A Legend of The Northland
- Thinking about the poem:
Q.1. Which country or counties do you think ‘the Northland’ refers to?
Ans. The Northland is a polar region. These days are very short and the nights are very long. It is a cold region covered with snow. People use reindeer for food and for driving their sledges. They wear clothes made of animal’s skin.
Q.2. What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the lady’s reaction?
Ans. Saint Peter while walking round the earth reached a little woman’s house. She was making cakes. As saint peter had turned faint due to fasting he requested the lady for a cake. The lady was selfish. She took a tiny kneaded dough and rolled it but it became very large. Finally she put them on the shelf.
Q.3. How did Saint Peter punish the old lady?
Ans. Saint Peter was very angry with the lady as she was not ready to part with a single piece of bread. He cursed and changed her to be a woodpecker to collect her food from the wood by boring and boring in it.
Q.4. How does the woodpecker get her food?
Ans. When the little lady did n’t part with her tiniest cake, the saint became angry. He called her a selfish lady. He cursed her to be a woodpecker to collect her food by boring andboring into the hard, dry wood all day long.
Q.5. Do you think that the old lady would have been so ungenerous if she had known who Saint Peter really was? What would she have done then?
Ans. Even if the lady had known who saint peter really was, she would not have been generous to him. She would not have given him a cake even then. We are told she is utterly selfish and greedy and such people rarely part with their things.
Q.6. Is this a true story? Which part of this poem do you feel is the most important?
Ans. No, this is not a true story. We think the last part of the poem, Where the saint Peter announces his punishment for the lady, is the most important.
Q.7. What is a legend? Why is this poem called a legend?
Ans. A legend is an old traditional story. This poem is called a legend because it tells an old story of Northland. This is the story of an old lady who angered saint Peter because of her greediness and selfishness.
Q.8. Write the story of “A Legend of the Northland” in about ten sentences.
Ans. Once saint peter while travelling round the earth reached the old woman’s house. The saint Peter was faint with hunger. The little woman was baking cakes. Saint Peter asked for a cake from her. She made a very little cake, But it seemed too large to give away. She made yet another cake thin as a wafer, but couldn’t part with that. Also, Saint Peter got angry at her greed to live in human form and have got food and shelter. He changed her into a woodpecker so that she might live in the trees and bore all day long in the garden, dry wood to get her scanty food.
Ans. The poet will build a small cabin. He will have three nine beannows. He will live alone in the bee glade.
(ii) what he hears and sees there and its effect on him? (stanza-Il)
Ans. There at Innisfree the poet hears as well as sees the crickets singing. The evening is full of the linnets birds. As the poet is residing there round the clock. He enjoys the purple rays of the sun at noon.
(iii) what he hears in his “heart’s core” even when he is far away from Innisfree? (stanza-IIII)
Ans. The poet hears in the deep heart’s core the low sound of water flowing towards the shore when he is far away from Innisfree.
Q.2. By now you may have concluded that Innisfree is a simple, natural place full of beauty and peace. How does the poet contrast it with where he now stands?
Ans. The poet is much attracted towards the calm, beautiful and natural place of innisfree. There he visits the spot, to give him peace of mind.
The poet is to be there round the clock. There he will see flowing water of the lake that dashed against the store. He contrasts the same when he is standing either on the road side or on the pavement. He feels it in the case of his heart.
Q.3. Do you think Innisfree is only a place or a state of mind? Does the poet actually miss the place of his boyhood days?
Ans. Innisfree is a simple, beautiful and a natural beautiful place where the poet goes to attain peace. The poet doesn’t miss the place during his boyhood. There he spent a lot of time when he was a boy.
- 1. Look at the words the poet uses to describe what he sees and nears at Innisfree:
(i) Bee-loud glade.
Ans. The poet hears and sees the bees busy at their beehive. They go on buzzing and collecting the honey in their hive. He hears their sounds and witnesses them at work.
(ii) Evening full of the linnet’s wings.
Ans:- When the evening starts, there appear many linnet birds in the sky. They fly in the sky and their wings flutter there. The poet hears their sounds and views them. The atmosphere remains busy.
(iii) Lake water lapping with low sounds.
What pictures do these words bring to your mind?
Ans:- Lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore “ is both a memory and a call to the speaker. He has been there in his past. But now as a city dweller, He misses the quiet sound of the lake’s waves gently bruising against the land.
- Look at these words:
………. peace comes dropping slow
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings. What do these words mean to you? What do you think ‘comes dropping slowly ………. from the veils of the morning? What does ” where the cricket sings” mean?
Ans. ‘Veils of the morning’ means the cover of fog that hangs like a veil on the landscape of Innisfree. Crickets sing in the morning from under the cover of fog. Peace will come slowly like drops of water. The terms collectively mean the peaceful morning atmosphere that prevails at Innisfree.