AP State Syllabus AP Board 8th Class English Textbook Solutions Chapter 4B The Earthen Goblet Textbook Questions and Answers.
AP State Syllabus 8th Class English Solutions Chapter 4B The Earthen Goblet
8th Class English Chapter 4B The Earthen Goblet Textbook Questions and Answers
Question 1.
Who is ‘I’ in the poem? Who is the speaker in the first stanza?
Answer:
‘I’ in the poem is the earthen goblet. The speaker in the first stanza is the poet.
Question 2.
What does the phrase ‘fragrant friendship’ convey about the goblet’s relationship with the flower?
Answer:
The goblet told that it had fragrant friendship with the flower. Before the goblet was given its shape, it was in the form of natural clay. The flower plant sent its roots deep into clay and blossomed a little flower. The clay was attracted to the scent of the flower and made friends with it. Thus the phrase ‘fragrant friendship’ conveys about the goblet’s relationship with the flower.
Question 3.
The poem has the expression ‘burned so warm’. Does the poet have tender feelings towards the goblet or the earth? What is your opinion?
Answer:
The poet has tender feelings towards the goblet. The earth is very happy in its natural state. One need not show any tender feelings towards the earth. But, when the earth is given the shape of a goblet, it has to be burnt very warm. It causes the goblet a deep distress. Hence, the poet has tender feelings towards the goblet.
Question 4.
The goblet has certain feelings towards its present life and past life. Which life does it like? Why?
Answer:
The goblet likes its past life as it was full of life in its natural form. In its past life, the goblet was in the form of unshapely earth. It had a fragrant friendship of a little flower. The earth was very happy to have its root deep in it. Just one flower was flaming through its breast. The goblet thinks that its present form is nothing but a death.
Question 5.
What common things do you notice between the expression ‘living breath’ of me and ‘natural stage’?
Answer:
Both the expressions ‘living breath’ and ‘natural stage’ have the sense of ‘life’. The earth is full of life in its ‘natural stage’. The earth is very happy in its ‘natural stage’ when it has a fragrant friendship with a little flower. When the earth is given the shape of the goblet, it thinks that it loses its life and the potter draws out its ‘living breath’.
Literary devices
The devices which can be used to recognize or identify the literary text are called literary devices. Literary devices are useful to interpret or analyse the literary texts.
Tone: The implied attitude towards the subject of the poem. Is it hopeful, pessimistic, dreary, worried? A poet conveys tone by combining all of the elements listed above to create a precise impression on the reader.
Genre: A category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique or content (e.g., prose, poetry).
Satire: A literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness.
Point of View – pertains to who tells the story and how it is told. The point of view of a story can sometimes indirectly establish the author’s intentions.
Metaphor vs Simile: A metaphor is direct relationship where one thing is another (e.g. “Juliet is the sun”). A simile, on the other hand, is indirect and usually only likened to be similar to something else.
Similes usually use “like” or “as” (e.g. “Your eyes are like the ocean”).
The Earthen Goblet Summary in English
In this poem the poet conversed with the earthen goblet. The poet tried to bring out the misery that had been faced by the goblet in the process of becoming a goblet. The goblet was red in colour from its top to bottom. The poet expressed his sympathy for the goblet. He asked the goblet how it felt when he was being turned round and round up on the potter’s wheel before the potter made it. The goblet felt a conscious impulse in its clay to break away from the potter’s hand. It burnt so warm that it suffered very much to get into its present form. The goblet became a prisoner on the potter’s wheel and was shaped into his dark red coloured goblet-sleep. It thought that the time when it was on the wheel was most deadly. The goblet had the fragrant friendship of a little flower whose root was buried deep in its heart when it was in the form of clay. The potter drew out the living breath of the clay and gave it the shape of deadly goblet. The goblet thought that its past unshapely natural stage (the clay) was best with just one flower flaming through its breast. The goblet didn’t like its present shape.
The Earthen Goblet Glossary
twirl (v): turn something round and round
fatal (adj): causing death
captive (n): prisoner
goblet (n): a cup
heel (n): the back part of the foot below the ankle
impulse (n): a sudden strong wish or need to do something without stopping to think
about the results cast (v): to shape
crimson (ad)): dark red in colour
fragrant (ad)): having a pleasant smell
bosom (n): chest