The Ballad of Father Gilligan | Question-Answer | Invitation to English 1 | +2 2nd Year | CHSE Odisha

 The Ballad of Father Gilligan

By William Buttler Yeats

Text Book Question And Answer

1. Why was father Gilligan weary? Was he only tired physically or also exhausted mentally? Justify your answer with examples from the poem? 

Ans: Father Gilligan was wearied because half of his flock were in bed or in grave. A number of people were dying and he had to attend them all. He was tired and exhausted. 

He says- "I have no rest, nor joy, nor peace."  

2. Why did he seek forgiveness from God? What type of man does this more him to be?

Ans: While father was resting in his house, after being tired, he got a message to attend another sickman. He refused to go. Then he begged forgiveness from God for not being able to attend the sickman. This shows that Father was religious and dutiful. He was a nobleman.

3. How was the night: peaceful and quiet or turbulent and restless? Bring out expressions from the poem to support your answer. 

Ans: The night was peaceful and quiet. The stars gradually grew into millions and the leaves shook lightly in the breeze. God covered the world in the darkness of night communicated in the dreams.  These expressions from the poem supports the answer.

4. Why was the night been described so? 

Ans. The night came and departed quietly with no sound. This is the reason why the Father fell asleep on his chair. Had it been a noisy time, the Father wouldn’t have fallen asleep. It was perhaps God’s desire to give the tired Father a quiet time to relax.

5. What was the reaction of father Gilligan when he woke up from his deep sleep? State why he felt so?

Ans. When father Gilligan woke up, he remembered the sickman, felt himself guilty not for attending the sickman. He thought that the sickman might have died without being attended by him.

6. Bring out the meaning of the expression- "He rode now as he never rode." 

Ans. Father woke up and thought that the sickman might have died. He felt himself guilty not for attending him. To be sure of his position, he rode the horse at high speed without caring the obstacles on the way. He was riding so quickly first time in his life.

7. Find the expressions that show father Gilligan's concern for the people under his care. 

Ans. Father Giligan loved the people of his Parish very much. He attended each sickman in his Parish. He was praying to God for their souls. He was much tired by attending the sickman day and night. He was sorry for the poor souls. 

8. Why did the Sickman's wife say "Father! You come again."?

Ans: Father reached at the sickman's house. His wife saw him and being astonished asked - "Father, you come again," because she had seen father attending her sick husband at night."

9. Who came to the sickman's before his death? Why? 

Ans: One of God's angels had come to the sickman before his death. He had come in the guise of father to attend him in his sick bed, to perform Father's duty.

10. What made father Gilligan kneel and pray?

Ans. When father Gilligan heard from the sickman's wife about God's merciful act, he felt gratitude for him and knelt down to pray his greatness. 

11. What were his words of gratitude to God?

Ans:  When Father Gilligan finds out this has happened, he is filled with gratitude. He thanks God for not letting the poor man suffer without there being anyone who sits with him in his last hours. He also thanks God for having pity on his faithful servant and sending someone to do his job when he himself was too tired to do it. 

12. There is an implicit comparison between heavenly creatures and bodies, and their tireless movement with an insignificant person on earth and his inaction. Discuss this comparison.

Ans. God is in heaven. He is ever watchful. He never takes rest, never sleeps. His planets never sleep. They move continuously. His angles are tiredless bodies. But man on earth feels tired after some work and complains heavily as Father Gilligan did. Yet God is merciful upon father Gilligan. 

13. What qualities of Father Gilligan do you admire? 

Ans: Father Gilligan was dutiful, sincere, loving and conscience-stricken. He was deeply religious, humble. I like his dutifulness for the people of Parish very much.

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14. Note each stanza has four lines. In stanza 1, 'day' rhymes with 'lay'. The rhyme scheme is a b c b. Find out whether all the stanzas have the same rhyme scheme? 

Ans: Yes, all stanzas have the same rhyming pattern. Out of the four lines, line 1, 2, 3, have different rhymes. But line 2 rhymes with line 4. So the pattern is "a b c d".

Additional Question And Answer

1. When did father  Gilligan nod on a chair?

Ans: Father Gilligan was completely tired serving the sick of his parish and performing the rites of blessings for the dying day and night. One day when he returned home, he was extremely exhausted and restless. So, in the evening he nodded on the chair. 

2. What does the poet say about the old father's folks?

Ans: In the poem "The Ballad of Father Gilligan", flocks refer to the members of the parish (locality around the church). Half of his parishioners were in their beds because of an unknown disease.

3. Why was the father upset?

Ans: One evening a sick man struggling with death sent for father while he was nodding off the chair after a hard day's service. He was so tired that it was not possible for him to attend the sick man in his dying hour. That is why he was upset.

4. What did the old priest complain of?

Ans: In his locality, people were dying. So, being a father he had to attend the sick and the dying. Attending them day and night, he was completely exhausted. So, he complained that he had no rest, no joy, and no peace.

5. Why did the father sway in grief?

Ans: Father Gilligan came to know about the death of his parishioner from his wife. Holding himself responsible for the death of the sick man, he swayed to and fro in grief.

6. Who does 'the least of things' refer to?

Ans: 'The least of things' means a thing without having any relevance. In the poem, Peter Gilligan refers himself to the least of things out of sheer humility.

7. What do you mean by ballad and who has composed the poem?

Ans: A ballad is a short narrative poem usually sung regularly to tell a story. William Butler Yeats an Irish poet and dramatist has composed this poem "The Ballad of Father Gilligan".

8. What does the expression "green sods" mean in the poem? Who lay beneath the green sods?

Ans: "Green sods" is the upper layer of the grassland. The people who died of a strange disease in the parish lay beneath it.

9. What happened to the people of his parish?

Ans: The people of his parish fell seriously ill and met their silent end. Despite the best possible effort, Peter Gilligan could not save their lives. Some of the deceased bodies had taken silent rest in their graves for well covered with green grass.

10. What do you mean by 'moth hour'?

Ans: Moth hour is the time just before darkness prevails all over in the evening as well as the time before the night breaks. During such hours the small insects come out of their hiding places in search of food.

11. What do you mean by the expression "My body spake, not I?"

Ans: This expression means though father Gilligan wanted to serve the sick man and pray for him he refused to go for his weariness. Later on, he realised that he himself was not responsible for what he had said.

12. When does God whisper to mankind?

Ans: When stars grow into millions and the leaves of the plants shake their leaves with the cold wind and all the creatures retire to bed for rest, God the supreme creator whispers the mankind in the silence and darkness of the night.

13. Find out the expression that shows father Gilligan's concern for the people of his parish?

Ans: The expression "Mavrone, Mavrone!, rode with little care", shows father Gilligan's deepest concern for the people of his parish.

14. How did Peter Gilligan reach the sick man's house?

Ans: Peter Gilligan reached the sick man's house riding his faithful horse at a breakneck speed over the narrow, rocky and marshy path with a view to knowing whether the sick man was alive or dead.

15. What came to the sick man before he closed his eyes and why?

Ans: An angel in the guise of Peter Gilligan came to the sick man before his death in order to pray for his peaceful death.

16. How did the sick man breathe his last?

Ans: The sick man who was struggling with death closed his eyes for all time to come as merry as a bird which was possible for the prayer offered by the angel in the guise of Peter Gilligan.

17. What W.B. Yeats' opinion about God?

Ans: W.B. Yeats opines that God is all-merciful and most careful to His creation. He being the supreme creator of the universe is not only conscious of the celestial bodies but also most careful about the welfare of all his creations.

18. what qualities of father Gilligan do you like?

Ans: Father Gilligan was the epitome of love, sympathy and sincerity. He was dutiful, possessing a high sense of moral character. For him service to mankind was service to God. All these divine qualities of Peter Gilligan, I admire the most.

19. What does God do for the souls who tire and bleed?

Ans: God is the ocean of mercy and fountain of love. He takes utmost care of all. His creations whether asleep or awake, and tire and bleed. He extends his loving and serving hands to assuage the tiredness of the creatures in his creation.