Lines for Context

Poem#1 The Rain

“The Rain” is a musical display of rain which is a natural phenomenon. The poet is a poor,
homeless but an optimist who observes the dark and bright aspects of life juxtaposing. The scene
of the sun shining after the rain is a ray of hope, pleasure and prosperity for him.
Poem #2 Night Mail

The poet describes the journey of a mail train that travels all night to bring cheques, postal
orders and letters for the people of different cities and towns. It passes through steep slopes
and smooth plains. It is always on time as it follows a time schedule.

Poem#3 Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now

Beauty in all its forms is enchanting but the poet is especially attracted by the beauty of a
cherry tree whose branches are loaded with white flowers. He wants to enjoy its beauty forever
but very short span of life does not allow him to do so.

Poem#4 O WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

It is a dialogue between two imaginary persons: Reader and Rider. The rider is bold,
courageous. He is ambitious to make his way through thick and thin. The reader is afraid and
tries his best to prevent the rider to go ahead. But, being bold, he moves forward thinking that
life is action, not contemplation.

Poem#5) IN THE STREET OF THE FRUIT STALLS

This is a symbolic poem. The present day world is threatened with war, terrorism, disease and
poverty. But all these evils have failed to crush man’s innate love for peace and pleasure. The
innocent children enjoy fruit. They are free from all miseries of the world.

Poem#6 SINDHI WOMAN

In this poem, homage has been paid to work which makes man strong, vigilant, diligent and
active. It gives dignity to man’s life. On the other hand, an idle man soon decays and perishes.
Only hard work and steadfastness can lend grace to life.

Poem#7 TIMES
Nothing in this world happens out of place. Everything is scheduled according to a specific
time. The time of everything is pre-scheduled by God, not by man. Therefore we should have
faith in the decree of fate.
Poem#8 OZYMANDIAS
This is a very ironic poem which describes the pride of a man and the wretched reality of his
life. Man becomes proud of his success. He thinks that he has toppled the world. He forgets
that life is merciless. Time brings all leisure of man to an end, and death is a great leveller.

Poem#9 The Feed

The poet has apparently described the love of mother sparrow for her young ones. But, in
reality, he has asked man to invent not weapons but means to distribute food among the
hungry people of the world.
Poem# 10 THE HOLLOW MEN
Human beings have become soulless. They try to depend upon each other but they cannot
make a society. Their entire endeavor is the running of rats or the swish of grass. We do have
shapes but inside there is nothing. We only seem to be walking souls but actually we are not.

Poem#11 LEISURE

The poet has based this poem on personal experience. He thinks that one is so busy in coping
with daily routine of life that most of the beauty and the joys of life are ignored
Poem#12 RUBI’AT

In this modern era of allurement faith in God should be strong like Abraham (A.S). The
Muslims Harmony depends on true faith in Islam. The Europeans are devoid of this true faith,
so, we should avoid following them. The lack of love for humanity has made the efforts of the
Muslims fruitless.

Poem#13 A TALE OF TWO CITIES John Peter

The poet tells us about the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki .Blasts of atom bombs brought
great destruction for the cultural civilization of the two cities of Japan. But the spirit of the
great people cannot be crushed by force. They have the courage to rebuild their nation.

Poem#14 MY NEIGHBOUR FRIEND BREATHING HIS LAST

The fear of death always haunts over us. We can get rid of this fear only by loving God, by our
desire for union with God. If we have love of God in our heart, we can get rid of the fear of
death and pangs of separation.

Poem#15 HE CAME TO KNOW HIMSELF

Knowing oneself is knowing God. Man is the reflection of God’s power, love and beauty. Godreveals
Himself through His creation. One who knows himself, he is so absorbed in God’s lovethat he cannot
have a view of anything else except God Almighty.
Poem#16 GOD’S ATTRIBUTES

Attributes of God help us in building our character. If we always remember these attributes of
God, we cannot do anything wrong. These attributes of God urge us to do good deeds and
stop us from evil deeds.

Poem#17 THE DELIGHT SONG

We should be optimist. We should enjoy the beauty of natural objects, wherever we find it
because it has been created for man. Life is an enjoying beauty. If we want to see the blood of
life running our veins, we should find out beauty even in ugly things.

Poem#18 LOVE AN ESSENCE OF ALL RELIGIONS

Love is the essence of all religions. It is love that changes the adversities into pleasure. Life
without love is not worth-living.

Poem#19 A MAN OF WORDS AND NOT OF DEEDS

Work is very important in life. Work makes life pleasant and useful for humanity. Always
talking and boasting is good for nothing.

Poem#20 IN BROKEN IMAGES

We should not be adamant in our thinking. We should not think that our ideas and views are
always correct. Everything changes with every passing moment. So we should also
bring about positive changes in our thinking and mould them according to the present needs.
How to explain a Stanza
Reference: This beautiful piece of poetry has been extracted from the poem “Night Mail”
composed by the poet W.H.Auden.

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Explanation: (Paraphrasing of the given lines) -------------------------------------------

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---------------------------------------------The given lines are very important from thematic

point of view. The poem is fraught with appealing universal ideas. This poem is teemed with
sane and wise ideas. The language of the poem is simple, clear, lucid but suggestive.
Musicality of the poem reveals through its vibrant rhyme scheme. The use of different literary
devices makes this poem lucid and meaningful. The theme of the poem is universal and
appealing. To conclude we are of the view that the poet has aptly described his inner feelings
vividly.
Poem NO.7 ! ----------{Special Note}
Reference: This beautiful piece of poetry has been extracted from the poem “Times” taken
from “Eccleciastes”.