Page 32 - Lavender-B-6

5. Match each stanza with its meaning.

I love to rise in a summer morn, However, when one has to go to school on

When the birds sing on every tree; such a wonderful summer morning, all the
The distant huntsman winds his horn, joy fades away. Under the strict supervision
And the skylark sings with me: of the teacher, the young children spend their
day sighing and feeling sad.
O what sweet company!
But to go to school in a summer morn, Just like a bird is born to be free and give
O! it drives all joy away happiness to the world, a child is meant to

Under a cruel eye outworn, be free and happy. When a child lives under
The little ones spend the day constant fear of his teachers, his childhood is
lost and he cannot spread his wings and learn
In sighing and dismay.
about the world.

How can the bird that is born for joy The child loves to wake up in the pleasant
Sit in a cage and sing? summer morning when the birds are singing

How can a child, when fears annoy, on every tree, and when the child can hear
But droop his tender wing, the huntsman wind his horn at a distance and
And forget his youthful spring! the sky-lark sings with him. He is elated to
have such sweet company.

Reference to the context

Read the lines from the poem and answer the questions that follow.
‘O! it drives all joy away;

Under a cruel eye outworn,

The little ones spend the day,
In sighing and dismay’

a. Who/What does the ‘cruel eye’ refer to?

i. authoritarian ways of teaching ii. distant huntsman
iii. the sky-lark iv. speaker’s parents

b. Why do the little ones sigh?

i. because it’s already summer but the fruits haven’t grown on trees

ii. because the birds are singing in a cage and not on trees
iii. because they are depressed after spending the whole day in school

iv. because the tender plants are stripped in the spring season
c. What drives the little joys away?

d. Another word for dismay is

e. Who are the little ones?

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