The Flower School
By Rabindranath Tagore
Question Answer
Read the poem silently and answer the following questions.
1. What Is the poem about?
Ans: The poem is about the flowers being the beautiful creation of God. This poem is a vivid description of budding flowers and their growth in Spring.
2. What rumbles in the sky?
Ans: The storm clouds rumble in the sky.
3. What comes marching over the heath?
Ans: The moist east wind comes marching over the health.
4. Which word tells that the east wind is not dry
Ans: Moist
5. How does the moist east wind come?
Ans: The moist east wind comes by marching.
6. How do the crowds of flowers come out?
Ans: The crowds of flowers come out all of a sudden.
7. Where do the flowers dance and how?
Ans: The flowers dance upon the grass in wild glee.
8. Which season is described in the poem?
Ans: The spring season has been described in the poem.
9. Where are the flowers all the year round?
Ans: The flowers are present underground in their school.
10. Who are the flowers compared to?
Ans: The flowers are compared with little school-going children.
11. How do they do their lessons? Why?
Ans: The flowers learn their lesson with the doors shut. It is because they lead a disciplined life.
12. Who does 'their master' refer to?
Ans: Their master' refers to the teacher of the little flowers.
13. Their master is strict or lenient? Which line in the poem tells us so?
Ans: Their master is strict. The line 'master makes them stand in a comer' tells us so.
14. When are they made to stand in a corner?
Ans: When the flowers come out to play before it is time, they are made to stand in a corner.
15. When do the flowers have their holidays?
Ans: The flowers have their holidays when the rains come.
16. What changes take place in nature when the rain comes?
Ans: When the rains come, the branches of trees clash together, the leaves rustle in the wind and there are thunderstorms. The colourful little flowers also come out to play.
17. How do the flower children enjoy their holidays?
Ans: The colourful little flowers come out to play in dresses of pink, yellow and white.
18. Who is the speaker sharing his thoughts with?
Ans: The speaker is sharing his thoughts with his beloved mother.
19. Where is the home of the flower children?
Ans: The home of the flower children is in the sky.
20. Why are they eager to go to the sky?
Ans: They are so eager to go to the sky because they want to meet their mother who lives there.
21. What does the speaker guess?
Ans: The speaker guesses that the flower children have their mother in the sky.
22. Why are the flower children raising their arms?
Ans: The flower children are raising their arms towards the sky because they want to embrace their mother.
23. Why are they in a hurry?
Ans: They are tired of their school life and now they are very eager to meet their mother. So they are in a hurry.
24. Which line tells that the speaker also longs for his mother?
Ans: The line, 'they have their mother as I have my own' tells us that the speaker also longs for his mother.
Let's appreciate the poem:
1. Why do you think the flowers dance upon the grass in wild glee?
Ans: The storm clouds build up in the sky and the moist east wind blows bringing the first showers of rain. The flowers have been compared to little school going children and the rainy season happens to be the season of holidays from them. So, they dance upon the grass in wild glee.
2. Do you think the speaker feels that holidays are funnier than school days?
Ans: Yes, the speaker feels that holidays are funnier than school days. It is because the bn school children who live in boarding schools come back to their home and meet their family members. They also meet their beloved mother.
3. Why does the speaker think that the flowers go to school underground?
Ans: The speaker thinks that the flowers go to school underground because their beautiful eruption above ground is similar to children being let out of school into playgrounds and rainstorms are similar to school holidays.
4. How does the speaker describe the storm?
Ans: The speaker describes the storm as being the mother of the flowers. When the stormy winds begin to blow and the showers begin to rain down, crowds of flowers come out to "dance" in the grass. The storm makes the tree branches clash against one another with the rustling of the leaves and is accompanied by thunderstorms.
5. Do you think that the speaker's description about the flowers and their school has any reality in real life?
Ans: The title of the poem is almost paradoxical in that flowers do not actually attend school. But the flowers' underground life can be compared to the life of humans living in mortal bodies, and like the flowers bursting into bloom above ground, so the human soul eventually departs the body to its true home.
6. Which elements of nature celebrate holidays with the flower children and how?
Ans: The branches, the leaves and the thunder clouds celebrate the holidays with the flower children by clashing together in the forest, by rustling and by clapping their giant hands respectively.
7. Identify the lines and phrases in the poem which indicate that the flower children have a strict system of schooling?
Ans: "They do their lessons with doors shut, and if they want to come out to play before it is time, their master makes them stand in a corner." These lines tell us that they have a strict system of schooling.