cheerful and innocent. Since Hatred is like a poison for the soul, so its absence will lead to peaceful, relaxed and happy soul. Also it will take away every negative force making clear, calm and free mind. A person becomes ‘self-delighting, self-appeasing and self-affrighting’ regaining all its virtues.
Question 8.
Why does the poet want his daughter to have a life of custom and ceremony?
Answer:
Yeats totally rejects any kind of hatred or pride to hover around his daughter. He wants her to experience all peace and joy free from fear. He wants his daughter to be married happily and keep all kinds of anger and hatred at bay. She should foster ‘custom’ by avoiding únnecessary change like the rootedness of a tree permitting it to grow and blossom.
She should also cultivate ‘ceremony’ which gives birth to politeness born from inward calm and dignity ‘Custom’ together with ceremony will lead to life constancy. Through his rhetorical question ‘How but in custom and in ceremony are innocence and beauty born? Confirms Yeat’s ideas of innocence and beauty bred in tradition, culture, custom and ceremony giving rise to spiritual understanding.
Question 9.
Explain the legend of Helen and Paris.
Answer:
The poet while praying for his daughter’s good virtues shows some instances of Greek mythology One such mythology he discusses is of Helen and Paris. Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Leda. She was considered the most beautiful woman on earth. There are many legends associated with Helen and Paris of Troy. Some gays that Helen was abducted and raped by Paris, others say that she was charmed and seduced by Paris’ handsomeness and eloped with him leaving her husband and daughter. However her abduction or elopement resulted into deathly Trojan War. She had the beauty and wit that not only ruined her but also Troy.
Question 10.
Who is ‘The Great Queen’ in the poem? Explain the myth.
Answer:
The poet in his reference to Greek mythologies uses the mythology of ‘Great Queen’. The ‘Great Queen’ refers to the legend of Aphrodite (Venus, the goddess of love). She was extremely beautiful and being a goddess had all the privileges. She did not had a father and so the poet says that she could have get anything and her decision would not have been controlled but she chose a lame iron smith Hephaestus and later betrayed him. The poet here using this legend indicates that beauty without courtesy is futile. Even though she had abundance, she chose a ‘crazy salad’. Poet also points out that beautiful woman usually chooses wrong mates. But he doesn’t want his daughter to turn like one.
B. Answer in 75—100 words each:
Question 1.
Why is the poet so much worried about the future of his new-born daugther?
Answer:
Yeats’ poem A Prayer for My Daughter, is a personal poem written in 1919 when yeats daughter Anne was born. The poem is an outcome of post world war time. The world is full of gloom and despair. The total turbulence of the outside world has created mind wringing of the poet.
The poem is the versed thoughts of a worried father who is wishing and imagining beautiful future in the apocalyptic times. The poem can be closely associated with his earlier poem ‘The Second Coming’ which creates a base of understanding the poet’s mind. The ritualistic and holistic Christian era has come to an end giving birth to barbarism, bloodshed and cruelty.
The poet’s daughter is born when there is total turmoil and destruction in the world due to Irish Civil War and World War .The poet being a father creates a protective shield for his daughter, so that the negativity of the new barbaric and destructive world should not touch his daughter and his daughter remain and carry with her the custom and culture of the holistic Christian era where values are valued over opinions and culture over politics and love over hatred.
Question 2.
In the poem ‘A Prayer for My Daughter’, nature in both Its aspects-wild and joyous serves as a background. Explain and illustrate.
Answer:
‘A Prayer for My Daughter’ keeps on cradling between wild and joyous nature images. The poem is enriched with Yeat’s complex symbols of violence and turbulence on one hand and calmness and serenity on the other. Both wild and joyous nature acts as background of the poem and the poet discusses grave topics of war and barbarism. The violent storm acts as a metaphor for the violent wars during World War I and turbulence outside creates gloom inside poet’s mind.
The frenzied storm creating chaos and movement is described using “haystack” and “roof leveling wind” is paralleled by ‘still’ and rooted. ‘Gregory’s wood and ‘hill’. The calm, peaceful and innocent sea gives rise to the murderous future just like a ‘sphinx’ coming out of sea (‘The Second Coming’). The joyousness and wildness of nature goes together.
The joyous nature promotes rootedness as in ‘flourishing hidden tree’, innocence as in ‘linnet’, abundance as in ‘Plenty’s horn’. While the wildness depicts frustration through ‘howling storm’, uncertainty and chaos ‘murderous innocence of sea’ arrogance and hatred in ‘bellows full of angry wind’.
The boastful beautiful women like Maud Gonne, Venus and Helen comes out of the wild nature where values are lost. The poet wishes a cheerful nature with flourishing tree and linnets for his daughter who will value traditions, culture and customs.
Question 3.
What sort of beauty does the poet solicit for his daughter? What did Helen and Venus meet with for being excessively beautiful?
Answer:
The kind of beauty the poet solicit for his daughter is where he wishes his daughter to be a beautiful damsel but not paragon of beauty She should have ordinary beauty which will not only shield her from unwanted ‘gaze’ of strangers but also keep her away from becoming arrogant about her beauty The poet wants his daughter to be more beautiful and charming by soul and heart. She should have the beauty which make her earn people’s heart’s through kindness and virtue.
He wants his daughter’s beauty unlike the beauty of Helen and Venus, which led them to their misfortune. Helen being the most beautiful on earth was seduced by Paris and eloped with him resulting into a massive killing during Trojan War. Venus, the most beautiful goddess married a lame Ironsmith and was never happy with him. Same way his love, Maud Gonne though beautiful rejected sincere love of Yeats and married a foolish man MacBride.
Question 4.
What virtues does the poet want his daughter to be blessed with?
Answer:
Out of his gloom and fear about an unsafe future the poet prays for the safety of his new born daughter. He thinks that only some inner virtues will give comfort to his daughter. Those virtues would make her strong. However, he has not prayed for any Christian virtues for his daughter. He has only wished for certain abstract qualities like innocence, freedom, kindness and gladness. He has not mentioned how these qualities can be built up. The ideas that he offers, appear theoretical. How such ideas can be realised in an age of democracy and competition, is a question in which he does not concern much. The poet has expressed his faith in tradition and ceremony but in a world of changing values, it may be very difficult to preserve them under the stream of modern civilization. The poet is rather idealistic and has not addressed himself to the challenges which the world is facing today.
Question 5.
Why does the poet want his daughter to be free from ‘intellectual hatred’ and ‘opinionated mind’?
Answer:
The poet in order to make his daughter’s future safe wants his daughter to have some virtues. These virtues will protect her from the bad days which have already creeped in. He feels that intellectual hatred is the worst kind of evil and a blow in character. So, he would like his daughter to shun strong and stubborn opinions on any subject political – or otherwise.
He would like his daughter to avoid the weaknesses of Maud Gonne. It was because of her strongly held opinions that led her to act foolishly. All her beauty and her good upbringing proved to be useless. She ruined her happiness in life by choosing a worthless person as John MacBride for a husband. So, the poet wants his daughter to be free from ‘all intellectual hatred’ and ‘opinionated mind’ for only then she would be capable of enjoying inner peace and happiness and she would keep herself happy even in the midst of misfortunes and the hostility of the world.
C. Explain the following expressions:
(i) hay-stack-and-roof-levelling wind.
(ii) dancing to a frenzied drum.
(iii) flourishing hidden tree.
(iv) future years had come.
(v) beauty to make a stranger’s eye distraught.
Answer:
(i) Stormy wind that can level down the hay-stacks and roofs—an image like that of the storm.
(ii) evil forces, prophesying war and bloodshed.
(iii) as flourishing as a tree hidden in a forest.
(iv) re-incarnation is imminent.
(v) The poet’s daughter should not be gifted with bewitching beauty to distract a stranger. The reference here is to Maud Gonne’s beauty which dazzled Yeats’s eyes.
D. Explain the following:
(i) Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.
(ii) Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful.
(iii) May she become a flourishing hidden tree
That all her thoughts may like the linnet be,
And have no business but dispensing round
Their magnanimities of sound.
(iv) If there is no hatred in a mind
Assault and battery of the wind
Can never tear the linnet from the leaf.
Answer:
In these lines, the poet reveals his gloom while contemplating on the future of his daughter who is sleeping in the cradle. The poet keeps walking and praying for the young child and as he does so, he is in the state of reverie. He feels that the future years i.e., the years of violence and bloodshed and frenzy have already come. They seem to come dancing to the accompaniment of a drum which is beating frantically. These future years are seen by Yeats’s imagination as emerging out of the murderous innocence of the sea. In other words, the sea seems to be innocent but is capable of giving birth to those howling storms which are capable of ruining everything.
Here the poet, while talking about the virtues his daughter needs to cultivate, says that he prays that instead of bewitching beauty, she should have virtues like courtesy. The hearts of people can be won permanently by the virtue of courtesy. Even those who are not very beautiful can win the hearts of others by being courteous.
The poet in continuance of his prayer for the well being of his daughter, here, pleads that the soul of his daughter should flourish and reach self-fulfillment like a flourishing tree. Like the linnets, happy and innocent thoughts should cluster around her inner life. These little creatures symbols of innocence and cheerfulness-make others happy by their songs. The tree symbolises inner life as well as constancy in place and life rooted in tradition.
These lines express the poet’s wish for another virtue for his daughter. On looking into his own mind and heart, he finds hatred within himself because of the experiences of his life and the sort of beauty he loved. To him, hatred is the worst of all evils. He prays for his daughter that she should be free from all evils. If the soul is free from hatred, no misfortune can possibly ruin the innocence and cheerfulness of a person.
Speaking Activity
‘Justice and equality’ as envisaged in Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which completed 60 years of its inception in 2007) is still a mirage to the women, while they constitute half of our population. In our country the situation is grave and needs consideration. Hold a discussion in your class, and debate the solutions to the burning issue of ‘Women Empowerment in India’.
Answer:
Women Empowerment in India has been a topic for hot discussion. Right from the beginning of human civilization, the status of women in public life has been a matter of criticism. They had been considered as the object to be decorated inside the walls. However, with the rapid spread of education, a new concept began to be the centre stage. Women are now the real counterpart to the males, challenging them at every step and they work better, think better and execute better and so they are in no way inferior to men.
Their active role brings prosperity. They share views and take care of the family with all , proficiency. They must be recognised. Now a demand for thirty-three per cent reservation for them in Parliament has broadened their avenues. No country can flourish without empowering women. So, India should not lag behind and become an active participator in changing the women’s condition.
Writing Activity
Your cousin, Parul is going to study abroad next month. Write a letter, to her, stating that yesterday you were reading Yeats, poem, ‘A Prayer for My Daughter’ and in it you came across a line ‘Hearts are not had as a gift, but hearts are earned’. Taking clue from it, advise her, how she should strive to make her life happy and successful.
Answer:
M-226, Shivaji Avenue Gwalior, M.P.
My Dear Parul,
Yesterday evening, I was reading a poem by W.B. Yeats. The poem entitled A Prayer for My Daughter, reveals a father’s concern for her safe future. As the poet is very much scared about a troublesome future, he prays for a safe future for her. The most striking feature of the poem I feel is that the poem pleads for rooted custom and traditional pattern of life. The poet wants her daughter to learn some virtues which he thinks can make her stronger enough to face all hardships and she can live a happy life. I am much impressed with the line of the poem ‘Hearts are not had as a gift, but hearts are earned’. Through this line, the poet has put forth a high philosophy. One cannot get a gift of heart but one has to earn it. If we behave with courtesy and nobility, we can earn sympathy from others. We should not be arrogant or stubborn. We must learn to live with nobility and openness. We should respect others and listen to all. As you are going in a country which is completely different from ours you might feel alone and face problems adjusting. However, I feel if you read this poem, you will learn a, lot of things to live successfully in every land and situation. I hope you will succeed in your mission.
Yours,
Rahul
Think It Over
Read the poem ‘The Second Coming’ by William Butler Yeats and make out how it forms a background to the poem ‘A Prayer for My Daughter’. Note down the salient features common to both the poems:
The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
, The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Aids for Comprehension
1. The first stanza is a picture of the anarchy which is lot loose by wars, bloodshed and
2. The first three lines of the second stanza express the poet’s vision of re-in carnation of a demonic power. Explained in a system of two inter-locking ever-spiralling gyres, the poet comes to realize that after 2000 years of the birth of Christ, it is time for anti¬Christ to have re-incarnation
3. In the remaining part, he has the vision of a Sphinx-like demon read) mg to be born again at the birth place of Christ.
Answer:
Do yourself with the following hints:
- Both the poems focus on the devaluation of life values.
- Days of despair are ahead.
- Develop your own virtue.
Things to Do
William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, while Rabindranath Tagore, whose Gitanjali was introduced by Yeats, won the same in 1913. Some facts about Nobel Prize are given below:
1. Introduced in 1901.
2. Areas for which it is awarded:
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Medicine or Physiology
- Literature
- World Peace
- Economics (added in 1969).
3. Introduced by: Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), a Swedish scientist and inventor of Dynamite.
4. How it was introduced: When Alfred Nobel died, he left a will, in which he kept aside 31 million Swedish Kroners (worth about 1,500 million today) to be used to establish the Nobel Prize.
5. How many prizes have so far been awarded: about 800 (103 for literature)
6. How many Indians so far have won it: 7.
A. Gather Information about the Indians who have been awarded the Nobel Prize in different fields.
Answer:
Do yourself with the help of internet.
B. On the basis of your study, make an assessment of India’s contribution to World Peace.
Answer:
India, right from its beginning, has been a peace loving country. It has taught the world the lesson of peace and harmony. India has never initiated war against any country. We follow the preachings of the Gita in which Lord Krishna taught Arjuna the lesson of war. But before it, he made efforts for establishing peace to avoid war. So, we first try to follow peace. India has always extended its support to many countries for establishing peace. Even in the present countries very recently India sent its armed forces in Myanmar and Sri Lanka to establish peace there. Nehru’s ‘Panchsheel’ is famous. India has always been a peaceful country and contributed a lot to maintain it in the world.
A Prayer for My Daughter by William Butler Yeats Introduction
The poet is worried to see the devaluation of the worldly ways. He is worried about the safety of his new born daughter and solicits for her a life of beauty, accompanied by natural kindness and heart-winning courtesy. He wants his daughter to avoid hatred.
A Prayer for My Daughter Summary in English
The poet expresses concern for his infant daughter who is fast asleep in a cradle. The storm is blowing outside and it makes the poet gloomy. How will his daughter face the world which is becoming coarse and vulgur day by day? He imagines the war-drums which forecast the struggle for survival. The cruelty of man is greater than the murderous innocence of the sea. She must have a shield for protection. The shield stands for the qualities which the poet wants his daughter to cultivate.
The poet wishes her to have beauty but not vanity. Great beauties like Helen which here represents his girl-friend Maud Gonne and Venus the goddess of love stumbled into unhappy marriages on account of lack of courtesy and humility. Maud Gonne married MorBryde, a drunkard and a worthless fellow and Venus chose the lame god, Hephaestus as her husband. The poet wants his daughter to cultivate courtesy. A man who marries an inferior beauty may find his reward in the courtesy and kindness of her heart. This is more important than the physical beauty of a woman which catches the eye of a lover.
The third quality which the poet wants his daughter to cultivate is natural gladness which means the scattering of happiness and peace around. He gives the image of the growing laurel tree which gives comfort to all. One thing which he wants her to avoid is hatred. Hatred is the worst of all evils. The mind which is free from hatred can face the storms and misfortunes of the world.
Intellectual hatred is the worst of all. The poet mentions Maud Gonne a paragon of beauty who has wasted her aristocratic traditions in political arguments. If hatred is replaced by innocence and purity, it can bring joy and consolation to the individual. It will give his daughter an inner peace which cannot be disturbed by misfortune, agitation or opposition.
The poet wishes that his daughter may grow up and get married in an aristocratic family which observes traditional manners and courtesies. There is too much of arrogance and hatred in the common masses today. Beauty and innocence come from established custom and usage. ‘Ceremony’ is like the horn of plenty and custom is like the growing laurel tree providing shade and comfort to all.
The poet’s love for a traditional aristocratic life is quite obvious. This is the way of life which he wants his daughter to follow. His own experiences with the Irish masses had sadly disillusioned him. However, he had received sympathy from Lady Gregory. The aristocracy was for him a custodian of culture and moral values.
A Prayer for My Daughter Summary in Hindi
कवि अपनी अबोध बच्ची, जो पालने में गहरी नींद में सोई हुई है, के प्रति अपनी चिन्ता व्यक्त करता है। बाहर तूफान उमड़ रहा है और यह कवि को उदास बना रहा है। कैसे उसकी बेटी उस संसार का सामना करेगी जो दिनोंदिन रूखा (भावहीन) और अश्लील होता जा रहा है? वह युद्ध के नगारों की कल्पना करता है जो अस्तित्व के लिए संघर्ष की भविष्यवाणी करता है। मानव की क्रूरता समुद्र की मारक शांति से ज़्यादा भयानक है। उसे (उसकी बेटी को) एक सुरक्षा कवच की ज़रूरत है। सुरक्षा कवच से कवि का अर्थ उन गुणों से है जो उसकी बेटी को अपने में पैदा करना होगा।
कवि चाहता है उसमें (उसकी बेटी में) सौन्दर्य हो लेकिन खोखलापन या घमंड न हो। हेलेन जैसी महान सुन्दरियों जो यहाँ कवि के एक महिला मित्र Maud Gonne का संकेत करती है और प्यार की देवी वीनस का प्यार सिर्फ व्यवहार और नम्रता के अभाव में दुःखद विवाह के रूप में लड़खड़ा गया। Maud Gonne का विवाह एक निकम्मे और शराबी Mac Bride के साथ हुआ और वीनस ने लंगड़े देवता Hephaestus को अपना पति बनाया। कवि चाहता है कि उसकी बेटी आचार-व्यवहार का गुण अपनाए। कोई व्यक्ति जो किसी कुरूप से शादी करता है उसे आचार-व्यवहार और उदारदिली का तोहफा मिलता है। यह किसी नारी के शारीरिक सौन्दर्य से ज्यादा महत्त्वपूर्ण है जो अपने प्रेमी को आकर्षित करता है।
तीसरा गुण जो कवि अपनी बेटी में देखना चाहता है वह है स्वाभाविक प्रसन्नता। जिसका अर्थ है उसके चारों ओर बिखरे हुए सुख और शांति । वह उगते हुए सदाबहार पेड़ की उपमा देता है जो सभी को सुख देता है। एक चीज़ जो अपनी बेटी से अवहेलना करने को कहता है, वह है घृणा। घृणा सबसे बड़ा पाप है। जो मस्तिष्क घृणा से परे है, वह दुनिया के किसी भी तूफान या दुर्भाग्य का सामना कर सकता है। कवि Maud Gonne की बात करता है जो सौन्दर्य की देवी थी जिसने राजनैतिक तर्कों में अपने को बर्बाद कर लिया। यदि घृणा की जगह निर्दोषिता और पवित्रता आ जाए तो यह व्यक्ति के लिए आनन्द और शांति ला सकता है। यह उसकी बेटी को आन्तरिक शांति देगा जो उसे कभी भी किसी दुर्भाग्य, संघर्ष या विरोध में उसे विचलित नहीं करेगा।
कवि चाहता है कि उसकी बेटी बड़ी हो और किसी अभिजात्य परिवार में उसकी शादी हो जो पारम्परिक आचार-व्यवहार और तौर-तरीकों को मानता हो। आज जनमानस में बहुत ज़्यादा घमंड और घृणा है। सौन्दर्य और निर्दोषिता स्थापित रीति-रिवाज और प्रयोगों से आता है। उत्सव लोगों के लिए एक उद्घोष की तरह है और परम्परा एक बढ़ता हुआ सदाबहार पेड़ है जो सबको छाया और सुख देता है। कवि का पारम्परिक अभिजात्य जीवन के प्रति प्यार स्पष्ट है। यही वह जीवन है जो वह अपनी बेटी के लिए चाहता है। उसका आयरिश लोगों के साथ अनुभव उसे पूरी तरह असंतुष्ट कर दिया था। हालाँकि उसे Lady Gregory से सहानुभूति मिली थी। अभिजात्यता उसके लिए संस्कृति और नैतिक मूल्यों का संरक्षक था।
A Prayer for My Daughter Word Meanings
A Prayer for My Daughter Important Pronunciations
A Prayer for My Daughter Stanzas for Comprehension
Read the following stanzas carefully and answer the questions that follow them:
1. I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,
And under the arches of the bridge, and scream
in the elms above the flooded stream;
imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea. (Pages 49-50)
Questions:
(i) Who does the young child in the first line refer to?
(ii) …….. scream upon the tower.
(iii) What sort of future does the poet expect?
(iv) Find a word from the passage which means same as ‘madness’.
Answers:
(i) The poet’s new born daughter.
(ii) The sea wind.
(iii) The future is uncertain. Bloodshed, anarchy, cruelty and other such evils may be
expected all around.
(iv) ‘Frenzied’ is similar in meaning to ‘madness’.
2. In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool .
For beauty’s very self, has charm made wise,
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes. (Page 50)
Questions:
(i) ………. are not had as a gift.
(ii) Who does T refer to in the first line?
(iii) What does the poet indicate in the fourth line?
(iv) Find a word from these lines which means opposite to ‘lost’.
Answers:
(i) Hearts.
(ii) ’I’ in the first line refers to the poet.
(iii) The poet indicates that the people who have fallen in love with these beauties like
(iv) Venus and Helen are fool who thought that they are loved.
(v) ‘Earned’ means opposite to ‘lost’.
3. O may she live like some green laurel
Rooted in one dear perpetual place.
My mind, because the minds that I have loved,
The sort of beauty that I have approved,
Prosper but little, has dried up of late,
Yet knows that to be choked with hate
May well be of all evil chances chief.
If there’s no hatred in a mind Assault and battery of the wind
I Can never tear the linnet from the leaf. (Page 51)
Questions: (M.P. Board 2011)
(i) Find a word from the stanza which means ‘everlasting’.
(ii) Find a word opposite to ‘rejected’.
(iii) Verb form of the word ‘beauty’ is
(iv) Who is ‘she’ referred to in the first line of the above stanza?
Answers:
(i) ‘Perpetual’means’everlasting’.
(ii) ‘Approved’ is the opposite to ‘rejected’.
(iii) ‘Beautify’ is the verb form of ‘beauty’.
(iv) The daughter of the poet is referred to as ‘she’ in the first line.
4. An intellectual hatred is the worst,
So let her think opinions are accursed
Have I not seen the loveliest woman born
Out of the mouth of Plenty’s horn,
Because other opinionated mind
Barter other horn and every good
By quiet natures understood
For an old bellows full of angry wind?
Questions:
(i) What are the evil effects of “Horn of Plenty”? (Page 51)
(ii) What is of the worst kind in poet’s eyes?
(a) angry wind.
(b) quiet nature.
(c) opinions.
(d) intellectual hatred.
(iii) What does opinionated mean?
(iv) Make noun from the word “intellectual”.
Answers:
(i) It gives birth to hatred toward mankind.
(ii) (d) intellectual hatred.
(iii) It means tending to put forward one’s views forcefully.
(iv) ‘Intellect’ is the Noun form of ‘intellectual’.
5. And may her bridegroom bring her to a house
Where all’s accustomed, ceremonious;
For arrogance and hatred are the wares
Peddled in the thorough fares.
How but in custom and in ceremony
Are innocence and beauty born?
Ceremony’s a name for the rich horn,
And custom for the spreading laurel tree. (Page 51)
Questions:
(i) What wish does the poet make here for his daughter? .
(ii) a name for the rich horn.
(iii) Give a word similar in meaning to ‘habituated’.
(iv) Make adjective form of ‘arrogance’ and ‘hatred’. (M.P. Board 2012)
Answers:
(i) The poet wishes that his daughter should be married in a traditional family.
(ii) Ceremony’s.
(iii) ‘Accustomed’ is similar in meaning to ‘habituated’.
(iv) ‘Arrogant’ and ‘hateful’ are the adjective forms of ‘arrogance’ and ‘hatred’ respectively
MP Board Class 12th English A Voyage Textbook (Fiction and Drama)
- Invocation Class 12 Questions And Answers
- The Diamond Necklace Class 12 Questions And Answers
- Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S. Class 12 Questions And Answers
- Dream-Children: A Reverie Class 12 Questions And Answers
- Our Casuarina Tree Class 12 Questions And Answers
- If the Well Goes Dry Class 12 Questions And Answers
- A Prayer for My Daughter Class 12 Questions And Answers
- The Beggar Class 12 Questions And Answers
- After Apple-Picking Class 12 Questions And Answers
- On Umbrella Morals Class 12 Questions And Answers
- My Father Travels Class 12 Questions And Answers
- Youth and the Tasks Ahead Class 12 Questions And Answers
- On His Being Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three Class 12 Questions And Answers
- Albert-Einstein at School Class 12 Questions And Answers
- To Autumn Class 12 Questions And Answers
- Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Class 12 Questions And Answers
- The Last Ride Together Class 12 Questions And Answers
- The Abominable Snowman Class 12 Questions And Answers
- The Gita and Swadharma Class 12 Questions And Answers
- Swami and Friends Class 12 Questions And Answers
- The Silver Box Class 12 Questions And Answers
