AP Board 8th Class English Solutions Chapter 2B The Cry of Children

AP State Syllabus AP Board 8th Class English Textbook Solutions Chapter 2B The Cry of Children Textbook Questions and Answers.

AP State Syllabus 8th Class English Solutions Chapter 2B The Cry of Children

8th Class English Chapter 2B The Cry of Children Textbook Questions and Answers

Comprehension

Answer the following questions.

Question 1.
What kind of places are the children working in?
Answer:
The children are working in the places such as coal factories, iron factories, jinning mills, shops, hotels, tea-stalls, automobile shops, fields, etc.

Question 2.
‘The reddest flower would look as pale as snow.’ What does the phrase ‘reddest flower’ refer to ? Why does it become pale?
Answer:
The phrase ‘reddest flower’ refers to the blood coloured eye of the child. It becomes pale as the child is very tired. (In the other sense, the reddest flower becomes pale before the red eyes of the children. The eyes of the children are very red in colour because of their restlessness and sleeplessness.)

AP Board 8th Class English Solutions Chapter 2B The Cry of Children

Question 3.
How does the work affect the children?
Answer:
The children become very tired. They can’t run or leap as a normal child can. They want to sleep. They are not playful. They are very unhappy with their life.

Question 4.
Do children enjoy their lives when engaged in work?
Answer:
No, children don’t enjoy their lives when engaged in work. They don’t find any time to enjoy.

Question 5.
If the poem were written from the point of view of a factory owner, what kind of things would he say about children?
Answer:
If the poem were written from the point of view of a factory owner, he would say that the children were not doing their work properly. He would say that the children had to work hard. He would say that they were sitting leisurely.

Question 6.
What is the poet’s attitude towards child labour? Pick out the words/expressions that reveal her attitude.
Answer:
The poet’s sympathies are with the child labourers. She feels that the child labourer’s lives are very miserable. The expressions, “we are weary and we can’t run or leap”, “Our knees upon our faces”, “we drag our burden tiring”, “we drive the wheels of iron”, etc. reveal her attitude.

The Cry of Children Summary in English

AP Board 8th Class English Solutions Chapter 2B The Cry of Children

In this poem E. Browning shows and criticises the sorrow of the children in those years how the exploitation was managed in coal mines and factories. In those days, children were working endlessly under deplorable conditions.
The children are tired and weary. They are fed up with the continuous work in the coal mines and iron factories. They have no joy of living. Their routine is always the same. They start their work early in the morning and finish it late in the evening. They don’t experience the sunlight in the dark undergrounds of the coal mines. They don’t have play time. They don’t have any happiness. They can’t run or jump. They want to sleep in the meadows. Their knees are trembling with their heavy work. Their eyelids are drooping with tiredness.

About the Poet

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) was a great poet of English language. She published a Collection of Poems, Sonnets from the Portuguese, Aurora Leigh, The Seraphim and Other Poems. She married Robert Browning, a famous English poet and moved to Italy. Most of her poems deal with human emotions.

The Cry of Children Glossary

weary (adj): tired and lost all the strength

meadows (n): land that is covered with grass

merely (adv): only

sorely (adv): in a painful manner

AP Board 8th Class English Solutions Chapter 2B The Cry of Children

drooping (adj): hanging downward

pale (adj): not bright/light in colour

stooping (n): bending ones body forwards and downwards

drag (v): to pull something along with effort and difficulty