Chapter - 7: C.L.M.
— By John Masefield
Comprehension Questions
I. Answer briefly the following questions.
1) The second Line “My mother’s life made me a man” a. Just states a natural phenomenon of a mother giving birth to a son b. has a hint that he was born at the cost of his mother’s life
Answer: (b) has a hint that he was born at the cost of his mother’s life.
a. The physical beauty of his mother b. The ‘beauty’ of his mother’s physical and emotional trauma at the birth of the child
Answer: (b) The ‘beauty’ of his mother’s physical and emotional trauma at the birth of the child.
a. to emphasize that his very existence now is made possible by the death of ‘some of her’ b. to emphasize that every movement of his in his mother’s womb destroyed a part of her life c. to show that his very birth and life are responsible for his mother’s partial death Answer: d. to emphasize that every movement of his in his mother’s womb destroyed a part of her life.
Answer: ‘It’ refers to the life the mother gave to the boy.
(a) his mother’s physical beauty (b) her son, the poet
Answer: a. her son, the poet.
(a) the fading memory of his mother in his mind
(b) the state of his dead mother’s mind which has forgotten the dear ones left behind
Answer: (c) the fading memory of his mother in his mind.
a. that he has grown so much physically that she would not be able to recognize him b. that he has grown so unworthy of all her sacrifice that she would not be able to recognize him c. both a and b
Answer: d. both (a) and (b).
Answer: ‘She would not know her little son, I am so grown.’
9) Which phrase in stanza 4 suggests that his concern goes beyond his personal experience?
Answer: ‘What have I done to keep in mind my debt to her and womankind ?’
Answer: The poet says this and also something more. He means that a person should repay his mother not just by making her life better, but by making other women’s lives also better.
11) Stanza 4 has some very powerful and forceful images.
a) What is compared to a – leech?
Answer: The baby inside the mother’s womb…
b) How is it a leech?
Answer: It sucks on the life of the mother.
c) What is unusual about the use of the word ‘leech’d’?
Answer: Birth is a very significant moment in the life of a baby or an individual because it signifies the separation of the baby from the mother and the need for the baby to- fend for itself to a certain extent. It has come out of a warm, protective cave into a cold, harsh world.
e) For whom is birth a hell i. for the mother (for all her pain and suffering during the birth of her child) ii. for the son (who feels that it was because of his birth that his mother died, though partially) iii. for both
Answer: iii. for both.
a) Identify 2 more examples of rhetorical questions.
Answer: Lines 21-22: “What woman’s happier life repays/Her for those months of wretched days?” Lines 25-26: “What have I done, or tried or said / in thanks to that dear woman dead?”
b) Write down the actual meaning of each of them.
Answer: Lines 21-22: “I have not repaid my mother for those months of wretched days by making a woman’s life. happier.”
Lines 25-26: “I have not done or tried or said anything to express my thanks to that dear dead woman.”
a) man’s beastly sexuality b) man’s lust for power over women c) both a and b
Answer: both (a) and (b).
Answer: It is a single exclamatory sentence, unlike the rest that are in stanzas and is written as observations and rhetorical questions.
b) Why, do you think, has he used this deviation?
Answer:
Answer: A hyperbole. It’s an exaggerated statement highlighting the shame the poet is experiencing. Surely, a grave will not open and his mother will not come to life to put him to shame.
d) Why does the poet want the grave to keep shut?
Answer: If his mother were to see him now, or women were to see mankind now, she/they would be ashamed.
Answer:
15) The most dominant feeling of the poet in this poem is:
a) a feeling of guilt b) a sense of ingratitude c) a sense of shame
Answer: (c) a sense of shame.
Answer: 1st Stanza : aa bb cc 2nd Stanza : dd ee ff 3rd Stanza : gg hh ii 4th Stanza : jj kk ll 5th Stanza : mm nn oo
II. Close Study: Read the following extracts carefully. Discuss in pairs and then answer the questions given below them.
1) For all her love, she cannot tell Whether I use it ill or well.
a) Who do ‘I’ and ‘she’ refer to?
Answer: T refers to the son, i.e., the poet, and ‘she’ refers to the mother.
Answer: ‘It’ refers to the life that the mother has given the son.
c) Why is it that she cannot tell?
Answer: She is dead and cannot see whether he lives well or net.
2) …………….. If we should meet, She would pass by me in the street Unless my soul’s face let her see My sense of what she did to me.
a) Would it be possible for the mother and son to meet each other?
Answer: No, since the mother is dead the son is still alive.
b) What is my figure of speech used in the expression ‘soul’s face’?
Answer: Personification.
c) i. His soul would reveal ii. his sense of gratitude to his mother iii. his sense of ingratitude to his mother
Answer: (ii) his sense of ingratitude to his mother.
III. Paragraph Writing: Discuss in pairs/groups of four each the answers to the following questions. Note down the important points!’ for each question and then develop the points into one-paragraph, answers.
1) The poem describes the poet’s personal experience. Does it stop at that?
Answer: It starts with how the mother gave her beauty to the child and lost a little with every birth. She is dead, and the poet feels guilty that he has not used her gift properly. When he thinks about how he has helped to make any woman’s life better, he realizes that he has not done anything at all. Women all over the world are still exploited, tormented and oppressed by men. Answer: The poet doesn’t stop at his personal experience. There is a strong opinion about women’s right that is communicated in the poem. A woman’s role as a mother, a woman who is made powerless by a man, a woman who has to fight for every right and men who force her into those situations and worse should be ashamed.
2) Do you like the poem? Why?
Answer: The poet talks about a common event in a very unusual manner.Everyone feels indebted to the mother for their birth, but the poet’s intensity of feelings makes it a very poignant experience. the poet’s perception of the mother’s sacrifice in giving birth to children is uncommon. In return for the mother’s sacrifice, the poet wants to make another woman’s life better. This is a wonderful thought.
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