Articles

NCERT Chapter Summary: Fire and Ice

1. Will this world come to an end? What does the poet say in this regard?

Everything that has a beginning or origin does have an end. It is the eternal law of nature. The existing world will come to an end some day. The poet believes as many people believe that either 'fire' or 'ice' will be the cause of the end of the world.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Ball Poem

1. “And no one buys a ball back. Money is external”. What does the poet imply by this expression?

Through this expression the poet implies that a lost ball cannot be bought back even with money. Money can only be used to buy valuable things but not to restore or compensate for a thing that is lost.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Amanda

1. Do you think that Amanda doesn’t like to be controlled and instructed not to do one thing or the other? Give a reasoned answer.

Amanda loves her freedom. She doesn’t want it to be curtailed. She wants to lead her own kind of life. If she is asked what to do and what not, she feels that her freedom is curtailed. She doesn’t bother to answer her mother when she goes on instructing her what to do and what not.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Road Not Taken

‘The Road Not Taken’ is one of the finest poems by Robert Frost. This poem has a deep meaning. It deals with the problem of making a right choice. Many times in our life we face alternative choices.

NCERT Chapter Summary: A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal (Poem)

This eight-line poem is about the death of a loved one. The poet is grieved and troubled. But he realises the reality of life after her death. He feels a great peace. He is contented as the passing of time will no longer affect her.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Snake Trying (Poem)

Most of us think that snakes are always poisonous. They are fearsome and symbol of death. The poet does not find all the snakes fearsome and poisonous. He finds beauty in them. In this poem, the poet describes how a snake tries to escape from a stroke. He wishes that the snake does not get hurt and reaches his destination safely.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Trees

1. Why are the tree moving out into the forest?

In the poem, the tree are presented as a metaphor for human beings. As humans value freedom, nature can’t be subdued and controlled by man. The trees have been brought to the artificial glasshouses.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Fog

1. How does the poet employ the double imagery of the fog and the cat?

The poetic device of metaphor is very effectively used in the poem. The fog is converted into a cat and the cat is morphed back into the fog. The silent arrival of the fog is like a little cat. The fog stays there sitting like a little cat on its haunches.

NCERT Chapter Summary: A Tiger in the Zoo

1. How does the tiger stalk in the cage?

The tiger is not in his natural habitat – the jungle. He is locked in a cage made up of a cement and concrete. He keeps on stalking inside his cage from one side to the other. He is walking quiet rage with his heels which are padded like velvet.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Dust of Snow

1. How did the poet feel before the ‘change of mood’? Why did he feel so?

The poet was in a very depressive and hopeless mood. The day offered no relief, comfort or happiness for the poet. He felt that the whole day had been wasted for nothing. Perhaps his dull and depressive mood led him to such a conclusion.

NCERT Chapter Summary: How to Tell Wild Animals

1. How would you recognise the Asian Lion?

He is found in the jungles of the eastern regions. He is a large and powerful animal. He is a large and powerful animal. He is yellow - brownish in colour. He roars so loudly that the very roar is enough to terrorise a person to death. If any animal has all these traits, he must be the Asian Lion.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Reach for the Top

Santosh Yadav is the only woman in the world to have conquered Mount Everest twice. Born in a small village in Haryana, she was the sixth child in a family with five sons. Though her name ‘Santosh’ stood for contentment but she was never satisfied with her place in a traditional way of life.

NCERT Chapter Summary: On Killing a Tree (Poem)

It is not easy to kill a deep-rooted tree. It takes much time to kill it. A tree is too strong to be killed by a simple attack of a knife. It has grown slowly consuming the earth, feeding upon its crust, absorbing years of sunlight. The strength it has stored through a long period of hard work and patience, cannot be destroyed in one go.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Civilising the Native, Educating the Nation

1. What is vernacular?

Vernacular is a term generally used to refer to a local language or dialect as distinct from what is seen as the standard language.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Fight

It has been less than a month living in Rajpur when Ranji discovers a pool. The summer was at its extreme and Ranji’s school hadn’t opened yet. He didn’t have any friends either. While wandering all by himself in the weather, he discovered the pool in the forest. On the day when Ranji discovered the pool, it was extremely hot and Ranji’s brown feet turned chalky with dust.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Women, Caste, and Reform

1. Describe the Child Marriage Restraint Act.

According to the Child Marriage Restraint Act passed in 1929, no man below the age of 18 and woman below the age of 16 could marry.

NCERT Chapter Summary: What Happened to the Reptiles

There are many kinds of people in the village. They speak many languages. Some pray in a temple and some in a mosque. The people went mad, burning temples and mosques. They fought with one another.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Knowing Our Numbers

This chapter introduces numbers, their different types, and their uses in everyday life.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Whole Numbers

This chapter builds upon the concepts introduced in the previous chapter and delves deeper into the properties and operations of whole numbers.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Playing with Numbers

This chapter introduces various concepts and strategies related to numbers and their properties.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Basic Geometrical Ideas

This chapter introduces basic concepts and terms related to geometry.

NCERT Chapter Summary: No Men are Foreign (Poem)

We have many ways of thinking of other people as different from us. They may belong to different countries or religions, follow a different lifestyle and speak a different language. But the poet reminds us of the many ways in which we are all the same for we are all humans.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Shed (Poem)

There is a shed at the bottom of the poet’s garden and the poet wishes to visit it one day. There is a spider’s web on the door of the shed and its hinges are rusty and creak when the wind blows.

NCERT Chapter Summary: A Legend of the Northland (Poem)

This poem is a legend of an old lady who angered Saint Peter because of her greed. The story goes like this. Long long ago, there lived an old lady in Northland. She was very selfish and greedy.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Lake Isle of Innisfree (Poem)

The poem dreams of escaping the busy streets of London. He remembers Innisfree as a perfect little island that would supply all his needs. This poem explores his longing for the peace and tranquillity of Innisfree where he spent a lot of time as a boy.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Rain on the Roof (Poem)

At night, there are dark clouds that cover the sky. It rains gently and the poet lies on his cosy bed listening to the patter of soft rain on the roof. He enjoys sound, the melody of nature.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Fun with Magnets

This chapter explores magnets, their properties, and their various applications. Magnets are objects that can attract certain materials, such as iron, nickel, and cobalt.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Air Around Us

This chapter explores the properties of air, the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, and the importance of air for living organisms. Air is a mixture of gases that surrounds the Earth and is essential for the survival of all living organisms.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Water (Science)

This chapter explores the importance of water, its properties, the water cycle, and various uses of water. Water is essential for survival and plays a crucial role in various natural processes.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Memories of Childhood

The first part deals with the account of Simmons, An American Indian, who fought against the prejudices of the society against American Indians.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Jalebis

The story is of a young boy when he was in fifth standard at a government school in Kambelpur, now called Atak. On one day, he was carrying four rupees in his pocket to pay his school fees.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Seven Ages (Poem)

"The Seven Ages" is a poem by William Shakespeare that presents a metaphorical journey through the different stages of human life. It describes life as a series of seven distinct ages, each with its own characteristics and experiences. The poem emphasizes the fleeting nature of time and the inevitable progression of life from infancy to old age.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Open Window

Framton Nuttel had a nervous breakdown. He migrates to the rural spaces in order to seek some relief. His sister, however, was sceptical that his problem might get worse as he would hardly get to meet anyone in the rural spaces and lose it completely. She, therefore, gives him letters of introduction to meet people whom she considered quite nice and who could keep good company to Nuttel.

NCERT Chapter Summary: On the Grasshopper and Cricket (Poem)

‘On the Grasshopper and Cricket’ is a fourteen line poem or a sonnet in which the poet expresses his view that the nature is always inspiring a poet to compose poetry through its various aspects. For Keats, seasons may change, but nature would never cease to inspire the poets and sing its songs.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The School Boy (Poem)

The boy loves to wake up to see the summer mornings. The sound of the birds singing and the huntsman’s horn are both pleasant. It seemed to him as if the skylark was singing with him. All of this was such a sweet company to him.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Duck and the Kangaroo (Poem)

The poem opens with a conversation between the duck and the kangaroo. The duck admires the kangaroo for the way it hops. The duck feels bored of his life in the pond. The duck, therefore, requests the kangaroo to give it a ride on his back. The duck also promises that it would not say anything except “quack.” The duck wanted to see the entire world.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Last Bargain (Poem)

The poem foregrounds the most important message of the poet, of which he was a champion himself, freedom. The poem opens with a man seeking work, but desires to keep his freedom.

NCERT Chapter Summary: When I Set Out for Lyonnesse (Poem)

The poet travels to an imaginary place, called Lyonnesse. He shares details his journey and the impact it had upon him in this poem, the draft of which was found immediately after his return from the parish where he had gone to supervise the restoration of a church.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Ant and the Cricket (Poem)

There was a cricket that sang and danced all through the pleasant months of summer and spring. However, when the winter arrived, he became desperate and began to complain.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Macavity - The Mystery Cat (Poem)

The poem is a description of a villainous character, Macavity, a criminal who is so skilled in committing crime, that no one can ever find him. For whenever they reach the crime scene, he's not there.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Geography Lesson (Poem)

The poem is written from the perspective of a person who is observing the city from above, seeing it seated in a jet plane. As he ascends the heights in the sky, he is able to understand the real meaning of geography.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Great Stone Face - I

The Great Stone Face was a work of nature, formed by several rocks piled one upon another. From a distance, however, it looked like a human face. If the onlooker came too near, he would lose sight of the outline of the face. Whereas from a distance the face was very clear.

NCERT Chapter Summary: This is Jody's Fawn

Jody expresses his sympathies for the fawn that has just lost its mother. He seeks his father’s permission to raise the fawn. Jody’s father, Penny, is put in a fix, as the mother of the fawn was killed in order to save Penny.

NCERT Chapter Summary: A Visit to Cambridge

For the author, Firdaus Kanga, Cambridge contained the essence of England. The place became something entirely different, but more meaningful by the time he left, for he had then become acquainted with Stephen Hawking.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Glimpses of the Past

The Earth India Company was extending its power in the 18th century. The rivalry between the Indian princes and their short sightedness gave a chance to the English merchants and the company to get successful in their ventures.

NCERT Chapter Summary: Bepin Choudhury's Lapse of Memory

Like every Monday, after work Bepin Choudhury directly headed to Kalicharan’s book shop to buy books. While he was looking at the books, he had a feeling that someone was perhaps closely observing him.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Summit Within

HPS Ahluwalia was one of the members of the first ever successful team that reached the top of Mount Everest n 1965. The chapter discusses his emotions and moods on reaching the top of the summit. On reaching the top, HPS Ahluwalia shares his sense of joy and triumph at being among the first ones to reach the top.

NCERT Chapter Summary: A Short Monsoon Diary

June 24: The writer describes the beauty of nature. At the same time, he also describes how the newly appeared monsoon mist makes a blanket and conceals the hills and affects all the elements of nature.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Best Christmas Present in the World

The Narrator had been wanting to buy a roll-top desk for a very long time. Finding it expensive, he was unable to do so. Finally, he finds one in a junk shop in Bridport.

NCERT Chapter Summary: The Tsunami

Ignesious’s Story Ignesious was completely unaware on the morning of 26th December, sleeping peacefully when his wife woke him up at 6 am, after she left an earthquake. As a precautionary measure, he removed the television set from the table and placed it on the ground, in order to save it from falling off the table.